Ramones were a punk rock band that formed in Queens, New York, United State… Read Full Bio ↴Ramones were a punk rock band that formed in Queens, New York, United States, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk group. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the punk rock movement both in the United States and the United Kingdom.

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."

Chinese Rocks
Ramones Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Somebody calls me on the phone
Say "hey-hey, is Artie home?
You want to take a walk
You want to go cop
You want to go get some Chinese Rock?"

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
All my best things are in hock

I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
Everything is in the pawn shop

The plaster fallin' of the wall
My girlfriend cryin' in the shower stall
It's hot as a bitch
I should've been rich
But I'm just diggin' a Chinese ditch

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
All my best things are in hock
I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
Everything is in the pawn shop

The plaster fallin' of the wall
My girlfriend cryin' in the shower stall
It's hot as a bitch
I should've been rich
But I'm just diggin' a Chinese ditch

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
All my best things are in hock
I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
Everything is in the pawn shop

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock

I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock

Overall Meaning

In the Ramones' song "Chinese Rock," the singer is living on the edge, struggling with addiction and poverty as he copes with the harsh realities of life. The first verse depicts someone offering him drugs, and he agrees to go along, saying, "You want to go cop, you want to go get some Chinese Rock?" Throughout the song, he describes living in squalor, with all his best things in "hock" at the pawn shop. His girlfriend is crying in the shower, and he's just "digging a Chinese ditch." He laments his situation, saying he should've been rich, but instead, he's stuck living on the streets and using drugs.

The lyrics of "Chinese Rock" paint a dreary and desperate picture of someone at the mercy of their addiction. The chorus repeats the phrase "I'm living on a Chinese Rock," which has various interpretations. Some have suggested that it refers to the drug they're taking, but it may also be a play on the phrase "living under a rock" or "living in the cracks." Either way, it's clear that the singer is struggling with addiction and poverty, and this song serves as a stark commentary on the realities of those living on the margins of society.

Line by Line Meaning

Somebody calls me on the phone
The singer receives a phone call.

Say 'hey-hey, is Artie home?
The caller asks for Artie's presence.

You want to take a walk
The caller asks if the singer wants to go out.

You want to go cop
The caller asks if the singer wants to buy drugs.

You want to go get some Chinese Rock?'
The caller asks if the singer wants to buy drugs that are called 'Chinese Rock.'

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

All my best things are in hock
The singer pawned his valuable possessions to fund his drug habit.

Everything is in the pawn shop
All the singer's possessions are pawned.

The plaster fallin' of the wall
The walls of the singer's home are crumbling.

My girlfriend cryin' in the shower stall
The singer's girlfriend is upset and crying.

It's hot as a bitch
The weather is very hot.

I should've been rich
The singer believes that he should have made a lot of money.

But I'm just diggin' a Chinese ditch
Instead of being successful, the singer is digging himself deeper into addiction and trouble.

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

All my best things are in hock
The singer pawned his valuable possessions to fund his drug habit.

I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

Everything is in the pawn shop
All the singer's possessions are pawned.

The plaster fallin' of the wall
The walls of the singer's home are crumbling.

My girlfriend cryin' in the shower stall
The singer's girlfriend is upset and crying.

It's hot as a bitch
The weather is very hot.

I should've been rich
The singer believes that he should have made a lot of money.

But I'm just diggin' a Chinese ditch
Instead of being successful, the singer is digging himself deeper into addiction and trouble.

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

All my best things are in hock
The singer pawned his valuable possessions to fund his drug habit.

I'm livin' on a Chinese rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

Everything is in the pawn shop
All the singer's possessions are pawned.

I'm livin' on a Chinese Rock
The singer is addicted to 'Chinese Rock,' a type of narcotics.

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dee Dee Ramone, Douglas Colvin, Jeffrey Hyman, Joey Ramone, John (ramone) Cummings, Johnny Ramone

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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