History of the Ramones

HISTORY

January 27th, 1974 - Sunday
	The Ramones are born. Just last Wednesday, with fifty dollars burning a hole in rach of their pockets, Johnny (John Cummings) and Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin) stopped by Manny's Guitar Center on 48th Street in NYC and each bought a guitar. Johnny buys a blue Mosrite and Dee Dee gets a DanElectro Bass.Now they're getting together with Joey (Jeff Hyman) who plays drums to start a new band. Their rehearsal is tonight. The three used to be in a high school band called the Tangerine Puppets and Joey had formerly played more recently with a glam outfit called Sniper.
March 30th, 1974 - Saturday
	The Ramones are a trio of friends from the Forest Hills area of New York City. They're all around twenty-two or twenty-three years old. The line-up os Johnny on guitar, Joey on drums and Dee Dee on bass. This trio made their stage debut at the Performance Studio on E. 23rd Street in New York today. They got the space because their friend Tommy Erdleyi and a partner owned the studios. Johnny and neighbor Tommy Erdelyi met back in 1970 when they were in a Forest Hills High School and started a short lived band callled the " Tangerine Puppets." Tommy's the one in the group with credible experience and he wants to be their manager. Tommy was working as an assistant engineer at the Record Plant in Manhattan on sessions with the famous and not so famous. The Ramones music can best be described as minimalist, buzzsaw pop. Tonight's show is in front of aboutthirty friends and curious people who saw the band's fliers. THE RAMONES................................New York, The Performance Studio
May 31st, 1974 - Friday
	Ivan RamOne is born.
July 20th, 1974 - Saturday
	The Ramones reflict a fundamental change that would shape the band from now on. Tommy Erdleyi, acting as the band's manager coaxed Joey and the rest of the group into the notion that Joey needed to be out front. Since Joey was going to be singing instead of drumming, they also needed to hold auditions for a replacement drummer. They went through so many auditions. Tommy would find himself sitting behind the kit and showing them what the band was looking for. Finally, after trying to teach drummers for the soon to be quartet, Tommy left his job at the studio and joined the Ramones as their new drummer. They're trying to find just the right material for the group, some covers like "I fought the law" and even a few songs they're writing themselves. Some of the originals are "I Don't wanna get involved with you" (which would later change into "I don't wanna walk around with you"), " Blitzkrieg Bop", "Now I wanna sniff some glue"," I don't wanna go down to the basement" and "Babysitter".
August 16th, 1974 - Friday
	The Ramones / Angel and the Snakes are playing together tonight in New York. Less than a month after getting their first UK press mention in a Melody Maker article, New York girl group the Stilettos have split up. The group was going more in the direction of Elda Gentile and less the way that Debbie Harry and Chris Stein wanted it. The group remains basically the same, with the band of Chris Stein, Fred Smith and Billy O'Connor. The difference behind the mic is that Elda and Amanda are being replaced by two more cooperative singers. Debbie has assumed the position as lead singer. The new band play the first of two consecutive nights at the long dark closed called C.B.G.B's in New York City under the new name Angel and The Snails. Also on the bill is the Ramones. When the Ramones take the tiny ten square foot stage, a set flies by so fast, that the ten songs only last about fifteen of twenty minutes. By now the Ramones have grown to a quartet with the addition of Tommy Ramone on drums and Joey switching over to vocals exclusively. There had also been a Ritchie Ramone and a Geofge Ramone in the last six months, but they didn't last long. These gigs are played to a nearly empty club. Not a stellar beginning , but a start nevertheless.
May 12th, 1975 - Monday
	Sekula Ramone is born.
