One original member, just to clarify. Marky’s still around! (And, as far as I know, so are the briefly tenured drummer Richie and latter-day bassist C.J., but I don’t know if I’d count them.)
Gah! God must be a punk.
Johnny, I’ll see you later, pinhead.
Blast. That’s another name to erase from the t-shirt. I’ll look a right clot with just Tommy on it.
I first saw the Ramones at the Roundhouse in Camden in early 1977. Supported by Australian band The Saints (one fantastic single “I’m Stranded”) and some other poncy New Yorkers of whom nobody took any notice called The Talking Heads. I wonder whatever happened to them?
Must go and play “It’s Alive” to remind myself how magnificent they were…
Bugger. 
Great guitarist - knew what he wanted to do, knew what he was able to do, and did it the best he can, which resulted in great, great songs. What more can you ask for?
Very weird how this band that is now considered one of the most important links in the chain of rock music - they are held up as the band that reclaimed the simple rebellion of rock n’ roll in the '70’s from all the poseurs - was never really popular (in terms of consistently charting and making a ton of money - both things they really wanted) and now most of the founding members have died young. Fucking tragic.
As Shakespeare once wrote, “Motherfucker”.
Uh, oh. Here’s more bad news: Tommy has just been offered a gig with the Traveling Wilburys!
Marky’s not a founding member. He joined the band in 1978 after their original drummer, Tommy, quit. Marky in turn quit and was replaced by Richie and for a very brief period Clem Burke (who was in the band for so little time he never became a “Ramone”).
So all of the Ramones’ drummers are still alive and everyone else is dead*. Making the Ramones the antimatter universe version of Spinal Tap.
*Yes, I know bassist CJ Ramone isn’t dead. But if I was him, I’d be getting worried.
Man. That sucks.
Damn…that’s just not right.
I guess you don’t go into Punk Rock for the pension plan.
Snooooopy never said he was. He said there’s only 1 founding member left, and mentioned Marky as a living non-founding member.
They’re gonna have to change the name of the band.
Ladies and gentlemen, The Ramone!
This cinches it. Being a Ramone causes cancer.
Uhm…ok, am I the only one seeing vl_mungo’s post permanently at the end of the thread?
There’s some screwed-up timestamping going on. His post is dated several hours ahead of real time.
Man. What a shame.
There’s a cool documentary about the Ramones showing at the Nuart in LA. It’s called “End Of The Century.” I don’t know if it’s going to be in wider release in theaters, but it should be out on DVD by the end of the year. It has some good early footage of the Ramones (and the only footage I’ve ever seen of the New York Dolls). It goes into a lot of detail about the personalities of the band members and why Joey hated Johnny so much.
Anyone who read your post and wanted to see it had one more show that night, as it only played at the Nuart one week.
But for those in the LA area, it’s playing at the Arclight this week.
One of the most interesting parts of End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (aside from the way the band was formed) was their episode with Phil Specter in LA. Specter thought his genius could make The Ramones into the hit stars they also thought they deserved to be, but they did not take very well to his controlling producing style. At one session, Spector took out a gun and aimed it at them in his attempt to get them to “work” the way he wanted. In light of last year’s “Phil Spector with a gun” incident, this story seemed weirdly precient.
Here’s a link to the film’s website:
It includes the realease dates of the film at various venues. Not exactly widely distributed, but several dates at theatres in CA, NY, NJ, MINN and ILL among others over the next couple of months. Curious that it doesn’t list the Nuart date last week, though. Especially since the Nuart schedule is printed up months in advance, so it wasn’t a special surprise screening or anything. Hmmm…
I’ve always thought they were the Best Band Ever.
I was lucky enough to actually see them at the Agora around 1995.