Queens, New York
1974 John Cummings and Douglas Colvin invite Jeff
Hyman to help them start a band. Cummings would play guitar. Colvin would play guitar and sing, and Hyman
would play drums, even though Hyman also was a singer, singing for the glam punk band Sniper. Cummings and Colvin also recruited their friend
Richie Stern to play bass, but after a few practices it was evident that Stern…uh…didn’t
know how to play bass, so needless to say that didn’t work out and Colvin switched
from guitar to bass, making Cummings the only guitarist in the band. Inspired by Paul McCartney’s old pseudonym
Paul Ramone, Colvin adopted the stage name of Dee Dee Ramone, and he convinced the other
members to take on the last name of Ramone so that they could be called the Ramones. The others agreed, and Cummings became Johnny
Ramone and Hyman became Joey Ramone. Dee Dee and Johnny’s friend Thomas Erdelyi
became the band’s manager, and another friend of the band, Monte Melnick, who later became
the band’s TOUR manager, got them access to Manhattan’s Performance Studio for rehearsals. Since Dee Dee had a hard time playing bass
and singing at the same time, Erdelyi convinced everyone that Joey should become the band’s
new lead singer. Early on, the band pretty much agreed to cut
out all the fluff and get right to the point with their songs. Johnny even refused to play guitar solos as
he didn’t like them. The songs were fairly simple, often only featuring
two or three chords. The Ramones played their first official gig
on March 30, 1974 at Performance Studio. The few audience members there must have been
confused. The band played seven songs basically, and
almost all of the songs were very fast paced and less than two minutes long. Yep, the Ramones first official show likely
lasted no more than 15 to 20 minutes. (Conan clip) Still, the Ramones got more gigs,
and during a time when a brand new music scene was rising up that seemed to revolve around
two legendary clubs located in downtown Manhattan- Max’s Kansas City and CBGB. In fact, it was an entirely new genre of music
later known as “punk rock,” which was deeply influenced by the garage rock of the
1960s but took on an ethos of sticking a middle finger to all the overproduced, corporate
mainstream rock of the era. That said, Joey was having a hard time playing
drums and singing at the same time, so Erdelyi was like “no problem, let’s just recruit
a new drummer so you can only sing, buddy.” Erdelyi held auditions and would play drums
himself to show the auditionees how to play the song, but in the process everyone realized
that Erdelyi was so good that he should just be the drummer so he was like “ok fine.” Erdelyi took on the stage name Tommy Ramone. In this rising punk rock scene in New York,
the Ramones stood out not only for their insanely energetic, loud, and catchy songs, but also
their appearance. They often appeared on stage in Converse high-tops,
torn blue jeans and leather jackets, apparently to honor the greaser subculture of the 1950s. Simply put, they didn’t look like other
bands. On August 16, 1974, the Ramones played their
now famous first show at the aforementioned CBGB. Dee Dee shouted out his later trademark 1-2-3-4
to help the band jump into each song. This is something that A LOT of bands do today,
by the way, but at the time it was a new thing. A dude named Legs McNeil, who later helped
start Punk magazine, was in attendance, and he later wrote of the show. "They were all wearing these black leather
jackets. And they counted off this song ... and it
was just this wall of noise ... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new." Soon the band earned a residency at CBGB. For the rest of the year, they played there
at least 70 more times. Each set averaged about 17 minutes from beginning
to end. Each song averaged well over 160 beats per
minute. Meanwhile, the band had caught the attention
of a dude named Craig Leon, who worked for Sire Records. He convinced Seymour Stein, the co-founder
of Sire, to sign them to the label. Tommy Ramone later said of Leon, “He risked
his career to get us on the label.” Not only that, Stein’s wife, Linda, left
her teaching career to manage the band, along with Danny Fields. By the time the Ramones recorded their debut
album in February 1976, they were the unequivocal leaders of the New York City punk rock scene,
especially due to the unique style of Joey Ramone, who stood a towering 6’6”. They recorded over a period of just a few
days at Plaza Sound studio, located on the eighth floor of the famous Radio City Music
Hall. It cost just over $6,000. That said, for a band that was pretty much
the definition of punk, they were true professionals throughout the entire recording process, with
much attention to every little detail. Leon and Tommy both produced. The entire band had a say in writing the lyrics,
which were about topics usually not found in rock songs. These topics included violence, drug use,
male prostitution, and even Nazism. Sire released their debut self-titled, studio
album on April 23, 1976. It featured 14 songs but clocked in at just
