Black Leather Jackets - A Punk Rock Beginning

Part 2: The Ramones

The Ramones or The Sex Pistols, which group is the father of Punk Rock? The old
debate that music fans have been discussing for over the last 35 years. The black
leather jackets began in the late 1970's, and appeared to influence the entire
generation of listeners. The Ramones appeared to change the concept of the term rock
and roll after their punk rock band from Queens entered the world of music with their
self-titled debut album in the year 1976.

The group consisted from four musicians. Jeff Hyman (Joey) was born on May 19th,
1951, and was raised within Queens New York. Like many rock stars his age, he was
Jewish. John Cummings (Johnny) was born on October 8 on the 8th of October,
1951. Like many young children who love baseball, John Cummings was a fan,
however, his dream of being a professional with a cut when he discovered that you
needed cut your hair during high school to be a part of the team. He decided to create
the band along with his friend Joey after a brief stint working as an employee in the
construction industry. Douglas Colvin (Dee Dee) was born on the 18th of September
1952, in Berlin, Germany. He started playing the guitar when he was 12 and was
captivated by it.

He emigrated to America at the age of teenager. He met Johnny in the streets, and
they struck up with him about a group they both were interested in the Stooges. The
Ramones were beginning to develop. They finally Tommy Erdelyi was born on the 29th
of January, 1952, in Budapest, Hungary. He was in a band along with Johnny earlier
than Johnny even got to know Joey as well as Dee Dee. The band was known as
Tangerine Puppets and they both played guitar. The band was cut short after Johnny
accidently hit someone with his guitar , and resulted in them being expelled from the
school. In a short time, they would come back together and be been asked to help
Tommy play drums with the Ramones.

The band started out three members: Dee Dee singing and playing bass, Johnny on
guitar, and Joey on drums. The band was not happy with the way it went Dee Dee's
voice wasn't capable of keeping up with the group, and was cut off after only two
songs. The band wanted to try something new motorcycle jacket, and they pushed
Joey into singing from the drums and then had their buddy Tommy play the
drums. They were all awed by Joey's voice and his promotion seemed to be a success
as the vocalist for the band. Joey did create the band's famous "1-2-3-4" count off at
the beginning of their music.

The songs were brief and straightforward. They were famous for performing the same
number of songs within a 20-minute set. The first two shows were held in the CBGB's
(Country Bluegrass and Blues) in which the proprietor Hilly Kristal was unsure if the
leather jacket-wearing punks were musicians, or were there to rob the venue. The
band initially appeared not well-organized in their performance, and there was Dee
Dee counting off the "1-2-3-4" and members all playing different songs. Sometimes,
they would stop midway through a song, then debate, and then go on with the
song. They eventually sorted out their stage presence, and began to put on amazing
performances black jacket for moyorcycle.

Their debut album "Ramones" was released on the 26th of April the 26th of April,
1976. The opening track "Blitzkrieg Bop" became an instant hit, with the famous
phrase "Hey, Ho, lets go!". They released three album "Ramones Leave Home" (77),
"Rocket to Russia" (77), and "Road to Ruin" (78). These albums are now the most
cherished and are widely considered to be that they were their best
work. Unfortunately, during the production the album "Road to Ruin", Tommy left to
pursue a profession as a producer then was succeeded by Marky
Ramone. Additionally, Joey liked to inhale steam from a tea pot to relieve his sinuses
prior to performing. A rookie roadie committed the error of heating the kettle way too
long, and began pouring boiling water into Joey's throat. However, not all was lost
when, in an emergency room, Joey could compose the lyrics to "I Wanna Be Sedated".

The band had a distinctive sound, and an extremely well-known selection of tunes that
were concise rapid-paced and packed with energy. They drew inspiration from the
comic book genre, horror films girl groups, and garage rock to produce the style of
combining comedy and horror. The mash-up of fast and edgy tunes was the type of
music that fans wanted and the band began to gain a following across New York, L.A.,
London and eventually the world.
The Ramones released 21 albums in the span of 20 years, attempting to remain
faithful to a single album every year, however, they'll be remembered for their first four
albums. They played 2,263 shows (about the same number of shows as "Grateful
Dead") between 1976 until their final performance on August 6, 1996.

Joey Ramone passed from Lymphoma in April in 2001. an album that he had been
working on came out in the beginning of 2002. Dee Dee passed away in 2003 after an
overdose of a drug, and Johnny was diagnosed in 2004 with cancer. They left a mark
behind and are revered by many as the very first and greatest punk rock band.

On the 18th of March, 2002 The Ramones (including their three founding members as
well as the drummers Marky as well as Tommy Ramone) were finally admitted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tommy Ramone had put it most well in their final album in
the form of the "Hey Ho Let's Go!" compilation, where they wrote in the song's liner:

"This is art. Sometimes it doesn't sell at first. Sometimes it takes a while for the world
to catch on."

• Tommy Ramone

The history of the band has proven that he is right, since the Ramones have been
called an influential American groups. Their music has more listeners than ever before.