RAMONES
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The 'Ramones' were an American band often regarded as the first punk rock group.[3][4]
After forming in Forest Hills, Queens, New York in 1974, they performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band went on a brief nightclub tour and then disbanded. The band's three founding members —Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone—died within eight years after the breakup.[5]
The Ramones never achieved much commercial success during their years of recording and performing. Their only album to reach certified gold status in the U.S. was their compilation album ''Ramones Mania''.[6] Appreciation of the band has grown since the 1980s, and they now regularly appear on "all-time greatest" lists, such as ''Rolling Stone''’s list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, VH1's ''100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock'' and ''Mojo's ''100 Greatest Albums''.
[7][8][9] In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever in ''Spin Magazine'', trailing only The Beatles.[10] On March 18, 2002, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[11][12]
History
Pre-history
The pre-history of the band is centered in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. The band members were drawn together by a mutual love of the New York Dolls, The Stooges, MC5 and 1960s garage rock.
Most of the members had been in various bands since the late 1960s - Johnny and Tommy had both been in a high school garage band circa 1966-67 known as the Tangerine Puppets, and Joey was in the short-lived early 1970s glam rock band Sniper. The initial version of the Ramones included Jeffry Hyman on drums, John Cummings on guitar, and Douglas Colvin on bass and lead vocals. Colvin was the first to use the name Ramone, calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by the fact that Paul McCartney used the pseudonym Paul Ramone. He convinced the other members to take on the name, and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones.[13] Hyman and Cummings would become Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone.
1974-1979
The band held their rehearsals at Performance Studios on East 20th Street in NYC built and co-managed by Thomas Erdelyi and Monte A. Melnick. Impressed by the group, Erdelyi became the band's unofficial manager, and Melnick their tour manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he couldn't sing and play bass at the same time, so Joey became the band's lead vocalist (Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his trademark rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!"). Joey would also realize that he could not sing and play drums at the same time, and left the position of drummer. While auditioning new drummers, manager Thomas Erdelyi would often take the drums and demonstrate to auditioners how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to play the group's songs better than anyone else, and he joined the band as drummer Tommy Ramone.
The band played their first concert on March 30, 1974 at Performance Studios in New York.[14] The songs they played were very fast and very short; most clocked in at under two minutes. In the early 1970s, a new music scene emerged in New York when many bands started to play in clubs on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, such as Max's Kansas City, and most famously CBGB's. Ramones concerts at CBGB's became legendary, due in part to their brevity: most concerts were twenty to thirty minutes long, much shorter than their contemporaries', and are often described by their witnesses as extremely fast, crude, energetic and desperate. The Ramones' live set was so short they sometimes needed to repeat it twice a show. Mostly, the songs would be performed back to back, but were also regularly interrupted by arguments among the band members. A few super–8 movies of these shows have survived, and are present in a couple of the band's later videos.
After garnering considerable attention for their performances at CBGB's, the group was signed to a recording contract by Seymour Stein of Sire Records in Autumn 1975. They soon recorded their debut album, ''Ramones'' on an extremely low budget; about $6,400. The band was plagued by hostile audience reactions outside of New York City; it wasn’t until they made a small tour of England that they began to see the fruits of their labor: a performance at The Roundhouse in London on July 4, 1976 (second-billed to the Flamin' Groovies) was a huge success. Their appearance galvanized the burgeoning UK punk rock scene, inspiring future punk stars, including members of The Clash, The Damned, and the Sex Pistols.[15][16] The Flamin' Groovie/Ramones double-bill was successfully reprised at The Roxy in Los Angeles the following month, which also inspired local Los Angeles musicians.
On December 31, 1977, the Ramones recorded ''It's Alive'', a double live concert album, at the Rainbow Theatre, London, which was released in April 1979. The title is a reference to the 1974 horror movie of the same name. Upon returning from England, they found themselves prophets without honor in their own country: their subsequent two albums, ''Leave Home'' and ''Rocket to Russia'' (both 1977), failed to become the hits the band desired. Both records were co-produced by Tony Bongiovi, the cousin of Jon Bon Jovi. Tommy, tired of touring, left the band at this time but continued to produce; he was replaced by Marc Bell, who became Marky Ramone.
The first three Ramones albums mainly contained songs written during their pre-contract years. Their fourth album, ''Road to Ruin'', was fully packed with brand new songs, including some stylistic flourishes — acoustic guitar, several ballads, songs over three minutes — that might have been concessions to mainstream tastes, but the album still failed to chart highly. Despite excellent reviews for both their albums ("Rocket to Russia is the best American rock & roll of the year and possibly the funniest rock album ever made," Dave Marsh wrote in Rolling Stone magazine) and their live performances, the Ramones remained a cult band.[17] The highly publicized dissolution of the Sex Pistols in 1978 seemed to signal the end of punk as a viable commercial force and branded the Ramones as forever outsiders.