29 minutes and 4 seconds. It featured this now iconic cover, which is
today basically one of the most imitated album covers. The critics absolutely loved it, and today
it’s widely recognized as one of the greatest albums of all time. However, the album didn’t do so well commercially,
only peaking at number 111 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Sire did release two singles off it: “Blitzkrieg
Bop,” which today is still arguably their most recognizable song, and “I Wanna Be
Your Boyfriend.” Other notable songs off the album that later
became widely recognized include “Judy is a Punk” “I Don’t Want to Walk Around
with You,” and “Let’s Dance,” which was a cover of the hit song by Chris Montez. Despite not having a hit song on the radio,
their self-titled debut basically solidified the genre of punk rock. At the very least, it brought punk into the
mainstream. Also, most music journalists argue it is easily
one of the most influential albums of all time. Period. To promote the album, the band played shows
outside of New York City for the very first time. On July 4, 1976, they played a memorable show
at the Roundhouse in London in which the leader of the band T-Rex, Marc Bolan, came on stage. At another show in London, the Ramones met
members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, and some say this was a pivotal moment with
regards to launching the United Kingdom punk rock scene. For the rest of 1976, the Ramones solidified
their reputation as a dynamic live act as they toured all over North America. The relentless touring would continue for
the next 20 years. Meanwhile, the band returned to the studio
to record what would become their second studio album, Leave Home, which Sire released on
January 10, 1977. Tommy Ramone once again produced it, but Tony
Bongiovi, the cousin of musician Jon Bon Jovi, also came in to produce, and it definitely
had a higher production value overall. Critics also adored Leave Home, though not
quite as much as the band’s debut album. The album also didn’t find much commercial
success. It peaked at just 148 on the Billboard 200
despite Sire promoting the album heavily. It featured the singles “Swallow My Pride,”
“I Remember You,” and “Carbona Not Glue.” It also featured the unforgettable song “Pinhead,”
with the chant “gabba gabba we accept you, we accept you, one of us.” Tommy later explained that the song was about
inclusivity and welcoming all the freaks out there to join the Ramones. The band toured constantly the rest of the
year all over Europe and North America to promote the album. I mean, they played shows almost every freaking
day. When the band WASN’T touring, they were
recording. In the spring of 1977, during a time when
a ton of New York-based punk bands were signing major label record deals, the band recorded
“Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” which became the band’s first radio hit in the United
States, reaching 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song would also be on the band’s third
studio album, Rocket to Russia, which Sire released on November 4, 1977. Bongiovi also helped produce this one, and
critics once again generally loved it. Not only that, based on the momentum of the
success of “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” Rocket to Russia got up to 49 on the Billboard
200. The album also gave the band another radio
hit: “Rockaway Beach,” which got all the way up to 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Rockaway Beach,” believe it or not, remains
the highest charting single for the band…ever. Rocket to Russia, however, was the last Ramones
album Tommy Ramone helped out with. He left the band that year to pursue a career
as a record producer. Regardless, the Ramones carried on. Oh, and Tommy would still produce future Ramones
albums…he was just tired of touring basically. And Tommy was even nice enough to help them
find a replacement on drums. He found Marc Bell, who had formerly been
with the band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Marc not only accepted the offer to join the
band, but also promptly changed his stage name to Marky Ramone. On December 31, 1977, the Ramones recorded
a show at the Rainbow Theatre in London that would eventually make up their first live
concert album, It’s Alive. From there, they continued their grueling
tour schedule of both North America and Europe for most of 1978. That spring and summer, they decided to be
a bit more experimental in the studio, especially with Marky recording with them for the first
time. The songs were longer and there were more
elements of bubblegum pop and even seemed to have a Beach Boys influence. Their songwriting had also definitely matured
and was a bit more complex. Johnny even turned down his guitar sometimes. There were more ballads. Ed Stasium came in to help produce, and these
songs made up what would become their fourth studio album, Road to Ruin, released by Sire
on September 21, 1978. Critics were mixed on this one, but later
