The Ramones - Punk 77 (original) (raw)

Johnny Ramone – Guitar, Tommy Ramone – Drums Dee Ramone – Vocals & Dee Dee Ramone – Bass

The Ramones were quite simply THE classic punk rock band. The brothers Ramone – Dee Dee, Joey, Tommy and Johnny armed with only a rudimentary musical knowledge provided a generation with beautifully simplistic, machine gun bursts of classic punk rock. Minimalist & raucous but each song was so goddamned catchy!

Criminally neglected by their own country it took us Brits once more to recognise class and take them to our hearts in 1976 & 1977. Single-handedly The Ramones gave a shot in the arm to the UK’s nascent punk scene introducing speed and brevity and help kick-start a revolution..

Legs astride, guitars to their knees, ripped jeans, shouts of ‘1234’, a blur of songs, ‘gabba, gabba hey’…fucking brilliant. Sadly they are all dead now but The Ramones are up there with any of the greats of rock ‘n’ roll and their albums are timeless moments. God I miss them!

Ramones 1st Press Release 1975

The story of the Ramones began in their childhood neighbourhood of Forest Hills, Queens. The band members shared childhoods filled with alienation, salvaged only by their common love of underground music like Iggy and the Stooges and the New York Dolls. As high school students, amidst teenage delinquency, glue sniffing and a shared dark sense of humour, all set to a soundtrack of teen angst and frustration, the Ramones were headed nowhere. With seemingly no other options, and against a popular music terrain that was completely polar to their sensibilities, they formed a band and learned to make music by simply picking up instruments and just playing. And after a few false starts, they unveiled their newly invented sound at the legendary CBGB’s on the Lower East Side.

With their stripped-down sound, clean aesthetic and fast attack, the band quickly became the darlings of the New York underground music scene. Before long, their reputation gained them fans among the ranks of New York’s biggest scene-makers: Andy Warhol, Malcolm McLaren and Danny Fields all attended Ramones concerts. Danny was so impressed by their performance that he offered to be their manager on the spot. The band accepted under the condition that he provide them with the necessary funds (three thousand dollars) for a new drum set. Danny then brought them to the attention of Sire Records head Seymour Stein who signed them immediately. Although their first album, The Ramones, sold poorly in the U.S., it is now commonly acknowledged as a landmark album and became an underground favorite in London.

On July 4, 1976, the Ramones played the Roundhouse London supporting the Flaming Groovies and inspired the nascent English punk rock scene. Members of The Clash, the Sex Pistols, The Damned, and Chrissy Hynde—all of whom had yet to make their musical debuts—appeared at their first gig. The Ramones blitzed London yet returned to the States to find manager Danny Fields begging to get them a gig in New Jersey. Wherever they played across the U.S., they drew only a small crowd of misfits bored with the music and culture of the time. Yet in their wake, the Ramones left behind numerous local bands who were inspired by their, “do it yourself” musical philosophy.

Back in New York City, the band had a record deal but no money. They all lived with Arturo Vega, their lifelong art director, in his East Village loft. As their popularity grew through grassroots networks, they became major rock stars, if only in the eyes of rock journalists. At about this time, the bands from England that the boys had in a sense began, exploded. The politically charged lyrics and the highly stylized images of The Clash and the Sex Pistols drew the attention of the world press and the Ramones seemed relegated to the background, to the point where the Sex Pistols were commonly referred to in the secular press as the creators of punk rock and its origin traced to London, rather than the Bowery. The Ramones countered the punk invasion with two of their best albums, Rocket to Russia (1977) and Road to Ruin (1978), although neither album broke through commercially in the U.S.

The stress of touring and the pressure to sell records put a great deal of strain on the group’s interpersonal relationships. Tommy—drummer, producer and one of the founders—left the band. In a desperate attempt to release a hit record, the group enlisted the services of legendary producer Phil Spector. Joey, who had pushed the band to experiment a little and make a different kind of album, was the impetus behind the union. On paper, the pairing of the two made sense, as the Ramones drew much of their inspiration from the kind of pop songs Spector was known for producing. But the reality of the working relationship was very different. Almost immediately, Dee Dee and Phil, both eccentrics in their own right, clashed, with the veteran producer once forcing Dee Dee to play bass at gunpoint.

The Ramones, who were used to recording an album in one week at the very most, compared the experience of working with Phil Spector to Chinese water torture. The strain of the sessions caused the engineer to suffer a heart attack, while the finished result, End of the Century (1980), was to no one’s liking. The band was never the same after that session, with the relationship between Johnny and Joey, although strained at the outset of the Spector session, completely ruptured by the end of recording the album. Following disappointing record sales for End Of The Century, the band resigned itself to the fact that they would probably never be a chart-topping recording act.
Johnny viewed being a rock star as a means of employment, recording an album every couple of years and touring constantly.