1980–1989
'The Ramones' on the cover of their 1980 album, ''End of the Century'', produced by Phil Spector
After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman's ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' (1979), the legendary producer Phil Spector became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album ''End of the Century''. Dee Dee wrote in his book ''Lobotomy'' that, during the recording sessions, Spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee, and forced Johnny to play the opening chord to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" hundreds of times. The band would later consider this one of their "not-so-great" albums they had released, crediting tensions between the producer and the artists. Johnny recalls that he was disappointed with the outcome of ''End of the Century''. When asked in interviews, Johnny would indicate that he favored the band's more aggressive punk material (he also conveyed this feeling with the title and track selection of the post-breakup collection cd, which he compiled: ); by contrast, End of the Century material such as the syrupy, string-section laden Ronettes cover "baby I love you" is entirely lacking in the guitarist's trademark "buzzsaw" sound.[18][19]
In 1981 the Ramones released ''Pleasant Dreams'', which continued the trend established by End of The Century of diluting the rawer punk sound showcased on the band's initial four albums. Instead, slick production was again featured, this time provided by Graham Gouldman of UK pop act 10 cc.[20] Johnny would contend in retrospect that this direction was a record company decision and represented a continued futile attempt to get airplay on American radio.[21][22] On August 1 of that year, however, while promoting the album, they did become the first band to be interviewed on the newly formed cable video station MTV, which temporarily provided a more receptive outlet for the band's music than FM. After the release of 1983's ''Subterranean Jungle'', Marky Ramone was fired from the band because of his alcoholism and eventually replaced by Richard Reinhardt (under the name Richie Ramone).[23] The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was ''Too Tough to Die'' in 1984, produced by former drummer Tommy Ramone. The album was largely considered a return to form after the non-flattering pop-production techniques characterizing the previous three full length releases. Some rock critics contend that it represents their final high quality album.[24]
In 1986 the Ramones were invited to record the soundtrack to the ''Sid and Nancy'' movie. During their work, some management problems developed, and the deal was canceled. However, a handful of songs created for this movie were included in their 1986 album ''Animal Boy''. This uneven release, produced by Jean Beauvoir of NYC punk rock/heavy metal/shock rock act the Plasmatics, featured full throttle cartoon-hardcore punk rants such as the title song, a concession to the ongoing underground punk scene that the band helped to inspire, uncomfortably mixed with decidedly poppier material.[25] In 1987 the band recorded their last album with Richie ''Halfway to Sanity''. Halfway to Sanity was the first collaboration with producer and former Shrapnel (another late 1970s NYC punk band) guitarist Daniel Rey (Rey went on to co-write "Pet Semetary" with Dee Dee, produce the band's swansong album Adios Amigos!, and also produce solo albums by Dee Dee and Joey), and featured a more consistent display of the cartoonish punk/hardcore sound hinted at in Animal Boy.[26][27] Longtime fans generally were not impressed, feeling that whatever this effort had going for it in terms of energy, it lacked the effervescent humor and originality of the bands vintage material. Richie left in August 1987, upset that after being in the band for five years, the other members would still not give him a share of the money they made selling t-shirts.[28]
Richie was replaced by Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone) from Blondie. According to Johnny, the shows with Burke were a disaster. He was fired after two shows because his drumming couldn't keep up with the rest of the band. Marky, now clean and sober, returned.[28]
Dee Dee Ramone left after 1989's ''Brain Drain'', and was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed and recorded with the band until their break-up. However, Dee Dee did continue contributing to the music of the Ramones by lending his lyrics for use in later songs. Dee Dee left to pursue a brief solo career as a rapper, adopting the name Dee Dee King (based on B.B. King).
While the quality of band's recorded output may have been uneven during the 1980s, those 10 years comprised the middle period of their nearly nonstop touring on their way to 2,263 concerts.[30]
1990–1996
After 16 years at Sire Records, the band moved to new label Radioactive Records with their 1992 album ''Mondo Bizarro'', which also reunited them with producer Ed Stasium. Mondo Bizzaro was followed the next year with Acid Eaters, an album made entirely of cover songs.
The band appearing on ''The Simpsons''
In 1993 the Ramones appeared on an episode of ''The Simpsons'' ("Rosebud"). They were booked to sing "Happy Birthday" at Mr. Burns' birthday party, where they showed their distaste for the gig, shouting, "I'd just like to say this gig sucks!" from Joey, "Hey, up yours, Springfield!" from Johnny and "Go to hell, you old bastard!" from C.J. -- though Marky Ramone quipped, "Hey, I think they liked us!" Afterwards, Mr. Burns mistakenly ordered Mr. Smithers to "have The Rolling Stones killed."
