Breaking news: Johnny Ramone dies

AP | Sept. 15, 2004 | AP

[JellyJam]

Johnny Ramone, member of punk legends ’The Ramones,’ dies at 55

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Ramone, guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band “The Ramones,” has died. He was 55.

Ramone died in his sleep Wednesday afternoon at his Los Angeles home surrounded by friends and family, his publicist said. He had battled prostate cancer for five years, and was hospitalized in June at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Ramone, born John Cummings, was one of the original members of the Ramones, whose hit songs “I Wanna be sedated” and “Blitzkrieg Bop,” among others, earned the band induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

The band’s singer, Joey Ramone, whose real name was Jeff Hyman, died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, who was born Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose in 2002.

Johnny Ramone founded “The Ramones” in 1974 with Joey Ramone, DeeDee Ramone and Tommy Ramone, the only surviving member of the original band.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I missed no point. The Dictators of Louder and Louder fame. I have an LP of them.

The issue was whether the Ramones was the greatest rr band ever and it isn't even close they may not make the top 25 in fact. THAT is the point.

[t_skoz]

I've been reading this forum since September 2000. You are always making obnoxious comments. Who cares if you don't like the Ramones. This is a tribute thread to a dead conservative musician and champion of Reagan and his policies. If you think the Ramones suck by all means don't post to this thread.

Thanks

[GSWarrior]

No, I would not put them on the top of my list. I don't really care actually. I was never a huge fan of theirs, but I admire what they did.

[537cant be wrong]

if i dont see you again in this world, i'll see you in the next. don't be late. J.M.H.

R.I.P. johnny...............

thanks t_skoz and of course weegee

[justshutupandtakeit]

If your reading comprehension over the years is as poor as it is currently you better start again. You can begin with my comments on this thread.

Where did you get the idea that I didn't like the Ramones? NOthing bad was said about them merely that they were NOT the greatest RR band ever by a long shot.

In fact I do like them just don't overrate them.

[RightWingAtheist]

Oh man....I never realized that Johnny and I loved the same things so much! RIP Johnny. You were a great guitarist and a great guy, and I hope you're jammin with the greats now!

[aft_lizard]

If that's a conservative, this country is lost.>>>

only suit and tie wearing, bible thumping,, number crunching proffessionals in your party huh.

[itsamelman]

Personally, this 37 y.o. punk loves Led Zeppelin AND the Ramones. In their own way I think these are the two best rock bands ever. Back in the day it was de rigeur for punks to bag on Zep (they WERE awfully pretentious and seem to have been the influence for at least half of the material in Spinal Tap), but damn, those guys were good.

However, I absolutely detest Kansas, Yes (NO!), ELP, Boston, Styx, and the rest of the bloated corpse of 70's corporate arena rock and their miscreant progeny (Bon Jovi anyone?).

[weegee]

Gooba Gabba, Johnny. You were "one of us".

[weegee]

I don't disagree with you about the song but Joey voted for Reagan.

[itsamelman]

[StoneColdGOP]

Sad...

[weegee]

Ah but Joey and Marky didn't get along at all at the end (I've heard 8 minutes of a radio segment of them yelling at each other on the Howard Stern show near the end of Joey's life).

Dee Dee got out of the band a long time ago. I suspect that Joey didn't want to spend his final years fighting his ex-friends.

Dee Dee's final book (published after his death) shows that he didn't like the socialized Europe (with Europeans' staunch antiAmerican views, and Dee Dee had been born in Germany). Dee Dee also seemed to come to realize that while Johnny could be a hard ass trying to get the band in line and get them to the show on time, he realizes that someone had to "be the bad guy" and do it. Dee Dee even wrote a little about 9-11-2001 in his notes that got published as a book. Some of the Dee Dee stories are exaggerated (or even complete fabrications) though.

As to Johnny stealing Joey's girlfriend, the infighting continued when C.J. got Marky's niece pregnant. And some of the other NYC women went with several different band members (as noted in Dee Dee's book Lobotomy which was also excerpted and expanded on in Leggs McNeil's Please Kill Me).

[smith288]

But, if you listen to the songs lyrics and see the cover art I do not see how Johnny could have been a true conservative.

*Sigh* READ INTO IT.

[weegee]

I suspect that the correlation between the decline in the quality of rock music and sf-horror films produced in America can both be tied to the loss of local horror host programs on television.

I need some money to finance a study on this phenomena.

Zacherly influenced some. Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) infected the whole Cleveland scene (with Lux Interior of the Cramps and members of Rocket From The Tombs, which spawned The Dead Boys and Pere Ubu citing Ghoulardi as a big influence). I'm sure that Vampira and even Elvira influenced bands.

The underground success of this foreign film may help prove the theory:

Guitar Wolf's chief influences are Joan Jett, The Ramones, Link Wray, and the Stooges.

[hadrian]

I just saw the "End of the Century" at a WHFS screening in DC last night- really strange then to hear on the radio this morning that Johnny passed. A really good, funny movie about an influential group. Some of the best lines; Tommy explaining that he became their drummer because while he was doing their sound, they needed a drummer - "I had never played drums before but I started then. We sounded better when we learned to play our instruments." And Dee-Dee saying when they started becoming well known, "Joey had a new kind of girlfriends - ones who weren't on medication." Johnny came off as a pain, unfunny taskmaster but who kept them together. If you haven't seen it, buy "Rock and Roll High School" - worth it for the scene of the Ramones driving up to the theater in a convertible eating fried chicken and playing "I Just Want to have something to do" with their guitars not plugged into anything.

[weegee]

Slightly off-topic. The Cramps are back in DIY (Do it yourself) mode and running their own record company, having been dissatisfied with what "labels" have done for them. They have issued all of the albums they own (everything except the IRS albums) on CD and vinyl.

This next week is supposed to see the release of a 2 disc set of vintage rarities from the Cramps.

[jays911]

a dictators reference on a conservative website. that's why i love FR. as for johnny, all i can say is "i want to be sedated".

[weegee]

Punks didn't like hippies or their political correctness. Punks also believed in the principle of "Do it yourself".

It is historical revisionism that makes people believe that all punks are anarchist-socialists. It got co-opted by the commies just as rock and roll did in the 1960s.

There were no politics involved in 1950s rock and roll. Some may claim "integration" but there were no such lyrics (I have heard some earlier jump blues songs that refer to white people and black people both liking the music). Integration of young people happened as a response to an appreciation of the music, setting aside differences, not a political act or mindset. Politics in 1950s and early 1960s music was found in the more "respected" folk singer movement.

[riri]

He was young.

I am really over this cancer scourge. Cure it, already.

Let's redirect the 15 billion we are sending to Africa to curing cancer.