Tune into Little Steven's Underground Garage syndicated radio show. He'll give you his theory of programming that show. He says that everything he plays is centered around The Ramones. Everything that came before and influenced the band and everything that came afterwards and was influenced by the band.
They certainly helped spearhead more basic rock and roll songs in a time of extended guitar solos, prog keyboard freakouts, sensitive songwriter fern bar music such as James Taylor and Carly Simon, coked out gay disco...
Who influenced more bands in the long run, Styx or the Ramones?
If you are to claim that Led Zepplin has spawned more bands, can you point to progeny? What can we do to determine that they didn't get their sound from The Yardbirds? Or the bands that influenced the Yardbirds?
And for the record (not that you made this claim), the Ramones' songs were not "short". Look up the runtime of some of the biggest hits of the 1950s and 1960s and many of them clock in under 2:15.
If they inspired the Clash they justified their existence. Since I do consider the Clash one of the greatest bands ever not the greatest but close.
Sex Pistols suck since they had no musical talent and I never listen to them. The only positive or worthy product of the Punk movement was the Clash. I don't like or listen to Styx.
Was Little Steven the guy in the Pulp Fiction soundtrack?
Tune length in the 50s and 60s was determined by the 45 technology they were pointed toward.