The band also performed live at the VMA Awards in 1995, playing a short and fast medley with recent hits from Urge Overkill, Madonna and Stone Temple Pilots.
In 1995 they released what would be their last studio album, ''¡Adios Amigos!''. After a spot in the 1996 Lollapalooza festival, the Ramones went on a short club tour, and disbanded, reportedly due to ongoing personality clashes and frustration at not achieving success commensurate with their influence.
Their final show was on August 6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood.[31] The show was recorded, and later released on video and CD as ''We're Outta Here!''. The show featured several special guests such as Lemmy from Motörhead, Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen of Rancid, and Chris Cornell (then in Soundgarden).
Breakup and deaths
Joey was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995. In his later years he became an avid follower of yoga and health food. During the late 1990s, he started day trading NYSE stocks. Joey actually wrote a song about CNBC financial news reporter Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo, entitled "Maria Bartiromo", which is included on his 2002 solo album ''Don't Worry About Me''.
On July 20, 1999, all of the former members of the group except for Richie appeared together at Tower Records in New York City for an autograph signing. This was the last occasion on which the ex-members of the group appeared together before Joey's death. Johnny attempted to make peace with his longtime bandmate and rival Joey, but Joey would have none of it and simply ignored him. Joey Ramone died of lymphoma on April 15, 2001 in New York. Joey's last partially finished works were compiled as a posthumous solo album, ''Don't Worry About Me''.
In 2002, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At the ceremony, Johnny, Tommy, Marky, and Dee Dee spoke on behalf of the band. Johnny blessed George W. Bush and his presidency. Dee Dee congratulated and thanked himself. This was one of his last public appearances, because two months later he was found dead at his Hollywood home on June 5, 2002 following a heroin overdose. Also at the ceremony, Green Day played "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a tribute to the Ramones, showing the influence that the Ramones had on later rock bands.
In the summer of 2004, the Ramones documentary '' was released in theaters. Johnny Ramone, who had been privately battling prostate cancer, died on September 15, 2004 in Los Angeles, California; almost exactly as the film was released.
On the same day as Johnny's death, the world's first and only Ramones Museum opened its doors for the public.[32] Located in Berlin, Germany, the Ramones Museum Berlin features more than 300 original memorabilia items from the Ramones, including a stage-worn jeans from Johnny Ramone, a stage-worn glove from Joey Ramone, Marky Ramone's sneakers and CJ Ramone's stage-worn bass strap. The Ramones are scheduled to be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.[33]
In October 2007, a new DVD is set to be released containing live footage. ''It's Alive 1974-1996'' will include 118 songs from 33 performances over the span of the group's career.
Discography
Main articles: Ramones discography
Members
The following is a complete chronology of the various line-ups of the Ramones, from the group's inception in 1974, until their break-up in 1996.
| (1974) | ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Joey Ramone' - drums |
|---|---|
| (1974) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - drums, lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass |
| (1974-1978) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, backing vocals ★ 'Tommy Ramone' - drums |
| (1978-1983) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, vocals ★ 'Marky Ramone' - drums |
| (1983-1987) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, vocals ★ 'Richie Ramone' - drums, vocals |
| (1987) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, backing vocals ★ 'Elvis Ramone' - drums |
| (1987-1989) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'Dee Dee Ramone' - bass, vocals ★ 'Marky Ramone' - drums |
| (1989-1996) | ★ 'Joey Ramone' - lead vocals ★ 'Johnny Ramone' - guitar ★ 'C. J. Ramone' - bass, vocals ★ 'Marky Ramone' - drums |
Conflicts between members
The Ramones always had a certain amount of tension, mainly between Joey and Johnny. The pair were highly politically antagonistic, Joey being a liberal, Johnny a conservative. There was also tension caused by their very different personalities; Johnny was a military brat who lived by a code of self-discipline, while Joey struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder.[34] It was Johnny who "stole" Joey's girlfriend Linda, whom he later married. Joey and Johnny didn't speak to each other for years afterwards. It is believed the song "The KKK Took My Baby Away", written by Joey, alludes to this enmity. Johnny did not call Joey before his death in 2001, but said in the documentary ''End of the Century'' that he was depressed for 'the whole week' after the singer's death.
