Ramones — Pioneers of American Punk Rock (New York, 1974–1996)

The members replaced their respective surnames with Ramone, giving the observer the impression of a kinship. The name "Ramone" is borrowed from the pseudonym Paul Ramon, which Paul McCartney used in the early days of The Beatles in 1960 for a Scottish tour the group undertook under the name The Silver Beetles as Johnny Gentle's backing band.

The Ramones were formed on January 28, 1974 in New York at a rehearsal at Performance Studios, which was run by Tamás Erdélyi (later known as Tommy Ramone) and Monte Melnick, later a tour manager. The initial lineup consisted of John Cummings on guitar, Douglas Colvin on bass and vocals, and Jeffrey Hyman on drums. All three were from the Queens borough of New York. After some time, they began to give themselves the familiar stage names, and became known as the Ramones. Colvin (Dee Dee Ramone) realized that he could not play bass and sing at the same time, so Jeffrey Hyman (Joey Ramone) became the new singer, however, there was now a need to find a new drummer. After testing a few candidates, Tommy Ramone became the band's new drummer. They started to play their first concerts in New York, mainly in clubs like CBGB, where other groups of the time, like Blondie, Richard Hell & The Voidoids and the New York Dolls, also played. These first concerts are described by contemporary witnesses as legendary, as the Ramones played louder and faster than all their competitors; the concert duration was between 20 and 30 minutes. During this time, the band also came into contact with the New York art scene; this brought them together with Seymour Stein, among others, who signed them to the "Sire Records" label, on which their debut LP Ramones was released in 1976.

In 1979, the Ramones played a role in the film Rock 'n' Roll High School by Roger Corman, to whose film music they contributed various pieces. At the end of the film, during a concert of the band, the titular high school went up in flames. In the planning phase of the film, there were considerations to underlay the film with disco music, but then it was decided to use the Ramones. Despite the collaboration in the film, the big breakthrough in the U.S. failed to materialize. The Ramones continued to play in smaller clubs and sold relatively few records. After even the collaboration with the bombast producer Phil Spector for the album End of the Century did not show the desired success, they limited themselves to touring extensively to make a living.

Tommy Ramone left the group already in 1978, because he didn't like the increasing touring activity and preferred to concentrate on a job as a producer. He was replaced by Marc Bell (Marky Ramone), a well-known figure on the New York scene (drummer for Richard Hell and the Voidoids, among others). Health problems due to considerable alcohol consumption forced the latter to take a break, the gap was filled by Richard Beau (Richie Ramone) on a salaried basis. Three albums later, he left the Ramones due to a dispute over sharing in proceeds from T-shirt sales, and Marky Ramone, now teetotal, was reinstated. During the transition period, Clem Burke, the drummer for Blondie, played drums for two performances as Elvis Ramone.

Live performances of the band usually followed this pattern: Immediately before entering the stage, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly by Ennio Morricone was played by tape; then the concert began. Intermissions were rarely taken; and when they were, it was only so Dee Dee Ramone could count off the next song ("one-chew-free-far" instead of "one, two, three, four"). For the song Pinhead Joey Ramone usually held a sign with the inscription Gabba Gabba Hey! in the air, additionally a roadie dressed up with a mask jumped over the stage during the song.

Within the band there were considerable differences for many years. Especially Joey and Johnny didn't speak to each other for a long time. This was because Johnny thought Joey was a rather bad singer and because Johnny's later wife Linda was originally Joey's girlfriend; but also the political beliefs of the two were opposite. Joey was more liberal-minded; Johnny supporters of conservative presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. They were unable to settle these differences until their deaths.

Dee Dee Ramone left the band in 1989 to pursue a career as a rapper (Dee Dee King); however, he remained associated with the Ramones as a songwriter. He was succeeded by the previously unknown Christopher Joseph Ward (C. J. Ramone), who reportedly had to be initially released from United States Marine Corps punitive arrest for going AWOL. That same year, the band contributed the song Pet Sematary to the soundtrack of the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name (German title: Friedhof der Kuscheltiere). The continued lack of great success at the time of bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and The Offspring, all more or less influenced by the Ramones, led the band to finally break up in 1996, after a total of twenty-two years of career. One of the last concerts took place in Buenos Aires. Iggy Pop and Die Toten Hosen played as support acts, and the then little-known band Rammstein also appeared on stage as special guests at eight German concerts of the Ramones' Adios Amigos Tour between 23 and 30 January 1996. The last concert took place on August 6, 1996 at the Palace in Hollywood.

In 2001 Joey Ramone died of lymphatic cancer after a long illness; before that he had the chance to finish his solo record Don't Worry About Me, which was released posthumously. In 2012, Joey Ramone released another "lost album" called ...Ya Know! , for which demo recordings were used. Dee Dee Ramone couldn't get a handle on his longtime drug addiction and died of a heroin overdose in 2002 (Chinese Rock). Johnny Ramone died of prostate cancer in 2004. Tommy Ramone died of bile duct cancer on July 11, 2014.