It’s being reported this morning that Tommy Ramone, co-founder of the seminal New York punk band The Ramones, and last surviving member of the original group, died yesterday at the age of 65.
If I had to credit one band with setting me on the path that led me to where I am today, it would probably be the Ramones, and it makes me incredibly sad to know that they’re all now gone. Some of the best nights in my young life were spent at Ramones’ shows, and I will be forever grateful for the work they did to drag rock ‘n roll from the high-end studios of corporate America and into the garages of gutters of the not-terribly-proficient, the angry, and the previously voiceless.
Now go fire up the turntable, put on a copy of The Ramones
Here’s what they looked and sounded like in 1974.
update: Someone in the comments section asked what I meant when I said that I credited the Ramones with “setting me on the path that led me to where I am today.” Here, in case you’re interested, is my response: “Maybe it was a bit of an overstatement, but there’s likely a hint of truth in it. It never crossed my mind to pick up an instrument and make noise until I heard the Ramones. And, had I not started making noise, it’s doubtful that I would have found myself on the tiny, filthy stage of Ypsilanti’s since-condemned Cross Street Station that night in 1992, where I met Linette. So, yeah, had I not heard that first Ramones song as a kid in New Jersey, it’s likely that my life might have gone in a different direction, and my daughter, who just turned 10 yesterday, may never have existed. So, thank you Tommy.”
update: I just happened across this 1975 bio for The Ramones, written by Tommy, who also managed the band at the beginning.
[Tommy Ramone, born Thomas Erdelyi in Budapest, Hungary, had been suffering from cancer of the bile duct, and was in hospice care.]