Ramones 'uniform'
Johnny Ramone enforced a very strict dress code for the band consisting of Keds or Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers, torn jeans, t-shirt (often sleeveless) and a rocker jacket - the Ramones 'uniform'. In the early days, they often wore white Sperry Top-Sider shoes; later on, they wore everything from Converse Chuck Taylors to Reebok. Their messy long hair was only originated from grown-out Beatles haircuts. Their jackets didn't vary much; they mainly wore Schott Perfectos. According to the documentaries , and Hey! is Dee Dee home?, Dee Dee Ramone wasn't too happy about the 'uniform' and wanted to look more "punk rock". The band wore the 'uniform' until their disbandment in 1996.
Musical style
Tom Verlaine described the Ramones as the first band in the world to play a white urban form of rock'n'roll, removing the solos and blues patterns associated with earlier forms of rock music. The Ramones' musical style was influenced by various parts of rock and pop music of the 1950s and 1960s; bands such as The Beach Boys, The Who, The Kinks, The Troggs, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Jan and Dean. The Ramones recorded cover songs of such "garage" classics as "Surfin' Bird" and "California Sun". Joey often cited Ronnie Spector as one of his favorite singers; the various love songs he sang for the band are reminiscent of the 1960s girl group sound. This type of material alternated with harder rock songs in the vein of proto punk bands The Stooges, MC5 and The New York Dolls.
The Ramones pioneered a straightforward, stripped-down sound that was a far cry from the virtuosic musicianship and complex instrumentation that 1970s rock music had become known for. Joey Ramone has stated the Ramones were rather taken with the Bay City Rollers' hit song "Saturday Night", and set out to imitate its catchy, singalong quality, inspiring the "Hey-ho, let's go" chant from their first single, "Blitzkrieg Bop". Johnny disliked guitar solos, and played only a handful of them in his more than two decades with the group; his simple, direct playing, consisting almost exclusively of distorted barre chords with fast downstrokes, set the standard for many subsequent punk guitarists.
On stage, the band adopted a focused approach directly intended to increase the audience's concert experience. Johnny's instructions to C.J. when preparing for his first live performances with the group were to look and play ''at'' the audience, stand with the bass slung low between spread legs, and to walk forward to the front of stage at the same time as he did. Johnny Ramone was not a fan of guitarists who performed facing their drummer, amplifier or other band members.[35]
Due to a similar musical style, many bands were claimed "an answer to the Ramones" by critics in the late 1970s. There were the "English answer" (The Lurkers)[36], the "Irish answer" (The Undertones)[37], the "Canadian answer" (Teenage Head)[38], and the "Mexican answer" (The Zeros)[39].
Influence on other musicians
The Ramones' first British concert was held on July 4, 1976. Prior to the performance, the band hung out with fans who turned out to be members of the Sex Pistols and The Clash. During the meeting Paul Simonon claimed The Clash had not played a show yet because they felt they weren't good enough, to which Johnny Ramone responded, "We stink. You don't have to be good, just get out there and play".[40] Later that day The Clash would play their first show.[41] Likewise another band who met with the Ramones that day, The Damned, played their first show 2 days later.[42][43]
Similarly, early Ramones concerts in California inspired early California punk groups like Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys[44], Bad Religion[45], and Social Distortion.[46]
Some pop punk bands became so taken by the Ramones that a whole subgenre now dubbed "Ramones-core" has appeared. Bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Vindictives, The Queers, The Mr. T Experience and the Beatnik Termites, have all recorded covers of entire Ramones albums; including ''Ramones'', ''Leave Home'', ''Rocket to Russia'', ''Road to Ruin'', and ''Pleasant Dreams'', respectively.
''We're A Happy Family'', the bestselling Ramones tribute album.
The first Ramones tribute album by multiple bands was released in 1991 under the title ''Gabba Gabba Hey'', featuring tracks recorded by such notable bands as L7, Mojo Nixon, and Bad Religion. Many more tribute albums followed, ''We're a Happy Family'' being the most well-known with artists such as Green Day, Kiss, Metallica, The Offspring, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, and Rob Zombie (who also did the album cover artwork).
Metal musician Lemmy first met the Ramones in 1976. His band Motörhead composed and performed the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S" as a tribute, and Lemmy would perform at the final Ramones concert in 1996.[47]
The band Bad Brains took its name from a Ramones song. Green Day members have gone as far as naming their children in honor of the band. Billie Joe Armstrong named his son Joey as tribute to Joey Ramone, and Tre Cool named his daughter Ramona for the similar reasons.[48]
Notes
See also
External links
★ Ramones
★ Joeyramone.com
★ Dee Dee Ramone
★ Officialramones.com
★ Finnish Ramones fan-site The most complete and updated Ramones page since 1995
★ Ramones Interview Dec 1992
★ "On The Road With The Ramones" - by Monte A. Melnick, Ramones Tour Manager
★ Ramones Museum, Berlin
★ Joey Ramone, R.I.P. - Salon.com
★ Ramonet - Finnish Ramones Fansite
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