on it would become a fan favorite. Road to Ruin peaked at just 103 on the Billboard
200, and the three singles off it were flops: “Don’t Come Close,” “Needles and Pins,”
and “She’s the One.” The irony of this was that the band was kind
of attempting to have broader appeal with this one. However, the album also featured the song
“I Wanna Be Sedated,” which eventually became arguably the band’s second-most recognizable
song after “Blitzkrieg Bop.” In 1979, the Ramones made their major motion
picture debut in Rock N’ Roll High School, directed by Roger Corman. The plot of the entire film revolves entirely
around the band and was about youth rebellion. Interestingly, the movie didn’t help the
band become household names much. By this time, they had an extreme, almost
cult-like following, still touring relentlessly by the way, but had little mainstream success. They still caught the attention of the accomplished
producer Phil Spector, however, and the band accepted his offer to produce what would become
their fifth studio album, End of the Century, which Sire released on February 4, 1980. Spector also had the goal of expanding the
appeal of the Ramones. While the Ramones already had catchy songs,
Spector tried to smooth the rough edges of the band with this album, so to speak. It kind of paid off. End of the Century became the band’s highest
charting album of all time, peaking at number 44 on the Billboard 200 and number 14 on the
UK Albums Chart. It also got some radio airplay, at least in
Europe, with the singles “Baby, I Love You” and “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” However, End of the Century also disillusioned
some fans and critics, and it often doesn’t hold up today as it did their previous four
albums. Even Johnny later said about it: "End of the
Century was just watered-down Ramones. It's not the real Ramones." For the rest of 1980 and into 1981, the Ramones
continued to constantly tour to promote the album. Notably, they toured both Asia and Oceania
for the first time. In March 1981, they returned to the studio,
and Sire got yet another producer to try to broaden the band’s appeal named Graham Gouldman. Gouldman had made a name for himself in the
band 10cc. Around the time of these recording sessions,
Joey’s girlfriend, Linda, had fallen in love with none other than his bandmate, Johnny. This revelation that Johnny had essentially
stolen Joey’s girlfriend pretty much permanently ended their friendship. That said, it surprisingly didn’t end the
band. Oh by the way, Johnny and Linda eventually
had a long, happy marriage. Anyway, the new material the Ramones recorded
ended up making up what became their sixth studio album, Pleasant Dreams, released by
Sire on July 20, 1981. Joey wrote a song on the album called “The
KKK Took My Baby Away” that some speculated was about Johnny stealing his girlfriend,
but no one from the band ever admitted that. But yeah, that was a single off the album,
actually. Other singles off Pleasant Dreams included
“We Want the Airwaves” and “She’s a Sensation.” Pleasant Dreams was not a commercial hit and
got mixed reviews from critics. Despite the tensions between Joey and Johnny,
for the rest of 1981 and first half of 1982, the band continued to tour constantly, but
did slow it down….finally…for the SECOND half of 1982. By this time, the band was struggling to keep
it together, mostly due to drug addiction. Joey and Marky’s addiction to alcohol and
Dee Dee’s addiction to heroin. In October, the Ramones kind of got their
punk roots back, with the help of producers Ritchie Cordell and Glen Kolotkin, recording
what would become their seventh studio album, Subterranean Jungle, released by Sire on February
23, 1983. In addition to the single “Time Has Come
Today,” it featured the standout cover of “Little Bit O’ Soul,” which originally
was by John Carter and Ken Lewis. Subterranean Jungle was the first Ramones
album to feature someone other than Joey Ramone singing lead vocals on a song, with Dee Dee
singing lead on “Time Bomb.” Indeed, Subterranean Jungle felt like the
band had returned to the edgier style of their first four albums, and critics generally welcomed
this return. However, the album was another commercial
flop. Not only that, but shortly after Subterranean
Jungle’s release, Marky quit the band. Well, he was actually kind of fired due to
his alcoholism. This didn’t faze Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee,
though. They promptly found a replacement drummer…Richie
Reinhardt. Obviously, Richie’s new stage name was Richie
Ramone. With Richie, the band continued to tour, tour,
and then tour some more for the rest of 1983 and all of 1984. Joey later recalled that Richie had “saved
the band…He's the greatest thing to happen to the Ramones. He put the spirit back in the band." Richie would go on to sing both lead and background
vocals on Ramones songs and had A LOT of input with songwriting. In July 1984, the band recorded what would
become their eighth studio album, Too Tough to Die, released by Sire on October 1st. At this point, the Ramones had given up trying
