Ramones
The Ramones[a] were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often cited as the first true punk band. Though initially achieving little commercial success, the band is seen today as highly influential in punk culture.
This article is about the band. For their debut album, see Ramones (album). For other uses, see Ramones (disambiguation).
All members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname Ramone, although none were biologically related: they were inspired by Paul McCartney, who would check into hotels under the alias Paul Ramon. The Ramones performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years.[1] In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, they played a farewell concert in Los Angeles and disbanded.[2]
By 2014, all four of the band's original members had died – lead singer Joey Ramone (1951–2001), bassist Dee Dee Ramone (1951–2002), guitarist Johnny Ramone (1948–2004) and drummer Tommy Ramone (1949–2014).[3][4][5][6] All of the surviving members of the Ramones – bassist C. J. Ramone (who replaced Dee Dee in 1989 and stayed with the band until its dissolution) and drummers Marky Ramone, Richie Ramone and Elvis Ramone – remain musically active.
Recognition of the band's importance has built over the years.[7] The Ramones ranked number 26 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time"[8] and number 17 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".[9] In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin, trailing only the Beatles.[10] On March 18, 2002, the original four members and Tommy's replacement on drums, Marky Ramone, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.[1][11] In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.[12][13]
Conflicts between members[edit]
Tension between Joey and Johnny colored much of the Ramones' career. The pair were politically antagonistic, with Joey being a liberal and Johnny a conservative.[118] Their personalities also clashed: Johnny, who spent two years in military school, lived by a strict code of self-discipline,[119] while Joey struggled with obsessive–compulsive disorder and alcoholism.[120][121] In the early 1980s, Linda Danielle began a relationship with Johnny after having already been romantically involved with Joey, who had reportedly accused Johnny of "stealing" his girlfriend; this incident is believed to have been the inspiration behind "The KKK Took My Baby Away".[122] Consequently, despite their continued professional relationship, Joey and Johnny had become aloof from each other.[5] Johnny did not contact Joey before the latter's death, although he said that he was depressed for "the whole week" after his death.[81]
Dee Dee's bipolar disorder and repeated relapses into drug addiction also caused significant strains.[123] Tommy would also leave the band after being "physically threatened by Johnny, treated with contempt by Dee Dee, and all but ignored by Joey".[124] As new members joined over the years, disbursement and the band's image frequently became matters of serious dispute.[125] The tensions among the group members were not kept secret from the public as was heard on the Howard Stern radio show in 1997, where during the interview Marky and Joey got into a fight about their respective drinking habits.[126]
A year after the Ramones' breakup, Marky Ramone made disparaging remarks against C. J. in the press, calling him a "bigot",[127] a statement he would reiterate a decade later.[128] C. J. would later respond that he was unsure as to why Marky would make negative comments against him in the press though he denied that it had anything to do with his marrying Marky's niece. He also denied being a bigot.[129] Many years later, C. J. lamented that despite being the two surviving members of arguably the Ramones' most commercially successful era, and despite reaching out a few times to join him on stage, he and Marky were no longer in contact.[130]
Style[edit]
Musical style[edit]
The Ramones' loud, fast, straightforward musical style was influenced by pop music that the band members grew up listening to in the 1950s and 1960s, including classic rock groups such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets, the Beach Boys, the Who, the Beatles, the Kinks, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, the Doors and Creedence Clearwater Revival; bubblegum acts like the 1910 Fruitgum Company and Ohio Express; and girl groups such as the Ronettes and the Shangri-Las. They also drew on the harder rock sound of the MC5, Black Sabbath,[131] the Stooges and the New York Dolls, now known as seminal protopunk bands.[132] The Ramones' style was in part a reaction against the heavily produced, often bombastic music that dominated the pop charts in the 1970s. "We decided to start our own group because we were bored with everything we heard," Joey once explained. "In 1974 everything was tenth-generation Elton John, or overproduced, or just junk. Everything was long jams, long guitar solos ... . We missed music like it used to be."[133] Ira Robbins and Scott Isler of Trouser Press describe the result:
Studio albums