Page Credits, as follows. UK Teletext Channel 4. Original Broadcast. Copy Colin Irwin. Scans etc. Ramones official. CBGB, gabba1234, * links later at the foot of the page. Or search via Feedback.
	Dee Dee Ramone 1952 -2002

Links. Ramones official, CBGB, gabba1234, Aviv 'n Adams pages
	Some people somehow seem pre-destined to die young. We always imagined Joey Ramone, punk pioneer and master of the two-minute rock thrash, would perish in a hideous OD or some James Dean too-fast-to-live-too-young-to-die road crash. In fact Joey - his tall gangly frame to be forever encrusted in black leather jacket, torn jeans, tinted shades and sallow expression - has died at 49 after a long battle with cancer. Pic Ramones Official Site
	Joey Ramone was a rock icon whose enduring legend had little to do with the music. On the back of the screaming trademark "1-2-3-4" intro, Joey launched the Ramones into another 150-second three-chord avalance of throbbing noise and lit the fuse for the entire 1970's punk revolution. They holed up at New York's seedy CBGBs in the Bowery and electrified Rock with the short, sharp, shock treatment. Pic CBGB.com
	His lyrics were inane, he sang like a strangulated gazelle (a What?) and rarely addressed his audience in civil terms. Yet Joey Ramone was one of rock's supreme heroes, cutting through the self-serious pomp of early 70's music to strip rock down to its bare skeleton ... which he then rattled furiously. He was a rebel without a pause, whose ranting energy turned him into a deity still revered by a new breed of guitar bands placing emotion before technique. Bgpic gabba1234
Born plain ol' Jeffrey Hyman, Joey Ramone was an unlikely anti-hero, being raised in middle class Forest Hills. But he drifted into New York City with schoolchums John, Doug and Tom and they wound up at the infamous CBGBs bar. It was there they learned three chords and changed their surnames to Ramone. Chumming up with the likes of * Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith and Blondie, The Ramones swiftly became the crudest band in an ocean of crudity. Joey was originally the drummer with the Ramones, but reputedly couldn't keep up with the breakneck thrash of the others and Tommy was given the sticks. Joey took over the mic and with a mix of rabid urgency and mad desperation he touched the nerve of a new alienated generation of fans. Far from being outstripped by those they inspired (Pistols, Clash et al) The Ramones held their own with hits like the classic Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.
bgpic gabba1234 Candle cbgb memorial	"We were all outcasts," said Joey once, recalling the driving spirit of The Ramones. "The music we loved was dying so we did it ourselves more or less." He was talking about MC5, the Stooges, T. Rex, Alice Cooper, Slade...but none of them sounded quite like The Ramones at full tilt. And unlike most of those they were true to their roots. "we're purists. We knew who we were and what we wanted and we never strayed. It was what excited us and fans liked it." Joey was with The Ramones for 20 years and never stopped scaring the pants off a record industry that didn't get it. He was still around, terrorising convention, working on a solo album when struck down by cancer. But his legacy is huge. "I'll always be proud of The Ramones because we never sold out," he said. "We retained our self-respect and our integrity." There's precious few you can say that about.
Post Script. Entries prompted by other comments on Joey, The Ramones and "punk" in general.
Contemporaries. Richard Hell (+the vo-oids) Tom Verlaine Patti Smith Some Influenced Bands Sex Pistols The Clash The Undertones Some Current. Offspring Green Day Blink 182	There still are a lot of "punk" style bands around. Joey's comment about not "selling out" is significant. As a band develops it can tend to change. This is true of many of them. Alas Joey was unable to complete the "solo" album. Whether it can be released remains to be seen. His new music may have been different - his influence certainly produced many bands, purist or not. There has been a lot of debate of late re Green Day and Blink182 to name but two. Their style HAS changed. Readers must remember that originally punk began the use of more extreme lyrics and was often banned by radio as a result! It almost seems today that the "crossover" approach is dominant. RAP and Metal seem to be merged as "Nu Metal" (or is there yet another term now?) Comments on this are very welcome.
Dee Dee Ramone deedeeramone.net conspiracymusic DeeDee's Art. 1 DeeDee's Art. 2	Best-known as the founding bassist of New York City punk icons the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone was also a solo recording artist, painter, and writer. Born Douglas Colvin on September 18, 1952, in Ft. Lee, VA, the future Ramone grew up in Berlin, Germany (due to his father's Army career) and his main interest became collecting Third Reich memorabilia. But by the time he was a teenager, his family had relocated to Queens, NY, where Colvin developed an interest in rock music (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix) and picked up the guitar. But eventually, Colvin turned to the seedier side of life, developing an addiction to heroin (that would continue to plague him for years) and supported his habit by street hustling. By the early '70s, Colvin had become interested in such then-misunderstood acts as the Stooges and the New York Dolls, whose primitive and stripped-down sound was more enticing than the overblown prog rock of the era. During a period where he paid the bills working as a barber, a post-office worker, and on a construction site, Colvin befriended another local Stooges fan, John Cummings. They decided soonafter to form a band that reflected the same raw, garage rock sound of the two aforementioned outfits. With Colvin picking up the bass and Cummings the six-string, the Ramones were born shortly thereafter ...

Page Created with permission 19th. April 2001. Amended 12th.June 2002.