After Tommy’s departure, Johnny and Joey butted heads over the direction of the band. Johnny wanted to make the same music in the familiar Ramones mode, while Joey fought for creative change. A full-blown power struggle ensued and the aggression intensified when Joey’s long-term girlfriend left him for Johnny. Joey was heartbroken and the relationship between the two band mates was fractured for good. Though they continued to tour in a small van together for years, they never spoke to each other again.

As the 1980s moved forward, the touring continued to be the only source of income. Marky Ramone (who replaced Tommy) succumbed to alcoholism and was kicked out of the band, only to return to the group a number of drummers later. Dee Dee decided to experiment with rap music and released an album, much to Johnny’s embarrassment. Shortly thereafter, Dee Dee, overcome with exhaustion and bloated by antidepressants, left the band, his wife and his psychiatrist. In the face of all this, Johnny refused to give up. He found CJ, a younger, cheaper version of Dee Dee, and continued the never-ending tour for another eight years.

With Dee Dee’s replacement, CJ Ramone, the band entered a new decade with a renewed influence on the bands that would become the grunge movement. CJ, who was a lifelong fan of the band, found that the “united” front he’d admired was anything but. Their relationships were splintering even further, but the band found acceptance in some inexplicable Beatle-like way in South America where screaming fans filled 30,000-seat arenas shouting “Hey, Ho, Let’s Go!” Much of this late career success was mitigated by the deteriorated relationships and constant feuding. The premature deaths of Joey and Dee Dee a year apart and then Johnny in 2004 and finally Tommy in 2011 were sad punctuations to the legacy. In the end, the music industry recognized the huge influence the band has had over two generations of rock music. As Legs McNeil says in the film, “The Ramones saved rock and roll.”

I think we can safely say that the Ramones were a huge influence on the emerging UK punk scene. Punk in the US at the time was limited to around a hundred people hanging out at CBGB’s and straddling everything from Talking Heads to the Ramones. About the only thing that linked them together was Punk magazine and that only loosely. They were only really known in New York.

The first Ramones album stiffed at around no 100 on the billboard chart. The brudders pumped out single after classic catchy single and again watched each one underachieve.

The thing is we are raw energy. We always are. We always will be. We Like energy. Tommy Ramone

Like so many other bands thoughout the history of rock, the Ramones were ignored in America. Not so in the UK. Positive critical feedback to their debut album and performances led them to come over to the UK for the July 4th 1976 Roundhouse gig and Dingwalls.

A full tour in early 1977 as UK Punk rock was gaining momentum had more of an effect. Overnight bands changed speed, stripped down songs and increased the velocity.

Tony James When their album came out all the English groups tripled speed overnight. Two minute songs very fast. The Pistols were almost the only group who stuck to the kind of who speed. Punk: The Illustrated History Of A Music Revolution

The Ramones at Eric’s Club, Liverpool, 19 May 1977 – Photo – Ian Dickson

Tommy Ramone All the rest of the kids are like normal kids, really , they might have shortish hair or something, whatever the fad is, but safety pins, are pretty much almost out. They’re very clothes conscious, so when you’re clothes conscious things get a little confused…you don’t know what’s the latest thing and you wanna be IN all the time. Search & Destroy Feb 1977

Joey Ramone It was an exciting trip (1977 tour), it was our early days. The Ramones had instigated something new in England on our first trip July 4th 1976, and rock’n’roll would never be the same again. 1998 Flash Bang Wallop

While The Sex Pistols may have been the catalyst and help provide the visual and incendiary direction along with The Clash, it was the Ramones who provided the template for a new stripped down sound.

Johnny Ramone We came first. We did what came naturally to us. A lot of band have just copied us and they are not being themselves. Sounds, 31.12.77

The UK loved The Ramones. Joey kept saying, “Legs, you wouldn’t believe it! You wouldn’t believe it! They love it.” (Please Kill Me) They were viewed as part of the emerging punk scene. The UK put Sheena Is A Punk Rocker into the top 30. Its Alive – arguably the greatest ever live album was recorded at The Roundhouse New Years Eve 1977. Meanwhile in bedrooms and rehearsal rooms across the land kids were learning to play bass, guitar and drums along to songs like Blitzkrieg Bop.

