Just click that link to read it on my site. Don’t believe me? Check out my recent article where I reveal who played their solos and why it wasn’t Johnny. I was really surprised when I learned that Johnny Ramone didn’t actually play the guitar solos that were heard on later recordings.īut I figured that out a long time ago. Johnny Ramone was revered for his ability to play the E, A, and B chords hard and fast and in a variety of combinations that had never been heard before. These guys basically decided to form a band and then figured out who was going to do what as they went along. Tommy stepped in as drummer because, well, somebody had to. He switched to singing because Dee Dee couldn’t hold out for more than three songs on top of playing the bass. Joey Ramone was originally slated to be the drummer. To start, pretty much everyone in the band ended up playing their instruments because someone else couldn’t. I guess it could be argued that these guys reinvented music precisely because they weren’t virtuosos at what they did. To me and millions of Ramones fans out there, these guys were the best.īut if we stop and think about it and give an honest listen to the music, it is easy to see how a critic of the band could come to the conclusion that Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy Ramone were not actually that good. The songs were played way too fast, and Joey’s vocals started to sound more like McGruff the Crime Dog, almost a caricature of his classic vocal style. Their live shows in the 1990s just weren’t nearly as good. However, their live performances did decline in quality in the final years of their existence.īut I’m biased having seen them in their heyday in 19. The Ramones were a great punk band and played thousands of shows over their career and put out 14 studio albums selling millions of copies. They have strategically licensed the most iconic songs in the Ramones catalog and have made sure that their logo has stayed plastered on t-shirts the whole world over.īut let’s examine their style, their legacy, and their popularity in greater detail!Ĥ4 years ago this week #TheRAMONES released the single “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” /J9LDHjdiXv In purely practical terms, despite having broken up in 1996, the Ramones are still top of mind due to the fact that Linda Cummings-Ramone (Johnny’s widow) and Mickey Leigh (Joey’s brother) have done a really good job of managing the Ramones’ legacy.
When a band’s music is being used to sell retirement plans and stationary bikes, you know things have reached a new low. I recently heard Hey, Ho Let’s Go on a Peloton commercial. They combined pop song stylings from the 1960s with hard rock stylings of the early 1970s.
The Ramones became and remain popular due to their simply catchy songs that are high energy and fun, with an often childlike view of the world reflected in their lyrics. Here’s what I know from being a fan for decades: But for those not in the know, why are the Ramones so popular?
It seems like since the founding members of the Ramones started dying, everyone started to recognize just how important the Ramones were.