June 20th, 1975 - Friday
	The Ramones & The Talking Heads share the bill tonight down at C.B.G.B's. The Ramones are hometowns heroes and get the major space in the advertising. The Talking Heads get just a small line of print at the bottom. The Ramones press kit contains many amusing bits, including this description . "Their songs are brief, to the pint and every one a potential hit single ... The Ramones all originate from Forest Hills and kids who grew up there , became either musicians, degenerates or dentists. The Ramones are a little of each. Their sound is not unlike a fast drill on a rear molar." They have just been offered a single deal for indie Sire Records and have declinerd. They want an album, Still searching, they're going to audition for Rick Derringer and Sky Records on July 11. They'll have a chance to impress the producer when opening for Johnny Winter in concert an Waterbury, Conn. The Talking Heads show tonight is their live debut. The trio is led by David Byrne who built the band out of the split of an earlier predecessor called the Artistics. RAMONES / TALKING HEADS .............. New York City, C.B.G.B'S
September 19th, 1975 - Friday
	The Ramones are in demo session again. This time they're recording for Mary Thau , former manager of the New York Dolls. Songs taped are " I wanna be youre boyfriend" and "Judy is a punk". Thau was asked to manage the band but prefers the role of producer. He'll take the tapes over to Seymour Stein of Sire Records. Sire had offered the band a single deal back in June , but the Ramones are holding out for an LP.
October 15th, 1975 - Wednesday
	The Ramones have just completed a series of dates at Mother'a in Manhattan. Sire A&R assistang Craig Leon had seen the band and got Linda Stein down to see them, She was impressed enough that she got her husband Seymour to audition the band a few days later. Now the band is signed to Sire, with the deal they wanted all along, an album contract. The faltering label will have to get together the money to take the band into the studio soon.
December 29th, 1975 - Wednesday
	PUNK MAGAZINE is a new magazine based out of New York that is designed to cater to the crowd that feels totally disenfranchised by Rolling Stone, Circus and Creem. In the debut issue is an interview with The Ramones and a wicked cartoon of Lou Reed on the cover, portaying the artist in the mindset of his new LP "Metal Machine Music"
April 23rd, 1976 - Friday
	The RAMONES' debut LP, " THE RAMONES" is released. The quick session began on Feb. 2nd and concluded on the 19th. It was recorded at the illustrious Plaza Sound Studios in NYC's Radio City Music Hall on a budget of only $ 6,400 . The album is non-stop frenetic energy with fourteen songs clocking in under twenty-eight minutes. The songs meld into each other in a frenzy of buzzing guitars , sounding a bit like a Beach Boys on amphetamines. They grind through originals like " Blitzkrieg Bop", Beat On The Brat" and "Havana Affair." After two years , the Ramones are finally on vinyl. Commenting on this momentous day Joey admitted to the NME, "I've only heard it once. I dont' even have a copy. I can't believe it, you know....if I turn on the radio and ever hear it , I think I'll to berserk." Movie "The Blank Generation" ................ New York City, C.B.G.B'S
July 4th, 1976 - Sunday
	The Ramones make their UK debut in a triple bill with the Stranglers and the Flaming Groovies at the London Roundhouse.They're in the second slot, behind the Groovies. They had originally been booked for a European tour but their label on the continent backed out at the last minute, almost cancelling even the UK dates. The Flaming Groovies are now on the road to support their last album "Shake Some Action." The Ramones will have their first UK single out later this week, with tracks from their debut album, Tomorrow night the band headline their own concert at Dingwalls. The two concerts were vastly different. The first, in front of 2,000 people was their largest concert ever, the other is a crammed, tiny club, just like back home. Their concert tonight at the Roundhouse is reviewed for the NME by Max Bell. "Closer to a comedy routine than a band... the guys on the mixer hated them and they hate the guys on the mixer back. I laughed solidly for half an hour.... The appeal is purely negative, based on their not being able to play a shit of give a shit .... imbecilic adolescent ditties but still oodles more exciting than the majority of bands...." Ramones/Stranglers/ Flaming Groovies ..............London, The Roundhouse
July 9th, 1976 - Friday
	The Ramones have their first single in the UK released today on Sire Records. It's " Blitzkrieg Bop" b/w "Havana Affair". Both tracks are from the band's debut LP. The reverberations from this single record will ring through the growing UK underground for years.
July 21st, 1976 - Wednesday
	MORRISEY vs. RAMONES Under the headline "Ramones are rubbish" Steve Morrissey of Manchester sets pen to paper in fevered missive slamming the Ramones. "The Ramones are the latest bumptious band of degenerate no-talents whose most notable achievement to date is their ability to advance beyond the boundaries of New York City and purely on the strength of a spate of convincing literature projecting the Ramones as that the Ramones have gotten from the underground press since their triumphant Roundhouse concert, The frustrated "music reviewer"calls them "notoriously discordant" and hopes that they remain in New York in a life of obscurity."The New York Dolls and Patti Smith have proved that there is some life pumping away in the swamps and gutters of New York and they are the only acts which originated from the N.Y. club scene worthy of any praise. The Ramones have absolutely nothing to all that is of relevance or importance and should be rightly filed and forgotten. Steve Morrissey, Kings Road, Stretford, Manchester."