Patti Smith I practise to Ramones records mostly because they’re easy. I figure if I ever retire I could get a job being their lead guitarist. Sounds, 21.1.78

Meanwhile at home the Ramones were still trying to break through, ignored by radio and press but the best known secret among journalists. Curiously what held back The Ramones was Punk Rock and the Sex Pistols.

Yes punk rock had ensured them hits and success in the UK. Now punk rock UK style with the Pistols and their trail of mayhem in the USA meant commercial death for the Ramones. No radio station would touch them.

On the Pistols in the USA…The whole thing got out of control and whatever chance the Ramones had to get on the radio based on the merit of the music was then wiped out by the Sex Pistols because it was too hot to handle.

Danny Fields (The Ramones manager) I was following the Sex Pistols in the press, thinking, this is trouble. They interfered with our Ramones agenda all over the place, not rightly or wrongly. They were just diverting attention and energy from what we were doing. Please Kill Me

“Even before I joined the Pistols I idolized the Ramones. Even if they do hate us. I don’t care.” Sid Vicious – Cream April 1978 – Photo Danny Fields

As the punk culture grew now driven by the reinterpreted English view of it, The Ramones found they would never be acceptable and never have hit records and that’s how it stayed. That said it was punk rock ironically that wrote their place in history.

Tommy Ramone It was a real privilege to be involved with a movement so innovative and exciting as the punk scene of the 70’s and I think we helped change the landscape of music for the better.
1998 – Flash Bang Wallop

25 years on in 2002 the US finally recognised our punk heroes by inducting them into the rock’n’roll hall of fame.

The central tragedy of the Ramones: the fact that they’re a great pop band and not enough people know it…We don’t understand it, “says Tommy. “A record comes out and a week later we’re told its a miss already.” It is yes, extremely frustrating. “Because we write songs with hits in mind. And that’s what we like, we like songs. Its beyond us. Maybe the next one…” Sounds, 28.5.77

No matter what they did, The Ramones never broke a single Stateside. A victim of the times you could say because just a few years later in the MTV age with their look and sound they would have been mega. Any wa,y below are nuggets of 24 carat Ramones punk gold and all essential.

Blitzkrieg Bop / Havana Affair

(Sire July 1976)

“Hey Ho Lets go” and the first single from the Ramones was launched. Drums and bass right, guitar left and vocals. Simple, primitive, infectious and a rallying cry to a generation of punks. That is to the few who bought it. Mighty b side too with Havana Affair. Classic punk rock.

“They’re piling in the back seat They’re generating steam heat Pulsating to the back beat The Blitzkrieg Bop.”

I Remember You / I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You/California Sun – (Sire March 1977)

Mid paced toon from the boys for the second UK single. It’s a love song with a sixties lilt and harmonies set to a three chord rifferama with minimal lyrics.

“I remember lying awake at night and thinking just of you But things don’t last forever and somehow baby They never really do They never really do I remember you I remember You I remember you”

Sheena Is A Punk Rocker / I Don’t Care

(Sire May 1977)

As perfect a slice of heaven as you could possibly want for. Superb melody, buzzsaw guitar and the first song to feature ‘Punk’ in the title. Reached No 22 in the UK charts helped by the 12″ version and free tshirt. Well that and the fact that’s it’s so fucking good! Period.

“Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go They’re ready to go now They’ve got their surfboards And they’re going to the discotheque a go go But she just couldn’t stay She had to break away Well New York City really has it all Oh yeah, oh yeah”

Swallow My Pride/ Pinhead (Sire July 1977

Joey “…I read a review that says when The Ramones wrote ‘Pinhead’ and ‘DUMB’ they were finally admitting how stupid they are. Then I also heard the other day on the radio that we were actually smart and we were just playing stupid. So no matter what you say, no matter what you do with the music press you lose.” New Wave Fanzine 1977

‘Gabba gabba we accept you, we accept you one of us!’

Rockaway Beach / Teenage Lobotomy / Beat On The Brat

(Sire December 1977)

In my view the equal of Sheena. Superb surf melodies against the buzzsaw guitar of Johnny Ramone. This paean to the only beach in New York and reachable by subway just conjures up hot lazy days and the sound of punk.

“Up on the roof, out on the street Down in the playground the hot concrete Busride is too slow They blast out the disco on the radio”

Do You Wanna Dance / Cretin Hop/ Its A Long Way Back To Germany – (Sire March 1978)

Take an old sixties tune by Chris Montez and punk it up a la Ramones and you’ve got a cool little stomper. Cretin Hop?…file under another singalonga Ramones style chant…

“1-2-3-4 – Cretins wanna hop some more 4-5-6-7 – All good cretins go to heaven”

Don’t Come Close / I Don’t Want You

(Sire September 1978)

Medium tempo acousticy song from the boys with an almost country & western lilt. Specifically written to get more radio airplay and so exposure for the band. Of course it bombed. Part of a change for the band on Road To Ruin from the fast songs of the first three albums. Better production with Tommy Ramone producing and Marky on drums.

