The Ramones

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The Ramones was a group from Forest Hills, New York. Formed in the March of 1974. The original members consisted of Johnny Ramone on the lead guitar, Joey Ramone on lead vocals, Dee Dee Ramone on the bass and backing vocals, and Tommy Ramone on the drums. Ritchie Ramone was replaced soon by Dee Dee Ramone. Joey at first was the drummer who then went on to be the lead vocals and the drummer they got to replace Joey was Tommy. All The Ramones got their last name from the fake name Paul Ramono that Paul McCartney would use when checking into hotels so fans did not know he was at the hotels. Joey liked the idea of using the fake name for a band and hence there being five guys in the band the adopted the name The Ramones. They got their first attention in the New York rock scene in August of 1974. They got arousing approval from audiences in CBGB in the Manhattan Bowery district in New York. The Ramones played many times in CBGB and too all around N.Y.

Sire Records a part of Warner Bros, records located in Burbank California signed The Ramones in late 1975. Their first TV appearance was in Radio City Studios in N.Y 1975 and their debut LP, Ramones, came out in early 1976. This music was really fresh and vibrant. The Ramones were invited into the punk music genre. Their concerts included a summer visit to London. While on their tour there they saw Damned and The Clash on the Fourth of July. The Sex Pistols had started before, but their music was based on The Ramones sound.

Some of the better-known punk groups that followed - The Sex Pistols, The Clash, ect. would be the first ones to say that without The Ramones the whole punk movement never would have happened commented Spin magazine editor-in-chief Alan Light.

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...ral—an almost childish innocent aggression.... I thought, 'The Great Seal of the President of the United States' would be perfect for the Ramones, with the eagle holding arrows—to symbolize strength and the aggression that would be used against whomever dares to attack us—and an olive branch, offered to those who want to be friendly. But we decided to change it a little bit. Instead of the olive branch, we had an apple tree branch, since the Ramones were American as apple pie. And since Johnny was such a baseball fanatic, we had the eagle hold a baseball bat instead of the [Great Seal]'s arrows.-Arturo Vega The Ramones Artist for the albums.

Works Cited

 A Cultural Dictionary of Punk, 1974-1982 Nicholas Rhombes Pages 220-240 this section was on The Ramones.

 RamonesWorld.com

 JoeyRamone.com

 Parenthetical Citation’s from Ramones Mania album Liner Notes.

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