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."
jorney to the center of the mind
Ramones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come with us and find
The pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind
Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind
Beyone the realm of what
Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not
Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind
But please realise
You'll probably be surprised
For it's the land unknown to man
Where fantasy is fact
So if you can, please understand
You might not come back
Come along if you care
Come along if you dare
Take a ride to the land inside and you'll see
How happy life could be
If all of mankind
Would take the time to journey to the center of the mind
Would take the time to journey to the center of the mind
Center of the mind
Journey to the Center of the Mind is a psychedelic rock song by the Ramones, released in 1968. The song is an invitation to join the band on an introspective trip to the center of the mind, a journey that will provide a sense of freedom and fulfillment. The lyrics suggest that the destination of this journey is a place of unlimited possibilities, where fantasy becomes reality. The song is an expression of the countercultural movement of the late 1960s, which challenged the traditional values and embraced experimentation with drugs and alternative lifestyles.
The opening line, "Leave your cares behind, come with us and find the pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind," is an invitation to the listener to let go of their worries and join the band on this journey. The repetition of the phrase "come along if you care, come along if you dare" emphasizes the voluntary and fearless nature of the journey. The second verse builds on the imagery of the first, suggesting that the land they will reach is beyond the limits of rational thought and the realm of tangible reality.
The bridge of the song brings in a note of caution, suggesting that the journey may have consequences beyond what the listener may expect. However, the potential rewards of experiencing the world beyond one's conscious mind are enough to justify the risk. The final lines of the song are a call to action, urging humans to explore the depths of their own minds and embrace the new realities that such an exploration may yield.
Line by Line Meaning
Leave your cares behind
Forget about your worries and troubles
Come with us and find
Join us and discover
The pleasures of a journey to the center of the mind
The enjoyment of exploring your thoughts and imagination
Come along if you care
If you care about personal exploration
Come along if you dare
Be brave and come along
Take a ride to the land inside of your mind
Explore the depths of your own consciousness
Beyond the seas of thought
Going past rational thinking
Beyond the realm of what
Going beyond what is presently known or understood
Across the streams of hopes and dreams where things are really not
In the realm of the impossible and far-fetched
But please realise
Be aware that
You'll probably be surprised
It will surprise you
For it's the land unknown to man
It is a place beyond current human knowledge
Where fantasy is fact
Where things you imagine become true
So if you can, please understand
Be aware that
You might not come back
You may not return the same as before
Take a ride to the land inside and you'll see
If you go on this journey, you will witness for yourself
How happy life could be
How fulfilling life can become
If all of mankind
If everyone
Would take the time to journey to the center of the mind
Explored their thoughts and imagination
Center of the mind
The core area of your consciousness
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: STEVEN O FARMER, TED NUGENT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Racheal Plymale
on I Wanna Be Sedated (Live)
My Alltime favorite band!!!!!!!!! Joey Ramone was yummmy!!!!!