to pursue mainstream success, and they just wanted to let loose and have fun. The result was Too Tough to Die being their
most critically acclaimed album since Road to Ruin. Many critics observed that the album seemed
to be a response to the rise of a new genre of music called hardcore punk, which Tommy
Ramone, er…uh, Thomas Erdelyi, had particularly played a big role in. It features their only instrumental song,
“Durango 95.” Yeah you probably didn’t know they had an
instrumental song, did you? It also featured the single “Howling at
the Moon (Sha-La-La).” Despite the glowing reviews from critics,
Too Tough to Die also didn’t sell many copies. Throughout 1985, the band continued to constantly
tour, but notably released a single written mostly by Joey that protested the American
President Ronald Reagan and his visit to a German military cemetery that included Nazi
soldiers in it. He called it “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg,”
and it was a big hit on American college radio. The song would appear on their ninth studio
album, Animal Boy, which they recorded throughout the entire year. Sire released it on May 19, 1986, and Jean
Beauvoir of the Plasmatics produced it.. Animal Boy featured less of both Joey and
Johnny Ramone, though, as the two often didn’t want to be in the same room as each other. Due to that, both Dee Dee and Richie stepped
up and contributed quite a bit. Animal Boy was the band’s most political
album yet. However, critics generally didn’t like it,
saying they had strayed too far from their original sound. Despite critics trashing it, Animal Boy had
three additional singles: “Somebody Put Something in My Drink,” “Crummy Stuff,”
and “Something to Believe In,” which poked fun at the benefit concerts of the era like
Live Aid. The band once again…you guessed it, toured
relentlessly for the rest of 1986 and into 1987, touring South America for the first
time, then taking some time off to record what would become their tenth studio album,
Halfway to Sanity. Recording did not go well, and the band generally
weren’t getting along. Once again, Dee Dee and Richie stepped up
because Joey and Johnny weren’t contributing as much. Sire released Halfway to Sanity on September
15, 1987. It got mixed reviews from critics and little
radio airplay, but did feature two singles: “Real Cool Time” and “I Wanna Live.” Shortly before the release of Halfway to Sanity,
Richie quit the band over disagreements regarding how much royalties he was getting paid. The band scrambled to find his replacement
and went with Clem Burke, who used to be the drummer for the band Blondie. Clem adopted the stage name ELVIS Ramone,
but sadly, his drumming couldn’t keep up with the rest of the band, so they had to
let him go after just two shows. However, the good news was that Marky had,
by this time, quit alcohol, and the band agreed to let him return. Pretty much for the next two years straight,
they….uh yeah, they toured relentlessly. It was around this time that the group started
to get a lot more love from alternative rock and college radio stations. Based on this development, Sire decided to
release a Ramones greatest hits album. They called it Ramones Mania and put it out
on May 31, 1988. For newbies, it was a GREAT introduction to
the band. Meanwhile, from late 1988 until early 1989,
the Ramones recorded what would become their eleventh studio album, Brain Drain, released
by Sire on May 23, 1989. The band hoped this would be their comeback
album, but it was yet again another flop sadly. It only got up to 122 on the Billboard 200,
and the reviews of it were again mixed. That said, it featured two singles, “I Believe
in Miracles” and “Pet Sematary,” which got a lot of radio airplay and made it all
the way up to number four on Billboard’s new Modern Rock chart. The song was also the theme song for the Stephen
King movie of the same name. By the time of Brain Drain’s release, Dee
Dee had finally sobered up, but now he wanted to quit the band. He toured with the band one last time, playing
his last show with the Ramones on July 5. Dee Dee would go on to try a solo career as
a rapper and eventually formed the band Chinese Dragons after the whole rapping thing didn’t
work out. He also continued to write songs for the Ramones
behind the scenes, by the way. So yeah, yet again the Ramones needed to find
a replacement for a member who had been there since the very beginning. It was a tough choice, but they finally went
with bassist and long-time Ramones fan, Christopher Joseph Ward, who adopted the stage name of
C.J. Ramone. Over the next two years, the Ramones ALL sobered
up and did nothing but tour. In 1992, the band left their long-time record
label, Sire Records, and signed instead with Radioactive Records. Before the Ramones left Sire, Sire released
a second live album by them called Loco Live, which featured 33 songs from various performances. After their longest break from recording yet,
they finally returned to the studio in early 1992 to record what would become their twelfth