She’s The One / I Wanna Be Sedated

(Sire January 1979)

Another example of the Ramones’ attempt to craft a chart song. Insidiously catchy, no picture to put the non punk punters off, but still no big break. The flip side I Wanna Be Sedated is yer more standard Ramones track along the lines of Beat On The Brat. Supposedly about Joeys fear of going on stage. There’s a video knocking around of this song featuring the boys stationary while various people flit around them while 24 hours elapse. Again from the Road To Ruin album.

Rock’n’roll High School / Rockaway Beach / Sheena

(Sire August 1979)

From the film of the same name. Spirited gallop with a punkabilly riff and teenage chicks and cars lyrics. Perhaps more famous for the outrageous number of takes Phil Spector made the band just for the opening guitar chord in his production of the song. The song wouldn’t have been out of place in ‘Grease’!

How perfect are the Ramones? A blend of 60’s teen melodicism, 70’s wall of Marshals souped up heavy metal power and punk speed, brevity and attack all combined with a glorious pop sensibility.

Their songs, written by Joey and Dee Dee (he of failed Television audition knowing only one note) on as legend has it a two string guitar, were (dis) ingenuous teen love songs admirably suited to singer Joeys quavery, Anglo infected vocals, or sardonic black comedies based on dumbness, sadism and violence delivered with a perfect sneer.

Johnny kept up a barrage or power chords controlled as perfectly as to merge into one melodic drone which has since become part of the very fabric of rock’n’roll while Tommy and Dee Dee laid down a foolproof sledgehammer beat. Percived as ‘dumb’ the band were way too clever for American audiences.

We used block chording as a melodic device, and the harmonics resulting from the distortion of the amplifiers created countermelodies. Tommy Ramone

Ramones – Sire 1976

Rough, raw and basic but its simplicity was part of its legend and enduring songs and production. Each song a classic and lays down the blueprint for punk to come. Every band – from The Sex Pistols to The Stranglers and those learning their instruments who heard this speeded up upon hearing it.

One of the facets making Ramones such a seminal work is the guitar in one channel and the bass in the other. You can push the balance knob all the way to Johnny’s side and learn his guitar parts, then push it to the bass side and be backed by Tommy and Dee Dee. Ramones still provides such an important service for beginning guitarists.The Last Ramone Tim Stegall

The Ramones’ April 1976 debut, recorded for little more than $6,000, long ago passed into legend. Its exalted status as the inspiration for thousands of punk bands worldwide, though, hasn’t overshadowed its monolithic roar, the knowing hilarity of its lyrics (“Judy Is a Punk” crams the SLA, the Ice Capades, and a salute to Herman’s Hermits into a 90-second frame), and the impulse to blast it for everyone within earshot: Hey, listen to this. Embracing and rewriting rock & roll history at once, Ramones speeded up heavy music, adding a pop patina to songs inspired by horror movies and glue sniffing, and claiming a great Chris Montez tune (“Let’s Dance”) from the supposedly fallow period that had fallen between Elvis and the Beatles. Absurdist, yeah (how could anything with Joey’s super-affected Liverpool-via-Queens accent be otherwise?) and also smart: “Havana Affair” is the greatest song about the cold war this side of Dylan. Rickey Wright Amazon

Leave Home – Sire 1977

The Ramones had no second album syndrome. Straight out of the traps came this beauty. Same formula but better produced and packed full of punky pop goodness.

“Slightly less primitive than the Ramones’ debut, Leave Home is somehow more melodic, poppier, and heavier than its predecessor. “Glad to See You Go” name-drops “the passion” of Charles Manson, while the terrific “Commando” (“First rule is the laws of Germany / Second rule is be nice to mommy”) brings to mind a funnier MC5. But “Oh, Oh, I Love Her So” is pure classic pop–metallic bubblegum and their first foray into the Beach Boys-inspired harmonies that would be used to greater effect on Rocket to Russia.

The “bruddahs” even do a speeded-up version of “California Sun” to drive the point home. “Pinhead” gave birth to the “Gabba! Gabba! Hey!” rallying cry. Leave Home is the album that clued in a lot of people that this band was more than a novelty.” B ill Holdship, Amazon Review

Rocket To Russia – Sire 1977

And on they marched. Album three of relentless classic tunes. How did America not get the majesty of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker or Rockaway Beach? The UK did.