August 19th, 1976 - Thusrsday
	The Ramones get the attention of The Glasgow Evenint Times who print the headline "Ramones in Teenage Glue Death Outrage" Labor Party MP James Dempsey of Scotland, makes a move to have the first Ramones LP banned from the country's record racks, citing the track "Now I wanna sniff some glue" as encouragement to young buyers to do just that. Dempsey is preparing to put a bill before Parliament that will put glue and similar solvents on a par with cigarettes and fireworks, to make them avaiable to those onlu over the legal age of sixteen, In the last few years about two dozen youths have died in Scotland with deaths directly linket to sniffing these substances. A bemused Ramone contacted in Los Angeles tells NME that, "... we don't want people to jump off them . I hope that everyone understands, that the song is a joke, we know the stuff is dangerous... you always feel sick afterwards." Ramones manager Danny Fields chimed in with, "Why should the song be banned? War films aren't banned on the grounds that they advocate violence."
January 25th, 1977 - Tuesday
	The Ramones's newest album is out today following in that well-honed machine gun groove they tread so well. The album is called "Leave Home" and titles include "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", "Suzy is a Headbanger","Pinhead", "Commando" and "You're gonna kill that girl". The inclusion of "Carbona Not Glue" must relate to the glue sniffing incident in Scotland last August. These guys are crying to be animated, they're touring into a comic-cartoon-type band that just keeps getting funnier and funnier.
March 2nd , 1977 - Wednesday
	The Ramones are in the middle of a record company battle over lyrics on their latest LP "Ramones Leave Home". The track "Carbona Not Glue", is about sniffing Carbona, a solvent that was a cheap teen high in the Ramones ' youth. The complaint from Tony Morris, Managing Director of Phonogram UK is, "...we cannot promote any product which extols the virtue of dope.As you know , we had correspondence with the Home Office about glue sniffing and Carbona is apparently available and more dangerous than glue." On the other side, Ramones manager Danny Fields replied that, " You're entitled to your feelings about the use of drugs of any sort. But what your're attempting to do is set yourself up as judge and jury. This is censorship, a far greater evil than either Carbona of glue and something that in good conscience, I cannot be a party to". The record company's idea is to replace the track on the LP with another song, possibly an already available, non-LP flipside called "Babysitter". If not this , they'll simply leave the album stand at thirteen tracks. There are currently about 5000 copies of the LP in the shops on both side of the Atlantic with the "offensive" track. Whatever anyone thinks of the controversy, they do have to deal with the fact that "Carbona" is a trademark name that was used without permission, Whether the song encourages deviant behavior or not may not be the deciding issue.
March 7th , 1977 - Monday
	The Ramones new single is safe, has nothing to do with sniffing glue and is guaranteed not to upset anyone. "I Remember You" doesn't tear along at 100 mph. It's actually a melodic , medium tempo, pop song that can be found on the band's troublesome second album, "Ramones Leave Home". It's backed with two live songs, "I don't wanna walk around with you" and a surfin' cover of the Riverias' "California Sun".
March 18th, 1977 - Friday
	The Ramones album "Leave Home" has been re-released with the song "Carbona not glue" dropped from the LP because it was a violation of the copyright name "Carbona". It's being replaced with another new Ramones track "Sheena is a punk rocker", The Ramones were not pleased with what they felt was "censorship" and "over reaction".
May 18th, 1977 - Wednesday
	Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone confided to the NME, "We usually wear out our audiences before we wear out our audiences before we wear out ourselves...Our normal set consists of seventeen songs and takes thirty minutes to perform. Last month the same set lasted thirty-seven minutes...and we're getting faster every day!"
