Special thanks to ThisDayinMusic.com.
Joey Ramone never sang on a Top 10 hit and his band never scored a platinum album. But that gangly guy in the leather jacket became a full-blooded rock and roll icon, even before his death on this day in 2001. There is no name more synonymous with American punk rock than Joey Ramone.
Of course, he wasn’t actually named Joey or Ramone. Jeffry Ross Hyman was born on May 19, 1951 to a married couple in New York City’s Queens borough. Family life wasn’t easy for young Jeffry, whose parents divorced when he was a kid. He was awkward socially and an outcast at school, often retreating into the safety of pop music. His musical interests were encouraged by his mother, Charlotte, and Jeffry became a big fan of The Who, The Beatles, David Bowie, The Stooges and Phil Spector-produced tunes.
When he was about 20, Jeffry became the lead singer of a glam rock band named Sniper. A couple of years later, in 1974, a pair of fellow Queens musicians – John Cummings and Douglas Colvin – invited him to join a band they were forming. Soon Douglas took the moniker Dee Dee Ramone – in tribute to Paul McCartney’s use of the name Paul Ramon in the early days of The Beatles. Dee Dee convinced the other two guys to follow suit, as well as name the band The Ramones. John became Johnny Ramone and Jeffry became Joey Ramone.
Back then, Joey played drums. Dee Dee was both bassist and frontman, although he learned that he wasn’t too good at singing after ripping apart his vocal chords after a few songs. So, Joey came out from behind the kit to front the band. Thomas Erdelyi, a former bandmate of Johnny’s, was set to become The Ramones’ manager. But, when he couldn’t find a replacement percussionist, he became Tommy Ramone – the band’s drummer.
The Ramones began playing gigs pretty quickly in New York City. By mid-’74, they made their debut at CBGB, a club they would help make legendary. Legs McNeil, founder of Punk magazine, later described the first time he saw the band: “They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new.”
Becoming fixtures on the punk scene, The Ramones became known for their fast songs (usually under two minutes), short sets (17 minutes, give or take), raw sound (no guitar solos) and strange look (with Joey’s gangly, strange and brilliant look and performances earning much of the attention). Dee Dee gave plenty of credit to Joey, whose yelping vocals – and lack of enunciation – were unlike anything most people had heard. “All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen [of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger,” he said. “But Joey was unique, totally unique.”
Soon the band landed a record contract with Sire, made their first album and began building an underground following. Their singles tanked, their debut LP was a flop (by commercial standards), but The Ramones became heroes to a whole bunch of musicians and music fans. They were treated like geniuses when they did a short tour of England in 1976. Members of The Clash and the Sex Pistols saw Joey and the guys perform, and many have credited that Ramones tour for kicking the U.K. punk scene into high gear.
While The Clash and the Pistols would go on to have some big hit albums and singles – as would fellow CBGB bands Blondie and Talking Heads – The Ramones remained a high-profile underground band. Sure, they got to be in a movie (Roger Corman’s Rock ’n’ Roll High School) and had some “interesting” experiences being produced by Phil Spector (who gave them their biggest hit – a cover of The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You”), but it’s probably safe to say that The Ramones were more infamous than famous. Still, they remained a solid concert draw. For punk fans who came of age after the genre’s first wave, seeing The Ramones became something of a rite of passage.
From the outside, it appeared that things sort of stabilized in the ’80s for The Ramones, but it wasn’t the same story inside the band – particularly between Joey and Johnny. The two were never destined to be tight. They were polar opposites politically and personality wise – Joey was the shy, obsessive-compulsive liberal, Johnny was the strict, brash conservative – but the relationship disintegrated with Joey’s girlfriend Linda left him for Johnny, whom she later married. The two bandmates would continue to perform and record together for 16 more years, but stopped speaking to one another entirely. Strangely enough, when The Ramones broke up in 1996, they were the only two original members left in the group.
Prior to breaking up, Joey was diagnosed with lymphoma. It’s uncertain if this led to his willingness to disband The Ramones, although he remained active as a musician – singing backup on recordings, producing a Ronnie Spector album and working on a solo release.
Interestingly, Joey and The Ramones probably became more popular following their break-up. More and more bands credited the group as one of the most influential in rock history. As alt-rock and younger punk fans matured, many of them discovered the band’s early records, which were given deluxe CD reissues. A collection of the band’s best songs, Ramones Mania, even went gold.
In 2001, it was announced that The Ramones would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Sadly, Joey wouldn’t make the ceremony in 2002 because he died on April 15, 2001. After a seven-year battle with cancer, he succumbed to his illness – reportedly while listening to U2’s “In a Little While,” a recording that Bono had personally delivered to his hospital room at New York-Presbyterian. After Joey died, the U2 frontman often dedicated performances of that song to Joey, saying that he turned a tune about a lovesick hangover into a gospel song.
Joey’s solo album, Don’t Worry About Me, came out a year after his death, and featured a punk rock cover of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” In 2003, a block of East Second Street in Manhattan was renamed Joey Ramone Place in tribute to the rock icon. Not long after, it was reported that it was the most frequently stolen sign in New York. One of his former bandmates said that he thinks Joey would have gotten a kick out of that unique distinction.