“Our records have the bitterness of life in them,” quoth Dee Dee Ramone, and Rocket to Russia brought the pain. Despite carrying on the celebratory tone of the Ramones’ debut and Leave Home in the likes of “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” “Cretin Hop,” a tribute to dirty “Rockaway Beach,” and covers of the Trashmen and “Do You Wanna Dance?” their third LP displays a dark humor that’s less jokey than the previous releases’ goofs on bad mental health and dysfunctional relationships.

The group’s best-produced of its first three releases, Rocket achieves an almost smooth texture thanks to a clean mix and increased use of Beach Boys-inspired vocal harmonies. Still, the joyous grind of Johnny’s guitar is front and centre for much of this enduring album. Rickey Wright Amazon

It’s Alive (Sire 1978)

There’s a strong argument to say this album is the greatest live album of all time. Recorded at London’s Rainbow Theatre on New Years Eve da brudders run through a perfect set at breakneck speed.

28 songs of such high quality that suck you in from the opening chords of “rockaway beach” and spits you out three quarters of an hour later with “we’re a happy family”. Along the way, we are treated to possibly the finest Ramones album to date, comprising all the classics, such as “Sheena”, “pinhead”, “commando”, “today your love, tomorrow the world” and “oh oh i love her so”. _A_mazon review

Quality wise, quantity wise and content wise, it doesn’t come any better than this.

Road To Ruin – Sire 1978

Road to Ruin is the album that demonstrated the Ramones had gotten “better” at being musicians, if not at becoming stars. “I Just Want to Have Something to Do” is quite simply one of the greatest opening tracks on any rock album, ever. For the first time, Johnny actually throws in pyrotechnics that go beyond basic power chords. “I Don’t Want You” is riff-driven punk rock, while “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “She’s the One” are some of their best pop-punk.

But Road to Ruin also breaks some stylistic barriers. “Don’t Come Close” is almost country & western and “Questioningly” is a simple ballad. A cover of the Searchers’ “Needles & Pins” is downright reverent, though it’s sadder than the original. Bill Holdship Amazon

You know I’m still shocked and saddened that three out of the four original Ramones are dead. I’m saddened that one of the best bands the US has ever produced never got the attention nor the record sales they deserved.

Saddened that I’ll never hear 1-2-3-4 and an almighty sonic blitzkrieg of a 1000 songs come hurtling at me at the speed of an express train.

No more ‘Gabba Gabba Hey’ or ‘Hey Ho Lets Go.’

Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin) once auditioned for Television. He only knew one chord and didn’t get the job! Dee Dee had a 007 hunting knife. He gave his to Stiv Bators. One Sid Vicious who worshipped Dee Dee wanted one too. He got one. Nancy Spungen was killed with that knife. Dee Dee died of an apparent drug overdose on 5.6.2002.

Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman) Originally the singer with the glammy Snyper then drummer with The Ramones before they speeded up. Joey came close to death when an argument with another musician about his girlfriend turned into a fight and left him with a blood clot requiring brain surgery. Joey lost his battle with cancer 15.4.2001

Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) with his trademark $50 Mosrite guitar aspired to play “Pure white rock’n’roll with no blues influence. I wanted our sound to be as original as possible. I stopped listening to everything” Johnny lost his battle with cancer 15.9.2004

Tommy Ramone was born Erdélyi Tamás on January 29, 1949 in Budapest, Hungary and died July 11 2014.

Tim Stegall Few people realize much of the Ramones’ vision was Tommy’s. He had a recording engineer background, reportedly even assisting Jimi Hendrix on Band of Gypsys, and was more advanced musically than the other three ever became. As Punk magazine founder John Holmstrom told NPR: “Without Tommy, there’s no Ramones. Because at first, they were not very good musicians, and I think Tommy whipped them into shape.”

He was supposed to be their manager, but when everyone realized Joey would be more effective singing than drumming, Tommy manned the kit. No one else could drum with the simplicity required. Yet he wasn’t a drummer.

When teenaged Tommy Erdelyi joined Johnny Ramone (né John Cummings) in Forest Hills garage combo the Tangerine Puppets, it was as a guitarist, while Johnny played bass. Tommy gave the Ramones a groove they lost when he left the band. Tommy swings. No other Ramones drummer did.

Tommy also created their look, their image, how their records would sound. How the band would be presented to the public and the press. Tommy was the architect of the Ramones. The Last Ramone Tim Stegall