1976-1996Joey Ramone (Jeffry Hyman)Vocals
Johnny Ramone (John Cummings)Guitar
Dee Dee Ramone (Doug Colvin)Bass1976-1989
Tommy Ramone (Tom Erdelyi)Drums1976-1978
Marky Ramone (Marc Bell)Drums1978-
CJ Ramone (Chris Ward)Bass1989-
Most of their songs are about two minutes long - partly because they didn't do guitar solos. In concert, when a song ended, they did a 1, 2, 3, 4 count-in and went right into the next one.
In 2014, the last of their original members died. Here's the timeline:
2001 - Joey dies of lymphatic cancer at 49
2002 - Dee Dee dies of a heroin overdose at 50
2004 - Johnny dies of prostate cancer at 55
2014 - Tommy dies of bile duct cancer at 65
They were one of the most successful and influential punk rock bands, but most of their albums didn't sell very well and they didn't earn widespread acclaim until the '90s, when their influence on the genre became clear. They earned validation when they were induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2002.
In 1979, they starred in the movie Rock And Roll High School. In the film, students try to get tickets to a Ramones show and end up taking over the school.
Joey was an avid online stock trader in the late '90s. He was a big fan of cable network CNBC, and wrote a song named after his favorite anchor, Maria Bartiromo. There were plans to have him sing it on her show, but he never recovered from his cancer.
They were the first punk band inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The Clash and The Sex Pistols were eligible the same year (2002) but didn't get in.
When Joey Ramone died, the surviving members vowed to never perform together again.
The Ramones were inspired by '60s girl groups, particularly The Ronettes. Joey Ramone helped produce Spector's 1999 solo album, She Talks to Rainbows, and duetted with her on the track "Bye Bye Baby."
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Suggestion credit:
Jeff - Kendall Park, NJ
Joey started dating a girl named Linda Danielle in the late '70s. He took her on tour, but she started having an affair with Johnny, forming a very uncomfortable love triangle. In 1982, she left Joey, and in 1984 married Johnny, taking the name Linda Ramone. The remained married until his death.
The relationship between Joey and Johnny was already tense, but this ruined it completely. They remained bandmates long after, but the animosity never abated. Johnny didn't attend Joey's funeral.
They appeared on an episode of
The Simpsons where they perform at Mr. Burns' birthday party. They sing Happy Birthday to him and afterwards, Mr. burns says to Smithers: "Have the Rolling Stones killed!"
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Suggestion credit:
Tom - Trowbridge, England
In their early years, their goal was to write a new song at every rehearsal, which resulted in lots of material to choose from.
Marky Ramone was fired in 1983, shortly before completion of the
Subterranean Jungle album. He was replaced by Richie Ramone until 1987. Richie wanted money from T-shirt sales, and Johnny refused, so he was replaced for a few disastrous shows by Clem Burke of Blondie (as Elvis Ramone), before Marky rejoined.
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Suggestion credit:
Glen - Hollywood, CA
In 1997, four species of trilobites were named after members of the band: Mackenziurus johnnyi, Mackenziurus joeyi, Mackenziurus deedeei, and Mackenziurus ceejayi.
When Joey died, The Misfits removed their own content from their website and replaced it with a picture of Joey. Social Distortion did likewise, displaying a photograph of Mike Ness and Joey Ramone as tribute.
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Suggestion credit:
Katie - NSW, Australia, for above 2
When Dee Dee quit the band in 1989, he released a rap album called Standing In The Spotlight under the name "Dee Dee King." He rapped in German on one song.
The band name came from Paul Ramon, which was a fake name Paul McCartney used when The Beatles (known then as The Silver Beatles) were touring Scotland in 1960. Doug Colvin was a big McCartney fan and was using the name Dee Dee Ramone when the band formed. The rest of the group thought it sounded like a cool name, so they decided to use it as their band name and aliases.
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
For the most part, they were miserable in each other's company, which was tough because they were in such close quarters. After they
played their final show in 1996, they each packed up and left without saying goodbye.
Before their concerts, the Ramones would rehearse their entire set (unplugged) backstage.
In 1978, they opened some shows for Black Sabbath's
Never Say Die! tour. It did not go well. In his
Songfacts interview, Marky Ramone described one of the shows: "After about five or six songs, we got booed, we got every kind of coin tossed at us, and any other thing you could imagine, and we just said, "F--k you," and we left the stage. We gave them the middle finger and walked off."
As quoted in the book
England's Dreaming, Revised Edition: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond, manager Danny Fields says the Ramones first album cost six thousand dollars to make, explaining, "The album was just making a statement. like the picture on the cover, you put them in the alley behind CBGBs and make sure it's in focus. They had invented themselves, and they could have probably done the album for six hundred dollars."
They never appeared on Saturday Night Live, although they did have an offer. In 1977 when the planned musical guest, the Sex Pistols, couldn't get into the country, producers asked the Ramones to fill in. They turned it down, and the gig went to Elvis Costello, who left his mark by stopping his performance and launching into a song he wasn't supposed to play.
The Ramones T-shirt has become a ubiquitous garment. It's estimated that more Ramones T-shirts have been sold worldwide than the band's albums.
Joey had OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), which was so bad he would often return to places to retrace steps or touch certain objects. On one occasion the band's tour bus had to head back and forth between London and Heathrow Airport so he could finish counting the squares on one of the vehicle's checkered headrests.
In March 1996, the Argentine branch of Coca Cola announced they would give away free tickets to a Ramones concert in Buenos Aires in exchange for 10 caps from bottles of the soft drink. Massively underestimating the band's appeal in Argentina, Coca Cola didn't make enough tickets available, resulting in hundreds of Argentine youths rioting. Several Buenos Aires stores and businesses were looted and destroyed during their rampage.
