The Last Surviving Member Of THE RAMONES Passes: TOMMY RAMONE

[Dave]

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Tommy Ramone, last surviving original member of the Ramones, dies

Caption Tommy Ramone
Tina Fineberg / AP
Tommy Ramone, ex-drummer and manager of The Ramones, smiles as he is interviewed backstage at the Knitting Factory in New York in January 2005.

Caption Tommy Ramone
Timothy A. Clary / AFP
From left, Dee Dee, Tommy, Johnny and Marky Ramone are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2002.

Caption Tommy Ramone
Photo courtesy Roberta Bayley
From left, Dee Dee, Tommy, Joey and Johnny Ramone.

Caption Tommy Ramone
Katy Winn, Getty Images
Original Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone and Tina Weymouth of The Talking Heads attend the premiere of "End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones" in New York in August 2004.
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Tommy Ramone, drummer and last surviving original member of the punk-rock band Ramones, died Friday, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times by the band's manager with Silent Partner Management.

He was 65, the manager confirmed.

Born Thomas Erdelyi in Budapest, Hungary, on Jan. 29, 1949, Ramone was the drummer for the band from 1974 to 1978, as well as co-producing the band's first three albums.

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The Ramones, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 -- had to wait until most of their membership had died to be hailed by mainstream pop culture as a pioneering force.

The band, whose members adopted a last name used by Paul McCartney to reserve hotel rooms in the Beatles years, were known for their bowl haircuts, ripped jeans and less-than-polished musical style.

The four-member Ramones came out of Queens with limited musical skills, but by 1976, their staccato riffs and full-frontal garage rock assaults began to make their mark on British punk musicians. The band has been acknowledged by many as the inventors of punk rock.

Among the Ramones best-known songs were "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Teenage Lobotomy," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat on The Brat."

Known less for trenchant observations than for winsome invitations to "Hey, ho, let's go!" the Ramones demonstrated a quirky humor in catchy, straightforward songs. "Urban surf music" is how Rolling Stone magazine described the Ramones' style in 1992.

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• @Madmen Oh and " I WANNA BE SEDATED!!!!"
  Madmen
  at 12:08 AM July 12, 2014

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Spin magazine named them one of the seven greatest rock bands of all time. Pete Townshend joined them on a version of The Who's "Substitute." Two members of Green Day named their children Joey and Ramona. Kurt Cobain, the late singer of Nirvana, once told an interviewer that his loftiest ambition was to play in a band like the Ramones.

The Ramones self-titled 1976 album, recorded for less than $7,000, was a definitive work. The album drew on 1950s rock and 1960s garage bands, and featured band members who had famously started as a group of glue-sniffing delinquents who saw in music their only chance to escape a dead-end life.

A full obituary will appear at latimes.com/obituaries.

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Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times


-- Dave

 

[Dave]

Ramones punk band co-founder Tommy dies at 65
Jul 12th 2014 8:11AM 3 Comments
HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 19: Tommy Ramone attends the 8th annual Johnny Ramone tribute at Hollywood Forever on August 19, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)



BY ERIC M. JOHNSON
(Reuters) - Tommy Ramone, the drummer and last surviving original member of the American punk band the Ramones, whose aggressive and fast-driving songs spearheaded the punk-rock movement, has died at the age of 65, an associate said on Saturday.
The death was confirmed by Dave Frey, Director at Ramones Productions, the company that controls the band's copyright. Frey declined to provide additional information.

Born Thomas Erdelyi in Budapest, Hungary, Ramone was the co-founder of the band and its drummer from 1974 to 1978. He was the last surviving member of its original quartet, who adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone".

The New York band, with mops of long hair, black leather jackets, torn jeans and sneakers, had limited chart success but deeply influenced scores of musicians who would go on to form bands such as the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Nirvana and Green Day.

They were seen as masters of minimalist, under two-and-a-half minute tunes played at blistering tempo, such as "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Wanna be Sedated", "Rockaway Beach," and "Sheena is a Punk Rocker."

The band's style, anchored by Tommy's frenetic drumming, was partly a reaction against the bloated, and heavily produced rock music of the mid-1970s.

Guitarist Johnny Ramone, drummer Tommy Ramone, singer Joey Ramone and bassist Dee Dee Ramone of the punk-rock band The Ramones perform at Atlanta Municipal Auditorium on February 25, 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame in 2002, the Ramones eponymous first-album revitalized the rock scene.

"The Ramones got back to basics: simple, speedy, stripped-down rock and roll songs. Voice, guitar, bass, drums. No makeup, no egos, no light shows, no nonsense," the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said on its website.

HEY HO!

"They are heard everywhere. At every sporting event you hear 'Hey, ho, let's go!,'" Frey said, citing lyrics from "Blitzkrieg Bop". "They connected in a big way."

Frey called Tommy last month to tell him their debut record had reached gold status and said "he was thrilled. He couldn't believe it," Frey said.

The Ramones performed 2,263 concerts between their formation in 1974 and final show in 1996. They released 21 studio, live and compilation albums over a 20-year period, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said.

Guitarist Johnny Ramone, born John Cummings, died of prostate cancer in 2004. Singer Joey Ramone, born Jeff Hyman, died of lymphoma in 2001. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, born Douglas Colvin, died the following year of a heroin overdose.

Tommy, who acted at various times also as a songwriter, producer, and engineer, died at 12:15 p.m. local time at his home in Queens, New York, according to a statement on Facebook from New York Rocker Magazine publisher Andy Schwartz.

Ramone had been in hospice care following treatment for cancer of the bile duct, and is survived by Claudia Tienan, his partner of 40 years, and other family members including nephews Eric and David, Schwartz said.

In recent years, Tommy and Tienan performed and recorded as the indie-acoustic country and bluegrass duo Uncle Monk, Schwartz said.

In high school, Tommy played guitar in a group called Tangerine Puppets that also included Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone on bass and trained as a recording engineer and assisted on various New York sessions, including with Jimi Hendrix in 1969, Schwartz said.


-- Dave