The embryo of the Ramones began to take shape in Forest Hills, a middle-class neighborhood of Queens, New York, where they lived all its founding members.
Jeffrey Hyman was an unemployed teenager, the son of a divorced couple that occupied his time playing drums and collecting records, while his mother tried to instill an interest in painting and his father asked him to continue with its trucking business. Jeffrey suffered from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that required admission to a psychiatric facility. A late 60's was part of a glam rock short life called Sniper. John Cummings was a member of a military academy came under a mandate from his mother. As a childhood friend of Jeffrey, tried to form a group with him and another friend while in high school. A late 60's started a garage rock band called Tangerine Puppets with Thomas Erdelyi, a Hungarian by birth who had been immersed in the world of music long before their future partners. Douglas Colvin spent his childhood in Germany because of the work of his father, a member of the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. military. He moved to New York with his mother and sisters at age 14, and when he joined the group was the only component that had a job (hairdresser).
early 70's, Jeffrey was a singer in a local band. In one of his concerts, met Douglas, who came to see a concert by the New York Dolls. John was a friend of Douglas and Jeffrey friend (He was with his brother Mitch Hyman in the same band), and in turn a friend of Thomas. Thus, the first line of the embryo of the Ramones had as members guitarist John Cummings, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Douglas Colvin, Jeffrey Hyman on drums and Richie, a friend of all, the low, who would eventually start dropping soon . Thomas act as a representative of the group and was the one who got the first rehearsal of the group, Performance Studio, in Manhattan. In this room they played their first concert on March 30, 1974 before an audience of 30 people and with a repertoire composed solely of versions of other artists. In this concert the band was known as the Ramones, a name invented by Douglas. From that moment, all members take the name Ramone (the same as Paul McCartney used the Silver Beetles period) so that the three members would be known as Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) and Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin). This first concert was a disaster, caused mainly by the inability to Dee Dee to play and sing at once. As a solution, Dee Dee is spent only on bass and Joey took the job as a singer. To fill the hole in the battery was chosen to Thomas, the representative and friend of the components, which became known as Tommy Ramone.
16 August saw its debut seriously in a place called CBGB. From this first performance went to play there once a week along with other emerging musicians like Blondie, Johnny Thunders, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Television. Their first gig outside of New York took place, opening for Johnny Winter in front of 20,000 people in Waterbury, Connecticut, and was a resounding disaster. In December of that year recorded a demo of 15 songs produced by Tommy, seven of which would go to the first album and two the second. Two others were published in All the Stuff (and More), while there are still four of these songs.
In June 1975 a semidesconocida record company, Sire Records, offered a simple record, but declined. Linda Stein, the wife of one of the founders of this company, Seymour Stein, had seen him perform at CBGB and recommended to her husband, who managed to convince Sire to offer a five-year contract.
On February 2, 1976, the Ramones began recording their first album, Ramones, with a budget of $ 6,400, in contrast to the high budgets that spent the greatest rock bands. Two and a half weeks, the album was finished, and came to light on 23 April. On May 10, shared the stage with the British band Dr. Feelgood. This concert was watched by a British businessman who offered perform a concert at the Roundhouse in London on July 4 with the San Francisco group The Flamin 'Grooves and English The Stranglers. The concert was a success and paved the way for significant British punk bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash. This concert is said to have witnessed the future leaders of these famous bands that would soon after a false fact on the same day as The Clash was opening for the Sex Pistols at the Black Swan in Sheffield. The concert by the Ramones at the Roundhouse is considered a crucial moment in the development of punk in the world.
The next two albums were published in 1977 under the names of Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, the latter praised by Rolling Stone as "the best American rock & roll year." Both albums were produced by Tony Bongiovi, cousin of Jon Bon Jovi. Rocket to Russia contains only three singles that managed to enter the charts in the United States, "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (number 81), "Rockaway Beach" (post 66) and "Do You Want to Dance" (as 86). On December 31, 1977 recorded the live It's Alive, a double album that includes his performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London, finally published in 1979 only in Europe and Asia. The title is a reference to the horror film of the same name. Tommy, tired of touring with the group, left the band to be a producer, and was replaced by Mark Bell, who took up the post with the name of Marky Ramone. Marky had previously worked with a southern rock band called Dust, which released two albums in 1971 and 1972, and had recorded with Richard Hell Blank Generation album.
