Johnny passed away last night from prostate cancer. He was 55 and joins Joey and Dee Dee at the great gig in the sky.

That "great gig in the sky" just got a HELL of a lot f*cking louder!!!
My initial reaction upon hearing this news this morning was a reaction of sadness...But I'm going to do a little celebrating today rather than mourning. I always admired the Ramones' ability to mix the simplicity of 60s pop song structures with a real high energy, menacing rock delivery. I'll really miss seeing Johnny in front of a nice big stack of Marshalls, legs spread wide, nailing the shit out of his Mosrite. To me, these guys were a true inspiration.

So sad man! The Ramones were so great, and their music always put a huge smile on my face. It was almost a euphoric feeling. I will miss them all. What sucks even more is that I never had a chance to see them live, but at least I have most of the CDs. God Bless them!

Lets face it - The Ramones weren't viruosos, but name someone else who played with more energy, attitude and conviction than these guys. They were downright incendiary and epitomized "rock and roll", in my book.

" 100 nights a year for three decades, punk-rock guiterrorist Johnny Ramone stood with his head down, face in an intense scowl of concentration, legs shoulder-width apart, hammering at his blue Mosrite with a blurry right hand" (from washingtontimes.com)



Well said guys.

Rock on Johnny!!!!!!!

what a drag! i got the 1rst lp when it came out,
i think '76-so i was 13...totally changed my
life.i saw them for the first of many times,in
79,when i was 16.i was a huge fan.but to me the whole lead guitar aura,ala page,beck,etc. just
seemed so impossible.surely the was some supernatural element,or they were born prodigies
,or something that seemed so out of reach.but,
seeing johnny & deedee,& reading how they wrote
their own songs because they weren't good enough to play covers,seemed possible.alot of
practice & dedication,hey-ho,i might be able to do that.so,the next month i turned 16,got a piece of crap hondo les paul jr. copy for my
b-day,& well if not for the ramones i might have
never had the guts or audacity to attempt the guitar.here's to the boys from queens,especially
johnny & deedee!thank you for the inspiration,&
the 30 something shows i saw over the years.&
they never failed to deliver live,ever.i am very
sad.

jeeeeeeeez.......who's next?

well......better to celebrate his/their memory by throwing on "rocket to russia" and bopping my night away..

adios, john!

man, ny was a great place in those days. on any given night you might catch Patti Smith, Television, The Stilletos (Blondie), Ramones, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Dolls, etc., etc., sometimes on the same bill or sitting in with each other.

CBGB's, Max's, blah, blah, blah. and my first "real" "punk" show... The Cramps. man, talk about loud, churning and with attitude.

Then there were the "others," folks, some of who are still at it like The Fleshtones, Steve Almas, and Yo La Tango (albeit a bit later) who the first time i saw them practicing, were still learning how to tune their guitars.

ah, youth.

Lo,

The Ramones and Johnny Ramone in particurlar meant a lot to me: not as only inspiration through their forceful music but also attitude towards music and instrument.

I remember being so happy hearing the Ramones for the first time with a cheewy guitar, no boring solos but chord strummed downwards only.....
just nice distorted chords - that has its own virtuoso.
Few other bands gave this sense of happyness or should I say captured the spirit of the times in a good way. Well, The Ramones came to play at one theater and I couldn't get a ticket to the show then- I thought having missed that gig
I had no interest in seeing anyother band for two years, when they played at another theater.
I hear the first one, the one I missed was their best in Sweden though.
Yes I'd say Johnny Ramone had a definite impact
on my desicion to to pick up the guitar and the way to do it and that he, while having joined the Choir Invisiable is one of my major guitar influences and a guitarhero immortal.

I am sorry to see Johnny go though we all at one point must that way wander, though I believe he left an inheritance to generations to come and those that were before.

In my thoughts

BJ

'Me I got me a Punkband Wip wip wip ho'

guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), guitarist and co-founder of the seminal punk band "The Ramones" died at 55 of prostate cancer. Sept. 16, 2004

April 15, 2001 singer Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman) died of lymphoma, which is cancer of the body's lymphatic system. He was 49 years old.

Bassist Dee Dee Ramone (Glenn Colvin) died at 50 possible accidental drug overdose.



I didn't realize these guys weren't actually brothers.

I was the sole employee at a record store (and in high school) in 76 when the first Ramones LP came out. I put it on in the store because I'd read about them, and immediately thought it was the silliest, most inane music I'd ever heard.