May 19th, 1977 - Thursday
	The Ramones have their first UK single "Sheena is a punk rocker" released to coincide with their UK tour. There is a limited number of 12'' singles pressed (12000) and the offer of a free t-shirt to those first 1000 who send in their proof of purchase. The Ramones begin their tour tonight at Eric's in Liverpool. RAMONES/TALKING HEADS .....................Liverpool, Eric's
July 18th, 1977 - Monday
	There's a new single this week from the Ramones of a heartfeld ballad, "Swallow My Pride" b/w the comic "Pingead"
August 3rd, 1977 - Wednesday
	The Ramones wonder what people expect from them.They're just trying to be themselves. In the NME this week Tommy Ramone said, "Dey say we're STOOPID. Whadda dey want?? Fer us to use flugel horn 'n' strings, of sumting?"
November 17th, 1977 - Thursday
	The Ramones new LP is their "Rocket To Russia". The LP contains their previous hit single "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", as well as other up tempo romps like "Teenage Lobotomy","I wanna be well","Rockaway Beach" and "Cretin Hop". There are two covers of 60's hits: "Surfin bird (by a Treshmen) and Do You Wanna Dance (bo Bobby Freeman)". The production of the album was supervised by Tony Bongovi as well as Tommy Erdelyi ( Tommy Ramone). There's going to be no complaints against the band on this album, They even have a song about American home life, "We're a Happy Family."
December 2nd, 1977 - Friday
	The Ramones latest single is "Rockaway Beach" a tribute of sorts to a beach in Queens, New York. It's taken from their latest LP "Rocket To Russia". It's flipped with two old stage favorites, "Beat on the brat" and "Teenage Lobotomy". If you're among the first 10000 buyers of the UK single, you will also receive a limited edition poster of the Ramones.
December 31st, 1977 - Saturday
	The Ramones concert tonight at the Rainbow is being recorded for a live LP. The crowd is going nuts and the band is in top form. Joey's even been writing some new songs. A new one in the set is called "I Wanna Be Sedated." Ramones/Rezillos/Generation X................... London, The Rainbow
January 7th, 1978 - Saturday
	Johnny Ramone wasn't real impressed with the Sex Pistols when he saw them, telling Lester Bangs of Trouser Press "They were terrible live. Sloppy...maybe they got better during the American tour, I dunno, but they were very unprofesional and I'd expected to see a somewhat professional group. I guess I shouldn't have though that because they hadn't played for a year. The records sound very good if you take one song out of it here and there; a little monotonous Y'know , they had their backdrop with all this stuff spray painted on, I guess that's their thing, but no drum platform, no lights at all, the PA sounded awful, little tiny amplifiers - it was just a rinky-dink show. Maybe they're supposed to be unprofessional but there's a certain standard kids in America expect."
March 24th, 1978 - Friday
	The Ramones release another 100mph pop song. This time it's the 1958 Bobby Freeman classic "Do you wanna dance" b/w "Cretin Hop" and "It's a long way back to Germany". The latter track being exclusive to the single and unavailable on any album. The Ramones are planing to tour Europe in May and then return to England.
July 22nd, 1978 - Saturday
	The Ramones former drummer Tommy Ramone confessed to the NME that the band wasn's as organized in the beginning as they are now. "In the early days Dee Dee would shout 1-2-3-4 and all the band would start playing a different song. Then we'd throw the instruments around and walk off. And it wasn't a put-on either. But it became easy , it became drilled into us. What the hell, it's all the same song anyhow." Tommy left the band last month and plans to continue record production full time under his given name, Tommy Erdeyli. He's not new at producing and his produced the Ramones past albums.
September 13th, 1978 - Wednesday
	The Ramones give singles buyers a glimpse of their upcoming album. The single is the unusually slow ballad "Don't come close" backed up with "I don't want you". The tracks include the Ramones new drummer Marky Ramone. He joined the band in at the end of May whet Mommy left to go into producing full time. Marky (Mark Bell) was formerly part of Richard Hell's Voidoids.
September 15th, 1978 - Friday
	The Ramones have their fourth LP "Road To Ruin" released in the UK today. The first 30000 are pressed on yellow vinyl. Although Tommy Erdelyi (Tommy Ramone) quit the band earlier this year, he remained involved enough to produce the new album. All of the songs are originals with the exception of their cover of the Searchers 1964 hit of "Needles&Pins". Other titles include "Don't come close","I wanna be sedated","I just want to have something to do". The Ramones return to the UK for the first time since last Christmas, on September 23rd in Belfast.
September 21st, 1978 - Thursday
	The Ramones "What we do takes a lot of concentration" - Johnny Ramone in this week's NME.