In 1978 the band released their first album with new member, Road to Ruin. This album includes for the first time in the discography of the Ramones songs with acoustic guitar, several ballads, the first guitar solo of Johnny and the first two songs from more than three minutes, although the sales performance remained unfavorable. However, the song "I Want to Be Sedated" became one of the most famous quartet from New York. 1980-1989
After the debut of the band in the film industry in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School, directed by Allan Arkush and produced by Roger Corman (1979), legendary producer Phil Spector who had achieved fame producing records of the Ronettes, the Beatles and Tina Turner among others, became interested in the band and produced their album End of the Century in 1980, which rose to number 44 th in the U.S., being the disc which was higher in the charts in the band's career. However, the result did not satisfy members the group, citing differences between them and Spector, who came to point to Dee Dee with a gun to repeat a riff. In interviews, Johnny said he had always been in favor of more aggressive punk, while End of the Century presents a material section of the classic sound of the group due to the influence of Spector, highlighting the soft sound of "Baby, I Love You "(a version of the Ronettes, however, became the group's most successful single, reaching eighth place in the UK), far below the typical New York punk quartet. Despite the musical differences, the album proved a popular success and the band went first to Spain, where they gave three concerts.
In 1981, the quartet released the album Pleasant Dreams, which continued the path set by End of the Century to present a much less aggressive punk in the first four albums. This time the producer was Graham Gouldman, a component of British pop music duo 10 cc. In subsequent statements, Johnny said that taking this direction was a decision by the record company in a vain attempt to attract the attention of the American public. At this time began the first serious differences between components and the first problems with drugs and alcohol. On August 1 the Ramones became the first band interviewed on MTV, which by then was in its infancy, but with the expansion of the band left channel programming.
Jeffrey Hyman was an unemployed teenager, the son of a divorced couple that occupied his time playing drums and collecting records, while his mother tried to instill an interest in painting and his father asked him to continue with its trucking business. Jeffrey suffered from an obsessive-compulsive disorder that required admission to a psychiatric facility. A late 60's was part of a glam rock short life called Sniper. John Cummings was a member of a military academy came under a mandate from his mother. As a childhood friend of Jeffrey, tried to form a group with him and another friend while in high school. A late 60's started a garage rock band called Tangerine Puppets with Thomas Erdelyi, a Hungarian by birth who had been immersed in the world of music long before their future partners. Douglas Colvin spent his childhood in Germany because of the work of his father, a member of the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. military. He moved to New York with his mother and sisters at age 14, and when he joined the group was the only component that had a job (hairdresser).
early 70's, Jeffrey was a singer in a local band. In one of his concerts, met Douglas, who came to see a concert by the New York Dolls. John was a friend of Douglas and Jeffrey friend (He was with his brother Mitch Hyman in the same band), and in turn a friend of Thomas. Thus, the first line of the embryo of the Ramones had as members guitarist John Cummings, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Douglas Colvin, Jeffrey Hyman on drums and Richie, a friend of all, the low, who would eventually start dropping soon . Thomas act as a representative of the group and was the one who got the first rehearsal of the group, Performance Studio, in Manhattan. In this room they played their first concert on March 30, 1974 before an audience of 30 people and with a repertoire composed solely of versions of other artists. In this concert the band was known as the Ramones, a name invented by Douglas. From that moment, all members take the name Ramone (the same as Paul McCartney used the Silver Beetles period) so that the three members would be known as Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) and Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin). This first concert was a disaster, caused mainly by the inability to Dee Dee to play and sing at once. As a solution, Dee Dee is spent only on bass and Joey took the job as a singer. To fill the hole in the battery was chosen to Thomas, the representative and friend of the components, which became known as Tommy Ramone.