View the original article here
Joey Ramone never sang on a Top 10 hit and his band never scored a platinum album. But that gangly guy in the leather jacket became a full-blooded rock and roll icon, even before his death on this day in 2001. There is no name more synonymous with American punk rock than Joey Ramone.
Of course, he wasn’t actually named Joey or Ramone. Jeffry Ross Hyman was born on May 19, 1951 to a married couple in New York City’s Queens borough. Family life wasn’t easy for young Jeffry, whose parents divorced when he was a kid. He was awkward socially and an outcast at school, often retreating into the safety of pop music. His musical interests were encouraged by his mother, Charlotte, and Jeffry became a big fan of The Who, The Beatles, David Bowie, The Stooges and Phil Spector-produced tunes.
When he was about 20, Jeffry became the lead singer of a glam rock band named Sniper. A couple of years later, in 1974, a pair of fellow Queens musicians – John Cummings and Douglas Colvin – invited him to join a band they were forming. Soon Douglas took the moniker Dee Dee Ramone – in tribute to Paul McCartney’s use of the name Paul Ramon in the early days of The Beatles. Dee Dee convinced the other two guys to follow suit, as well as name the band The Ramones. John became Johnny Ramone and Jeffry became Joey Ramone.
Back then, Joey played drums. Dee Dee was both bassist and frontman, although he learned that he wasn’t too good at singing after ripping apart his vocal chords after a few songs. So, Joey came out from behind the kit to front the band. Thomas Erdelyi, a former bandmate of Johnny’s, was set to become The Ramones’ manager. But, when he couldn’t find a replacement percussionist, he became Tommy Ramone – the band’s drummer.
The Ramones began playing gigs pretty quickly in New York City. By mid-’74, they made their debut at CBGB, a club they would help make legendary. Legs McNeil, founder of Punk magazine, later described the first time he saw the band: “They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new.”
Becoming fixtures on the punk scene, The Ramones became known for their fast songs (usually under two minutes), short sets (17 minutes, give or take), raw sound (no guitar solos) and strange look (with Joey’s gangly, strange and brilliant look and performances earning much of the attention). Dee Dee gave plenty of credit to Joey, whose yelping vocals – and lack of enunciation – were unlike anything most people had heard. “All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen [of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger,” he said. “But Joey was unique, totally unique.”
Soon the band landed a record contract with Sire, made their first album and began building an underground following. Their singles tanked, their debut LP was a flop (by commercial standards), but The Ramones became heroes to a whole bunch of musicians and music fans. They were treated like geniuses when they did a short tour of England in 1976. Members of The Clash and the Sex Pistols saw Joey and the guys perform, and many have credited that Ramones tour for kicking the U.K. punk scene into high gear.
While The Clash and the Pistols would go on to have some big hit albums and singles – as would fellow CBGB bands Blondie and Talking Heads – The Ramones remained a high-profile underground band. Sure, they got to be in a movie (Roger Corman’s Rock ’n’ Roll High School) and had some “interesting” experiences being produced by Phil Spector (who gave them their biggest hit – a cover of The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love You”), but it’s probably safe to say that The Ramones were more infamous than famous. Still, they remained a solid concert draw. For punk fans who came of age after the genre’s first wave, seeing The Ramones became something of a rite of passage.
From the outside, it appeared that things sort of stabilized in the ’80s for The Ramones, but it wasn’t the same story inside the band – particularly between Joey and Johnny. The two were never destined to be tight. They were polar opposites politically and personality wise – Joey was the shy, obsessive-compulsive liberal, Johnny was the strict, brash conservative – but the relationship disintegrated with Joey’s girlfriend Linda left him for Johnny, whom she later married. The two bandmates would continue to perform and record together for 16 more years, but stopped speaking to one another entirely. Strangely enough, when The Ramones broke up in 1996, they were the only two original members left in the group.
Prior to breaking up, Joey was diagnosed with lymphoma. It’s uncertain if this led to his willingness to disband The Ramones, although he remained active as a musician – singing backup on recordings, producing a Ronnie Spector album and working on a solo release.
Interestingly, Joey and The Ramones probably became more popular following their break-up. More and more bands credited the group as one of the most influential in rock history. As alt-rock and younger punk fans matured, many of them discovered the band’s early records, which were given deluxe CD reissues. A collection of the band’s best songs, Ramones Mania, even went gold.
In 2001, it was announced that The Ramones would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Sadly, Joey wouldn’t make the ceremony in 2002 because he died on April 15, 2001. After a seven-year battle with cancer, he succumbed to his illness – reportedly while listening to U2’s “In a Little While,” a recording that Bono had personally delivered to his hospital room at New York-Presbyterian. After Joey died, the U2 frontman often dedicated performances of that song to Joey, saying that he turned a tune about a lovesick hangover into a gospel song.
Joey’s solo album, Don’t Worry About Me, came out a year after his death, and featured a punk rock cover of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” In 2003, a block of East Second Street in Manhattan was renamed Joey Ramone Place in tribute to the rock icon. Not long after, it was reported that it was the most frequently stolen sign in New York. One of his former bandmates said that he thinks Joey would have gotten a kick out of that unique distinction.
View the original article here
No comments:
Post a Comment