THE RAMONES
GABBA GABBA HEY!

HEY HO, LET's GO!
JOHNNY, JOEY, DEE DEE, TOMMY
ROCKAWAY BEACH
TEENAGE LOBOTOMY
ADIOS AMIGOS
GABBA GABBA HEY!
RAW
MARKY'S MARK
THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

HEY HO, LET'S GO!

If you're a fan of The Strokes, Jet, The White Stripes, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sahara Hotnights, The Hives, The Distillers or just about any other rock band currently making the scene, then you owe a huge thanks to The Ramones. Maybe you know this, but just in case you don't, The Ramones were one of the greatest bands to ever take stage. To many, they are the greatest American band of all time.

JOHNNY, JOEY, DEE DEE, TOMMY

They were the first punk rock band. "The Stooges" and "New York Dolls" came right before them and the "Sex Pistols" made it okay to be violently explicit, but The Ramones were the ones that brought rock down to the basics - four chords, a sped-up tempo, a simple catchy melody and honest clear lyrics.

ROCKAWAY BEACH

The Ramones were founded in 1974 in Queens, New York. They were originally a trio with Joey Ramone on vocals and drums, Johnny Ramone with the guitar, Dee Dee Ramone playing bass and Tommy Ramone as the group's manager. Within two months of their first show, Tommy picked up the drums and Joey stuck solely with the vocals. Tommy later gave up drumming to be a music producer in 1977 and was replaced by Marc Bee, who immediately changed his name to Marky Ramone. Dee Dee left a bit later to become a rapper named, Dee Dee King and from the band, Chinese Dragons. He was replaced by Christopher John Ward who quickly became C.J. Ramone.

TEENAGE LOBOTOMY

In so many ways, The Ramones picked up where The Beatles had left off. They took rock back the basics where The Beatles and The Stones first got their starts, it's just that those bands evolved into who other creatures unto themselves and The Ramones stayed devoted to pure, raw rock n' roll. It might be no surprise then to find out that The Ramones took their name from Paul McCartney. During the early pre-superstar Beatles' days, Paul went by the name, "Paul Ramone". Joey Ramone's real name was Jeffery Hyman. Johnny Ramone's real name was John Cummings. Dee Dee Ramone was born, Dougals Colvin and Tommy Ramone was Tom Erdelyi before joining the band.

ADIOS AMIGOS

The Ramones parted ways in 1996 after a very long farewell tour. Not long after, Joey Ramone passed away in April 15, 2001 from lymphoma. A year later, Dee Dee Ramone was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on June 5, 2002. This past year, Johnny Ramone succumbed to prostate cancer on September 15th 2004.

GABBA GABBA HEY!

'Gabba Gabba Hey!' is the world's first punk rock musical. It weaves together 18 mini-symphonies of Ramones classics into a postmodern fairy tale about the redeeming power of love. The musical features music from the songs, I Wanna Be Sedated, Beat On The Brat, Blitzkrieg Bop, 53rd & 3rd and Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

RAW

Marky Ramone rejoined the band in 1987 and stayed on until their final farewell tour. Just recently he finished producing and releasing, "The Ramones: Raw" DVD. It's compiled from 200 hours of amateur footage shot mainly by Marky himself between the years of 1987 and 1996. The fly-on-the-wall documentary is combined with various stage performances and the fun-loving antics of the band members backstage. If you thought these guys hated each other, you'd be pleased to seeing them getting along and having so much fun. Johhny Ramone did his last official work with The Ramones by providing invaluable audio commentary during the last few weeks of his life. For fans of rock and roll everywhere, this is not to be missed.

MARKY'S MARK

Marky is still busy. He's finishing his autobiography, "Faith in the Backseat" and does spoken word tours around the world. He also keeps up the tunes by joining in on fan and "Raw" director, john Cafiero's band, "Osaka Popstar". Their debut album, "American Legends of Punk" is due out in the first quarter of 2005.

THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Marky on the band entering the hall of fame, "I'm proud of seeing the group inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The basics of what a lot of bands do now comes from the Ramones. We created something special. We just wanted to see rock get back to the two-minute song that had a great chorus, a few verses, and a cool bridge."