16 August saw its debut seriously in a place called CBGB. From this first performance went to play there once a week along with other emerging musicians like Blondie, Johnny Thunders, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Television. Their first gig outside of New York took place, opening for Johnny Winter in front of 20,000 people in Waterbury, Connecticut, and was a resounding disaster. In December of that year recorded a demo of 15 songs produced by Tommy, seven of which would go to the first album and two the second. Two others were published in All the Stuff (and More), while there are still four of these songs.
In June 1975 a semidesconocida record company, Sire Records, offered a simple record, but declined. Linda Stein, the wife of one of the founders of this company, Seymour Stein, had seen him perform at CBGB and recommended to her husband, who managed to convince Sire to offer a five-year contract.
On February 2, 1976, the Ramones began recording their first album, Ramones, with a budget of $ 6,400, in contrast to the high budgets that spent the greatest rock bands. Two and a half weeks, the album was finished, and came to light on 23 April. On May 10, shared the stage with the British band Dr. Feelgood. This concert was watched by a British businessman who offered perform a concert at the Roundhouse in London on July 4 with the San Francisco group The Flamin 'Grooves and English The Stranglers. The concert was a success and paved the way for significant British punk bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash. This concert is said to have witnessed the future leaders of these famous bands that would soon after a false fact on the same day as The Clash was opening for the Sex Pistols at the Black Swan in Sheffield. The concert by the Ramones at the Roundhouse is considered a crucial moment in the development of punk in the world. The next two albums were published in 1977 under the names of Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, the latter praised by Rolling Stone as "the best American rock & roll year." Both albums were produced by Tony Bongiovi, cousin of Jon Bon Jovi. Rocket to Russia contains only three singles that managed to enter the charts in the United States, "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" (number 81), "Rockaway Beach" (post 66) and "Do You Want to Dance" (as 86). On December 31, 1977 recorded the live It's Alive, a double album that includes his performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London, finally published in 1979 only in Europe and Asia. The title is a reference to the horror film of the same name. Tommy, tired of touring with the group, left the band to be a producer, and was replaced by Mark Bell, who took up the post with the name of Marky Ramone. Marky had previously worked with a southern rock band called Dust, which released two albums in 1971 and 1972, and had recorded with Richard Hell Blank Generation album.
In 1978 the band released their first album with new member, Road to Ruin. This album includes for the first time in the discography of the Ramones songs with acoustic guitar, several ballads, the first guitar solo of Johnny and the first two songs from more than three minutes, although the sales performance remained unfavorable. However, the song "I Want to Be Sedated" became one of the most famous quartet from New York. 1980-1989
After the debut of the band in the film industry in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School, directed by Allan Arkush and produced by Roger Corman (1979), legendary producer Phil Spector who had achieved fame producing records of the Ronettes, the Beatles and Tina Turner among others, became interested in the band and produced their album End of the Century in 1980, which rose to number 44 th in the U.S., being the disc which was higher in the charts in the band's career. However, the result did not satisfy members the group, citing differences between them and Spector, who came to point to Dee Dee with a gun to repeat a riff. In interviews, Johnny said he had always been in favor of more aggressive punk, while End of the Century presents a material section of the classic sound of the group due to the influence of Spector, highlighting the soft sound of "Baby, I Love You "(a version of the Ronettes, however, became the group's most successful single, reaching eighth place in the UK), far below the typical New York punk quartet. Despite the musical differences, the album proved a popular success and the band went first to Spain, where they gave three concerts.
In 1981, the quartet released the album Pleasant Dreams, which continued the path set by End of the Century to present a much less aggressive punk in the first four albums. This time the producer was Graham Gouldman, a component of British pop music duo 10 cc. In subsequent statements, Johnny said that taking this direction was a decision by the record company in a vain attempt to attract the attention of the American public. At this time began the first serious differences between components and the first problems with drugs and alcohol. On August 1 the Ramones became the first band interviewed on MTV, which by then was in its infancy, but with the expansion of the band left channel programming.
