All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", though none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By a little more than eight years after the breakup, the band's three founding members—lead singer Joey Ramone, guitarist Johnny Ramone, and bassist Dee Dee Ramone—had died. Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member, died in 2014.
Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. However, recognition of the band's importance built over the years, and they are now cited in many assessments of all-time great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone list of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. In 2002, the Ramones were ranked the second-greatest band of all time by Spin magazine, trailing only The Beatles. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones—including the three founders and drummers Marky and Tommy Ramone—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2011, the group was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Formation: 1974–1975
Forest Hills High School, attended by the four original members of the Ramones
The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Tamás Erdélyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1966 to 1967 known as the Tangerine Puppets. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeffry Hyman, who was the initial lead singer of the glam rock band Sniper, founded in 1972.
The Ramones began taking shape in early 1974, when Cummings and Colvin invited Hyman to join them in a band. The initial lineup featured Colvin on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Cummings on lead guitar, and Hyman on drums. Colvin, who soon switched from rhythm guitar to bass, was the first to adopt the name "Ramone", calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by Paul McCartney's use of the pseudonym Paul Ramon during his Silver Beatles days. Dee Dee convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones. Hyman and Cummings became Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.
A friend of the band, Monte A. Melnick (later their tour manager), helped to arrange rehearsal time for them at Manhattan's Performance Studios, where he worked. Johnny's former bandmate Erdélyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdélyi's encouragement, Joey became the band's new lead singer.
Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song's tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of "1-2-3-4!" Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdélyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group's music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone.
The Ramones played before an audience for the first time on March 30, 1974, at Performance Studios. The songs they played were very fast and very short; most clocked in at under two minutes. Around this time, a new music scene was emerging in New York centered around two clubs in downtown Manhattan—Max's Kansas City and, more famously, CBGB (usually referred to as CBGB's). The Ramones made their CBGB debut on August 16. Legs McNeil, who cofounded Punk magazine the following year, later described the impact of that performance: "They were all wearing these black leather jackets. And they counted off this song...and it was just this wall of noise.... They looked so striking. These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new."
The band swiftly became regulars at the club, playing there seventy-four times by the end of the year. After garnering considerable attention for their performances—which averaged about seventeen minutes from beginning to end—the group was signed to a recording contract in late 1975 by Seymour Stein of Sire Records. Stein's wife, Linda Stein, had seen the band play at CBGB; she would later co-manage them along with Danny Fields. By this time, the Ramones were recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as "punk". The group's unusual frontman had a lot to do with their impact. As Dee Dee explained, "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen [of The New York Dolls], who was copying Mick Jagger.... But Joey was unique, totally unique."
Blank Generation
Ramones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's such a gamble when you get a face
It's fascinatin' to observe what the mirror does
But when I done it's for the wall that I set a place
I belong to the blank generation
And I can take it or leave it each time
Well, I belong to the ___ generation
Triangles were fallin' at the window as the doctor cursed
He was a cartoon long forsaken by the public eye
The nurse adjusted her garters as I breathed my first
The doctor grabbed my throat and yelled: "God's consolation prize!"
[Chorus:]
Ooh, ooh, ...
To hold the tv to my lips the air so packed with cash
Then carry it up flights of stairs and drop it in the vacant lot
To lose my train of thought and fall into your arms tracks
And watch beneath the eyelids every passing dot
[Chorus:]
The song "Blank Generation" by Ramones is a punk rock classic that encapsulates the feelings of alienation and disconnection that marked the generation of youth growing up in the mid-1970s. The opening lines of the song reveal the artist's sense of being trapped in a world that he wants to escape from, a feeling that is only intensified by the act of looking in the mirror and seeing one's reflection staring back. The artist feels like an outsider, someone who doesn't belong in the world that surrounds him.
The chorus of the song declares the artist's membership in the "blank generation," a term that encapsulates the sense of aimlessness and the lack of direction that marked many young people's lives at the time. The verse about the doctor's birth is a commentary on the alienating effects of modern medicine and the ways in which technology can separate individuals from one another. The final verse of the song is an expression of the artist's longing for connection with another person, a desire that he feels is constantly thwarted by the impersonal nature of the modern world.
Overall, "Blank Generation" is a powerful and evocative song that expresses the frustrations and anxieties of a generation of young people who felt disconnected from the world around them.
Line by Line Meaning
I was sayin' let me outta here before I was even born
I have always felt trapped, even before I actually entered this world
It's such a gamble when you get a face
Your physical appearance is simply luck of the draw, and it can heavily influence how others treat you
It's fascinatin' to observe what the mirror does
The reflection in the mirror doesn't always match how you feel inside, but it's interesting to see how it changes over time
But when I done it's for the wall that I set a place
I do things for myself, even if it means putting up walls between me and others
I belong to the blank generation
I am part of a generation that seems to lack meaning or purpose
And I can take it or leave it each time
I have no strong attachment or desire to be a part of anything outside my own experience
Triangles were fallin' at the window as the doctor cursed
The world is chaotic and unpredictable, even from the moment of birth
He was a cartoon long forsaken by the public eye
Even society has its own ideas of who or what is valuable or worth paying attention to
The nurse adjusted her garters as I breathed my first
People are often preoccupied with their own interests, even in moments of importance or significance for others
The doctor grabbed my throat and yelled: "God's consolation prize!"
Life is a punishment, and birth is just another painful reminder of that fact. It's not something to celebrate or cherish.
To hold the tv to my lips the air so packed with cash
We are bombarded by messages and images that try to convince us that money and material goods are the key to happiness
Then carry it up flights of stairs and drop it in the vacant lot
But even if we attain those things, they often feel empty or meaningless. We might as well throw them away.
To lose my train of thought and fall into your arms tracks
There are moments of connection or emotion that are worth pursuing, even if they don't fit with the rest of the meaningless noise in our lives
And watch beneath the eyelids every passing dot
We can find beauty or meaning in unexpected places, if we are willing to look past the surface
Contributed by Joseph F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
bizotically_yours83
It's always interesting hearing about music history directly from those who helped make it.
Ronaldo Salles
Muito bom!
Ickys Trash Can .... anothers mans treasure
Yay marky ... Voidoids Ramones...all of it.... awesome
Phyllis Stein
Interesting because The Heartbreakers threw Hell out of the band too. Even though they liked the same poison. xo P.
Pat Caza
The Job That Ate My Brain - Produced by Mark Neuman and Marky Ramone
when's that going to be available ?