studio album, Mondo Bizarro, released by Radioactive on September 1, 1992. It received mixed reviews and featured three
singles: “Poison Heart,” “Strength to Endure,” and “Touring.” Speaking of which, they went right back to
touring for the rest of 1992 and all of 1993, pretty much nonstop of course. In between tours, they had a blast recording
a bunch of cover songs, and eventually turned that into their first and only covers only
album, Acid Eaters, released by Radioactive on December 1, 1993. Critics generally dug it. By this time, pop punk was now a popular genre,
and once again the youngins began to check out the Ramones’ older stuff more and more. With this new development, after another year
of non stop touring in 1994, the Ramones headed back to the studio one final time, really
treating it as the last time they would ever record together. They even called the new album Adios Amigos,
which translates to “Goodbye Friends” in Spanish. They announced to their fans that, unless
Adios Amigos was a smash hit, their tour promoting it would be their last…their farewell tour. Radioactive released Adios Amigos on July
18, 1995, and nope, it definitely was not a smash hit. The only song to get modest airplay on alternative
rock stations was their cover of Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Want to Grow Up.” Regardless, the farewell tour, which once
again saw them touring much of the entire world, was indeed a smashing success. The farewell tour was SUPPOSED to last just
one year, but ended up lasting two, including a 1996 appearance at the sixth Lollapalooza
festival. The Ramones played their final show on August
6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood. A recording of the show later came out as
both an album and video. Crazily enough, for the rest of the 1990s,
the band’s popularity only grew. On July 20, 1999, Dee Dee and Tommy reunited
with Joey, Johnny, Marky and C.J. at the Virgin Megastore in New York City for an autograph
signing to mark the release of their boxed set Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: The Anthology. More than 1,000 fans showed up. It was the last time all four original members
of the band appeared in public together. In fact, today all of the founding members
of the Ramones are no longer alive, all of them dying relatively young. Joey died from lymphoma on April 15, 2001. Dee Dee died from a heroin overdose on June
5, 2002. Johnny died from prostate cancer on September
15, 2004. And Tommy died on July 11, 2014 of bile duct
cancer. The four didn’t live long enough to see
them become even MORE popular more recently. Dee Dee, Johnny, and Tommy DID live to see
the Ramones inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 18, 2002, and Johnny
said it would have meant a lot to Joey to find out about it. In 2003, a popular documentary came out about
the band called End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones. On literally the day of Johnny’s death,
the Ramones Museum opened not in New York City but in Berlin, Germany…more evidence
of the worldwide impact of the band. In 2011, the band got a Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award. Over the last 25 years, various additional
Ramones compilations and live albums have also been released and still sell well. Speaking of which, on April 30, 2014, the
Ramones self-titled debut album finally became certified Gold by the Recording Industry of
America, meaning it sold 500,000 copies…just 38 years after its release, eh? And this seems to be symbolic of the Ramones’
entire career. Today they are arguably more popular than
they’ve ever been. It just took a little while for folks to catch
on. They are also respected more today than they’ve
ever been. They are #26 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100
Greatest Artists of all time list. The music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine once
wrote, “The band’s first four albums set the blueprint for punk, especially American
punk and hardcore, for the next two decades.” Indeed, the Ramones today remain one of the
most influential rock bands of all time. There have been dozens of tribute albums. Today, thousands of prominent musicians continue
to cite the band as a huge influence on their own music. There’s even a popular children’s show
called Yo Gabba Gabba! that pays respect to the band’s catchphrase,
gabba gabba hey! As it turns out, there’s a lot of us freaks
out there. Gabba gabba hey indeed. This video is sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one platform for
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video to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. I recently visited the place of the Ramones
first official gig and there’s a picture of it. And there's me in front of CBGB and that's
where Joey Ramone used to live. So what’s your favorite Ramones song or
album? My favorite song is “I Don’t Wanna Walk
Around with You” and my favorite album by them is Road to Ruin. And as always, I love to read suggestions
from you for future bands I should cover for this series. Thanks for watching!