About this time began the first serious trouble between members of the band, especially between Joey and Johnny. Both musicians had been the source of many discussions above, including policies (while Johnny was a staunch conservative, Joey was considered a person from left), and continued in the tortuous recording End of the Century: first, Johnny tried to get the group follow the path of the first records of the group, while on the other, Joey wanted to explore other ways beyond the punk music. Their relationship reached its peak when Johnny "stole" Joey girlfriend named Linda Danielle, to end up marrying her. Given this, Joey wrote the song "The KKK Took My Baby Away" (included in Pleasant Dreams) in reference to this event ("KKK" are the initials of the Ku Klux Klan, which revealed the conservative tendencies of Johnny). In an interview with Johnny Ramone shortly before his death, he said: "We got bad in any way. The situation did not help, but neither are we could agree on anything. I do not know. There were just different." The relationship between the vocalist and guitarist never recovered completely, and remained so until the death of Joey in 2001.
After editing in 1983 Subterranean Jungle, Marky Ramone was fired from the group because of their alcohol problems. This album shows the group creative problems, to disguise in two songs riff of "Blitzkrieg Bop" and include three versions of other artists in a slight shift to the new wave. In addition, Johnny Ramone was injured in a fight and had to undergo a delicate operation in which his life came to be in danger, but he recovered successfully. After the return of Johnny, the aim was to supplement the low Marky, and was elected Richie Ramone (born Richard Reinhardt). Having overcome
difficulties, the band resurfaced with the album Too Tough to Die (Too tough to die, the name comes from the incident of Johnny) in 1984, produced by Tommy Ramone. This album was a return to the musical roots of the group after the failures of the previous three papers and presented his first instrumental song, "Durango 95. Some music critics consider that this was the last album as the band.
In 1986, the Ramones were invited to record the soundtrack for the film Sid and Nancy, which chronicles the last years of the Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. During the recording there are several problems with the contract, which was eventually canceled. However, the group took some of the songs composed for this project failed to introduce the album Animal Boy, who was born the same year. This work was produced by Jean Beauvoir, a member of Plasmatics, and features songs both aggressive and more commercial songs. One of the songs of this work, "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg," talks about Ronald Reagan's visit to a Nazi cemetery. The commotion caused protests and Johnny Ramone himself forced to change title in the editions of the album in the United States to "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down."
A year later he recorded the last album with Richie, which was entitled Halfway to Sanity and produced by Daniel Rey, former guitarist of Shrapnel (another group of the New York scene.) Richie left the band in August 1987 with the trio upset because, after five years, had not shared the benefits of selling T-shirts with him. Richie was replaced by Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone) of Blondie1 According to Johnny, the concerts were a disaster Burke, and was fired after the second because he could not keep pace with the rest to play. His replacement was a sober and recovered Marky Ramone.
changes in training continued in 1989 with the departure of Dee Dee Ramone, who was then the most prolific composer of the group after the publication of Brain Drain. Dee Dee was restored by Christopher Joseph Ward (CJ Ramone), who held his post until the breakup of the group. However, Dee Dee continued to compose for the band, despite starting a brief and unsuccessful career as a rapper under the name Dee Dee King, but before he had taken the pseudonym of Dougie Fresh. His debut as a rapper was released under the title Standing at the Spotlight in 1989. 1990-1996
In January 1990, Joey Ramone had an accident during a concert at the Ritz in New York in which he suffered a torn cruciate ligaments in his ankle that forced him to keep six weeks of rest. That year, Sire Records released All The Stuff (And More), a double album which included re-edited versions of their first two albums and other demos and unreleased tracks that served to publicize the group's beginnings in countries which had not been released early albums (such as eg Spain).
Soon after, the group traveled to Toronto and appeared in the film by Bill Fishman Car 54, Where Are You?, A film inspired by the series of the same name transmitted at the end of the 60's addition, the Ramones organized concerts in Canada Belgium, Sweden and Finland and played in the first music festival held after the reunification of Germany. In the shows played together again to Iggy Pop and Belgium did with Sonic Youth and The Pogues.
In 1991 Loco Live was released, an album recorded live in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bSpain, which received poor reviews when compared to It's Alive. In turn, 26, 27 and 28 April 1991, the Ramones made their second foray into Buenos Aires, Argentina appeared at the Obras Sanitarias stadium. In July of that year, Marky and Joey participated as panelists at the seminar Rock the Vote, an organization responsible for the registration of voters and the adoption of incentives for people to actively participate in politics. The Ramones filmed a video for this organization that was broadcast by MTV.
A year later the band recorded Mondo Bizarro album released by Radioactive Records and produced by Ed Stasium which was again attended by Dee Dee Ramone in the composition of two topics. On September 16 the Ramones were presented again in Argentina doing four shows a full house at the Obras Sanitarias Stadium, also giving several concerts in Spain.
The group's next record was Acid Eaters, an album of cover songs from the 60 recorded in just one week. In 1995, two years after Acid Eaters, the group recorded what would be his last studio album, Adios Amigos!, Where Daniel King and Dee Dee Ramone actively collaborated in the composition.
Later that year, the Ramones played six consecutive days with all tickets sold at the Obras Sanitarias stadium in Argentina. The curtains important bands of the punk scene as Phlegm Argentina, Attaque 77, 2 minutes, Double Strength, Mal Momento, The Shawshank Redemption and Superuva and the band played "Spider-Man" (first time) and "RAMONES" (an original song Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister who composed as a tribute to the quartet New York) in vivo.
On February 26, 1996 the band performed at The Academy, New York in a concert that would lead to the live album Greatest Hits Live. On 16 March of that year Ramones once again returned to Argentina to give his last concert in South America and, as they calculated, the last of his career. The group filled the Monumental stadium of Club Atletico River Plate with 45,000 people attended the concert. However, shortly after Ramones decided to play some concerts by the festival Lollapalooza in the U.S. before their separation. His last show was the August 6, 1996, at The Palace, Los Angeles and his latest album, We're Outta Here, contains the recording of that concert.
After the break
After the failed raid the world of rap, punk Dee Dee returned to his solo album I Hate Freaks Like You, on the return of original bassist of the Ramones to the sound of his old band. The album was released in 1996 and recorded in the Netherlands.
On July 20, 1999, Dee Dee, Joey, Johnny, Marky, CJ and Tommy appeared together in a chain store in New York Virgin Music to sign autographs. This was the last time they met former members of the group before the death of Joey on April 15, 2001 due to lymphoma. Joey unfinished work were collected in the album Do not Worry About Me. In tribute to his memory, the City of New York unveiled a plaque with his name on the corner of Bowery Street (The street that was the CBGB) and 2nd Street in November 2003, renamed Joey Ramone Place.
In 2002, Johnny, Dee Dee, Joey, Tommy and Marky Ramone were included in the Hall of Fame Rock and Roll, which was one of Dee Dee's last appearances before his death. On 5 June the same year was found dead in his Hollywood home because of a heroin overdose.
In February 2003, was released on CD We're a Happy Family. A Tribute to Ramones, a cover album of the most famous band coordinated by Rob Zombie (White Zombie leader) and Johnny Ramone, which included artists such as U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Waits, Metallica, Kiss, Marilyn Manson, Garbage, Eddie Vedder, The Pretenders, Green Day, The Offspring and Rob Zombie himself.
In the summer of 2004 we have a documentary about the band, End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones. Johnny Ramone died Sept. 15 after a struggle with prostate cancer. A year later, in commemoration of his death, opened the first museum dedicated to the band in Berlin, Germany, with a collection of nearly three hundred objects relating to the New York quartet.
Throughout 2006, premiered a musical drama called Gabba Gabba Hey based on the story of the Ramones, which include eighteen songs New York group that included the participation of Tommy Ramone, both producing the same as on stage.
In October 2007 released a live DVD called It's Alive 1974-1996, with 118 songs played in 33 concerts that review the group's musical career.
The Ramones were part of the first wave of punk, who was in New York City as one of its hubs, along with London. In addition to the Ramones, appeared in New York other punk bands like Television, Blondie and Talking Heads and artists such as Richard Hell and Patti Smith, but that sounded different from the Ramones. While these groups were more intellectual and conceived the music making in a more artistic, the Ramones very short songs composed a handful of chords with lyrics very simple or even meaningless. The result was a formula returning to the roots of rock and roll of 50 and 60, before the arrival of the Beatles, but with a significantly faster tempo than the genre and it sounded like something new.
Minimalist music, loud and fast is influenced by pop music with the band members grew during the decade of the 50 and 60, as The Beach Boys, The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and some of proto punk bands as The Stooges and New York Dolls. It also means a reaction against the complex and highly produced rock 70's, with exponents as Led Zeppelin and progressive rock artists that dominated the charts in this decade. The Ramones were seen as the leaders of the punk scene, thanks largely to their first four albums, which formed the basis on which settled the other post punk bands. This sound largely influenced by New Wave of British Heavy Metal that emerged in Britain in the mid to late 70's with bands like Motörhead (who wrote the song "RAMONES"), Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as well as to speed metal. Race the Ramones in the 80 got into the land of hardcore punk, with albums like Too Tough to Die and Halfway to Sanity, also exert considerable influence in this género.2
The Ramones and other post-punk groups helped move the stadium rock of smaller clubs in accordance with the simple philosophy that preaches this genre. On stage, the band always stood facing the audience, with the bassist and guitarist legs spread and bent instrument between them. Johnny Ramone did not like looking guitarists that played drums, amp or anything else other than the public.
Internal conflicts
During the race of the Ramones, the tension between Johnny and Joey was patent. Had opposing political ideas, Joey being a liberal and a conservative Johnny. Their personalities clashed too: Johnny came from a military family who instilled values \u200b\u200bof discipline, while Joey was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. Johnny, who was fascinated by Nazism and Adolf Hitler, Joey sometimes tormented with anti-Semitic remarks. In the early 80's, Johnny began dating Joey's girlfriend, Linda, with whom he later married. As a result and although they continued playing together, they stopped talking. Johnny did not call back until the day of his death. In a subsequent documentary said that the week after the singer's death was the worst of his life. Apart from the conflict
main bipolar disorder Dee Dee and his frequent drug addiction also caused numerous scratches. Tommy left the band for being threatened by Johnny, Dee Dee despised and ignored by Joey. "As new members were joining, money matters and actions were a source of conflict. In 1997 Marky and Joey led a discussion on radio on their alcohol problems.
The image of the Ramones on stage complemented the theme of their songs and concerts. All members of the band went to the concerts with leather jackets, ripped jeans, sports shirts and long hair in honor of the rock stars of 501 and showing that there was no need to dress fancy and luxurious way to play rock music. This trend emphasized the minimalism of their music, which was a major influence on the New York scene of the 70. Tommy Ramone emphasized that, both musically and visually, "were influenced by the comics, the work of Andy Warhol and the avant-garde cinema."
The band logo was created by artist Arturo Vega, a friend of Joey and Dee Dee offered to stay on your floor. Vega was the shirt of the band, its major source income, basing most of the images in black and white photograph he had taken from his belt with the buckle of the bald eagle, which appeared on the cover of the band's first album. The artist was inspired by a trip to Washington DC to create the logo: "I watched as the last band of all Americans. To me, they reflect the American character in general, a childlike innocent aggression. So the first time I went to Washington DC, was impressed by the formal atmosphere of the buildings and bodies and flags everywhere. I thought, 'The Great Seal of the President of the United States would be perfect for the Ramones, with the eagle holding the arrows, to symbolize strength and aggression used against anyone who dares to attack us, and an olive branch, offered to those who want to be friends. " But we decided to change a bit. Instead of the olive branch, we had an apple tree branch, because the Ramones were as American as apple pie. And Johnny was a baseball fan, put the eagle with a bat instead of the arrows. "
roll in the eagle's beak originally put" Look Out / Below "(Care / Down), but was changed to" Hey ho! Let's go! "By opening cries of" Blitzkrieg Bop ", while arrowheads shield design came from a t own a Vega. Where the presidential seal reading "Seal of the President of the United States" around the eagle, Vega put in place the names of the four members of the band, which change according to movements in the same alignment. Finally, Vega was hired as the manager also lighting the band at gigs and in charge of merchandising.
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