The Ramones
Posted on 17. Jul, 2010 by nancystone in 1970's Music, 1980's Music, 1990's Music, Uncategorized
Joey Ramone
Jeffry Ross Hyman, (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001) better known to the world as Joey Ramone, was one of the original punk rebels. Joey Ramone was an outcast in high school. Inspired by David Bowie, Iggy & the Stooges and The Who, he took to the drums at age 13. In 1974 he formed a band with his school mates, John Cummings and Douglas Colvin from Forest Hill, Queens, New York. Giving themselves new names (Dee Dee, Johnny, and Joey) they took the conventional idea of what was acceptable for rock music at the time and went on to change the way that music would be thought of forever and influences a hard edge even today in the era of where soft artists and music downloads for free seem to run the industry.
With their manager who took the name Tommy Ramone, the group decided they could take on the world of commercial rock with their own brand of unique raw power. At the time the main rock acts in the world were very polished, technically accomplished and even over-produced.
The Ramones had a gritty, unrestricted energy that did not rely on lengthy guitar or drum solo’s like the mainstream. The songs consisted of two or three chords and short repetitive lyrics. The emphasis was on the emotional expression of the band and their lead singer. It was the strenth of the Ramones performances that gave them a reputation of leaving nothing to question and everything to remember.
In the UK, the band’s influence soon took hold. After their 1977 tour, British bands immediately changed the way they delivered their songs. The music became more basic and gritty, faster sounding and songs were shortened to around two minutes, all directly attributable to the Ramones sound.
Here is a video from the Ramones influential English full tour in 1977:
What the Ramones did for music is like what Warhol did for art… stripped it back to it’s most basic form, and in doing so made it reproducible. In the Ramones case, I think that their sound was so unique at the time, and simple, that it spawned imitation all over the UK. Is that a bad thing? Well, if it wasn’t for the Ramones challenging the status quo there would never have been the Sex Pistols, and punk music would never have existed