January 10th, 1979 - Wednesday
	The Ramones latest 45 is "She's the One" b/w "I wanna be sedated". Both songs are from their current album "Road To Ruin".
January 14th, 1979 - Sunday
	Ramones High School !? A few weeks ago, the Ramones came to Hollywood and began filming their bits for the Roger Corman fim "Rock and Roll High School" . It's an exploitation movie about a hard core Ramones fan's reaction when her favorite band comes to town. The band will play about a half dozen numbers in the film and even have few lines of dialogue. New World Pictures plans for an April release. One scene calls for the Ramones to drive up to the front door of the Mayor Theatre in a big pink Cadilac with Leopard upholstery, performing "I just want to have something to do". The New York license plate in the front says "Gabba-Gabba-Hey". The film has its beginnings a few years back when director Allen Arbush tried to get it going under the title High Schllo Spirit of '76. It then changet to Heavy Metal Kids, and ultimately the Rock&Roll High School. Musicians considered early in the project included Todd Rundgren, Cheap Trick and Tom Petty. Toger Corman was sold on the idea of using the Ramones after seeing the comic tabloid of Mutant Monster Beach Party that Joey Ramone and Dabbie Harry did for Punk Magazine. Joey's a fan of Corman because of his movies like Attack of The Crab Monsters. The filming is being done at Mount Carmel High School in Watts, a long abandoned building that will be perfect for the finale when the school is demolished. Strangely enough, it's the same school where the '55 Glen Ford movie Rock Around The Clock was filmed. For this new movie it's rechristened Vince Lombardi High
February 2nd, 1979 - Friday
	"I was surprised, very much so, when Jeff (Joey Ramone) and the band started putting out records...The first coupla times I saw a group play, I must say I didn't like then , but I got used to it - although it took some time...Still, I think they oughta put more different things in their music, 'n complicate it up a bit, if they wanna get high up on the whattaycallit - the list, the charts? I dunno I'm an old square." - Joey Ramones father Noel Hyman in Sounds.
April 25th, 1979 - Wednesday
	The Ramones foray into the world of "B" movies, Rock and Roll High School is debuted in Los Angeles. The story revolves around the life of the ultimate Ramones Fan's desire to get into a concert while her school is trying to ban the group. The Ramones appear in the film as themselves. While in LA, the Ramones will start on the recording sessions for their next album with the legendary Phil Spector. He was the groundbreaking producer who created the "Wall of Sound" that nmade hits for the Cristals, Ronettes, and the Righteous Brothers. Phil's wall of sound will have to deal with the Ramones wall of sound. The two couldn't be more dissimilar. The Ramones usually record "instantly" with little or no overdubs. Phil takes months in the studio working on the smallest of details. The sessions start on May 1st. One can only guess when they'll finish.
June 2nd, 1979 - Saturday
	The Ramones are in the midst of their new album sessions with Phil Spector, while they have two new albums released at the same time. One of the UK and another for the US market. In England Sire Records release "It's Alive", and two LP set of the quintessential live Ramones concert recorded at the Rainbow in London on December 31, 1977. The twenty-eight songs are the band's best material to date, delivered in a top notch performance. They cover the range of the Ramones emotions, from the up tempo "Rockaway Beach" and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" to the up tempo "Sheena is a punk rocker" and "Surfin bird". Then they move on to the up tempo "California Sun","Do you wanna dance" and the uptempo "Suzy is a headbanger". All in all, an up temop set. Theadverts in England state that twenty-eight tracks for only £4.99, works out to 17.821428 pence per song. What a bargain! The Ramones live album isn't released in the US, but the soundtrack for the new movie Rock&Roll High School is. The compilation includes the title track, as well as "I want you around", "Come Let's Go", and a Ramones medley recorded live at the Roxy in Los Angeles of "Blitzkrieg Bop" Teenage Lobotomy","California Sun","Pinhead" and "She's the One". Other tracks on the album include songs from Devo, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Eno, Brownsville Station, Todd Rundgren, Alice Cooper, Chuck Berry and Nick Love.
August 18th, 1979 - Saturday
	The Ramones newest single is a sample from their forthcoming film. It's "Rock&Roll High School" flipped with two oldies "Rockaway Beach" and "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker."