The Ramones
The Original Punk Rock Start up.
Ramones were an American punk rock group who formed in New York City in 1974 and broke up in 1996. All the
members of the group had stage names which replaced their real last names with "Ramone." They were one of the first punk
bands. Some others were The Clash, Sex Pistols, and The Damned. Three of the four founding members of the Ramones died
within eight years of the band breaking up.
The original lineup was made up of Joey on drums, Johnny on guitar and Dee Dee on bass and vocals. Tommy was their
manager. Then Dee Dee said he was unable to sing while playing bass, so Tommy got Joey to sing and then played drums
himself, leaving Dee Dee to backup sing. Later, Tommy left the band and was replaced on drums by a new member,
Marky.Eventually Marky was fired and then replaced by another drummer, Richie. After that, Dee Dee left the band to
produce his own rap album. C.J. joined the band as their new bassist.
Their first album "Ramones" is now a classic of early punk rock and the first punk band to sign a major record label.
The songs are short, the melodies simple and the text is often made up of 2 or three phrases only. Their live concerts
were legendary, extremely loud and very short. They played song after song, only interrupted by Dee Dee's (and later,
C.J.'s) shouts of "one, two, three, four!".
The Ramones never had big commercial success. Among their best-known songs today are "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be
Sedated." Now they are seen as one of the most important punk rock bands. Several rock bands, including Nirvana and
Green Day were influenced by the Ramones.
Want to learn more, check out The Ramones wikipedia page