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."
anxiety
Ramones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.
Always stiff, all day long.
Nothing's right till it's all wrong.
It makes no sense until I'm tense.
Always laughing at your expense.
Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.
Always biting on my nails.
Always stiff, it never fails.
Now it on my sweaty clothes.
Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.
Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.
Always screamin' at someone.
Got a temper like a gun.
Hair trigger personality.
Anxiety keeps me hap-happy.
And I'm crazy, crazy, crazy
In a crazy world.
I'm crazy, crazy, crazy
In a crazy world.
I'm crazy, crazy, crazy
In a crazy world.
I'm crazy, crazy, crazy
In a crazy world.
A-N-X-I-E-T-Y
A-N-X-I-E-T-Y
Anxiety keeps me high,
Cross my heart and hope to die.
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety
Ramones's song Anxiety is an ode to the feeling of anxiousness that the singer cannot seem to escape from. The opening lines of the song, "Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy" sets the tone for the entire song. The singer is not only acknowledging their anxiety but also stating that it's a positive thing in their life. The lyrics describe how anxiety affects the singer's physical and emotional state. He is always "stiff" and "biting on my nails," indicating that anxiety has a deep impact on his daily habits. The singer then goes on to talk about his temper, and the way anxiety fuels it, "got a temper like a gun. Hair trigger personality". It becomes clear that anxiety has become a prominent aspect of the singer's personality.
The chorus repeats the phrase, "Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy," suggesting that the singer has become accustomed to this feeling and cannot function normally without it. The ending of the song, "A-N-X-I-E-T-Y, Anxiety keeps me high, Cross my heart and hope to die." reiterates the message of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Anxiety, anxiety keeps me happy.
The feeling of anxiety is what makes me feel fulfilled and satisfied in life.
Always stiff, all day long.
I am constantly tense and rigid in my actions and thought processes.
Nothing's right till it's all wrong.
Things only feel acceptable to me when they reach a breaking point and fall apart completely.
It makes no sense until I'm tense.
I cannot comprehend or understand things until I am in a state of anxiety.
Always laughing at your expense.
Even at the cost of others, I find joy in my anxiety and the suffering it brings.
Always biting on my nails.
Physical habits, such as nail-biting, are a manifestation of my ever-present anxiety.
Always stiff, it never fails.
Regardless of the situation, I am stricken with tension and unease.
Now it's on my sweaty clothes.
The anxiety I feel is so intense that it can physically manifest through sweaty, stained clothing.
Always screamin' at someone.
My anxiety can lead to lashing out and uncontrollable screaming towards others.
Got a temper like a gun.
My emotions and anxiety are volatile, unpredictable, and can be dangerous.
Hair trigger personality.
I am quick to react and respond to situations due to my hair-trigger temper and anxious nature.
Anxiety keeps me hap-happy.
While anxiety is seen as a negative emotion for most, for me, it brings an odd sense of pleasure and fulfillment.
And I'm crazy, crazy, crazy in a crazy world.
My anxiety and the world around me are both overwhelming and chaotic, leading to a sense of instability and madness.
A-N-X-I-E-T-Y
Spelling out the word anxiety emphasizes its weight and hold on my life.
Anxiety keeps me high, cross my heart and hope to die.
My anxiety appears to be my addiction, my drug, my high, and I am bound to it, willing to die for it.
Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety, anxiety.
The repetition of this word emphasizes its importance, impact, and control over my life.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GARRETT UHLENBROCK, MARKY RAMONE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Racheal Plymale
on I Wanna Be Sedated (Live)
My Alltime favorite band!!!!!!!!! Joey Ramone was yummmy!!!!!