I was a jazz and prog-rock snob (I think I pulled "Relayer" off the turntable to put "The Ramones" on), and was "way too smart" to hear the joy in their music. The bonehead simplicity of "Beat on the Brat" and "Blitzkreig Bop" simply went over my head.

I didn't re-discover them until after college, when I began to realize how much I was missing by allowing my intellect to close me off to different types of art. Now, my guitar students ask me to show them Ramones tunes as soon as they learn power chords. I'm yet to have a student ask me to play "The Gates of Delerium."

Man, you guys are taking me back. I was playing all those clubs back then. Max's, Trax, Kenny's, Bottom Line... being a hired gun for the singer songwriter crowd. Then things started exploding downtown and the Ramones were right in the middle of it. They were fun and great. RIP brother, indeed.

Joe Strummer and now Johnny?! There goes punk.

Just because you could "play" Ramones songs didn't mean you could play 'em like Johnny. Or at least I couldn't. What an onslaught of sound that opens "Blitzkrieg Bop". They had at least fifteen songs that were great, funny, and scary, all at the same time.

quote:

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Originally posted by mongoose_eyeball:
I was the sole employee at a record store (and in high school) in 76 when the first Ramones LP came out. I put it on in the store because I'd read about them, and immediately thought it was the silliest, most inane music I'd ever heard.

I was a jazz and prog-rock snob (I think I pulled "Relayer" off the turntable to put "The Ramones" on), and was "way too smart" to hear the joy in their music. The bonehead simplicity of "Beat on the Brat" and "Blitzkreig Bop" simply went over my head.

I didn't re-discover them until after college, when I began to realize how much I was missing by allowing my intellect to close me off to different types of art. Now, my guitar students ask me to show them Ramones tunes as soon as they learn power chords. I'm yet to have a student ask me to play "The Gates of Delerium."

---

Thanks for more or less typing my post for me. The background & revelation are nearly verbatim.

Nobody knew downstrokes like Johnny. Thanks for everything John, see ya later, rock on.

GABBA GABBA HEY. Mosrite.

quote:

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Originally posted by guysmy:
Joe Strummer and now Johnny?! There goes punk.

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Robert Quine also passed away early in the Summer (I believe it was June) from a heroin overdose.

gee who'd have thought tone dawg was a ramones fan? you never know...
anyway as sad as i am i thought i would share
steve's cool unknown cd release for you to help
with the loss. in 2000 or 2001 this band the
phantom surfers had an idea to combine the
ramones & the ventures.they got davie allan to
help on guitar,& the ramonetures were born.
ramones tunes done instrumentally,ala the ventures!it is really cool.self titled,& was released by blood red vinyl & discs out of portland.( catalog #brcd5011).the web is:
bloodred.com
& it was so cool they did a 2nd release of x covers as instros called"johnny-walk don't run-paulene",the next year.the same band but they added billy zoom & x's drummer.both are really great cd's,& you will love the cover art! let me
know if anyone scores either one.
all my twang: steve

quote:

---

Originally posted by twang007:
gee who'd have thought tone dawg was a ramones fan? you never know...
anyway as sad as i am i thought i would share
steve's cool unknown cd release for you to help
with the loss. in 2000 or 2001 this band the
phantom surfers had an idea to combine the
ramones & the ventures.they got davie allan to
help on guitar,& the ramonetures were born.
ramones tunes done instrumentally,ala the ventures!it is really cool.self titled,& was released by blood red vinyl & discs out of portland.( catalog #brcd5011).the web is:
bloodred.com
& it was so cool they did a 2nd release of x covers as instros called"johnny-walk don't run-paulene",the next year.the same band but they added billy zoom & x's drummer.both are really great cd's,& you will love the cover art! let me
know if anyone scores either one.
all my twang: steve

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Ah, well, you just never know about the dawg... I do a country gig now, but I grew up listening to and playing rock, blues rock, hard rock, etc. The first album I bought with my own money when I was a kid was "Are You Experienced". Oh yeah... I'm still a rocker at heart!

hey t.d. there is an ancient chinese saying:
it is better to be full of suprises than to be
full of ....! keep rockin'!

Back in 82 my band opened for the Ramones. When we were setting up in front of the Ramones equipment I went behind Johnny's Marshalls to look for an AC outlet for my SVT (played bass at that gig) and found about 4 of the 6 Marshall 4x12 cabinets empty. There were no speakers inside of them! I was a little surprised as I didn't expect that from them.
I watched their set from the side of the stage. It was a big thrill for me.