101 Totally True Facts About The Ramones

In 2016, The Ramones celebrated the 40th anniversary of their first album. Let’s check out 101 Ramones facts to celebrate!

One of my favorite musical genres is Punk. I love the energy, the attitude, the style. If you know me IRL, you might see me as a bit buttoned-down. But if you look below the surface, you’ll see something more.

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101 Ramones Facts

1. The Ramones formed in Forest Hills, New York in 1974.
2. The name of the band comes from the time Paul McCartney called himself Paul Ramon.
3. The four original members of the band were Joey on vocals, Johnny on guitar, Dee Dee on bass, and Tommy on drums.
4. Joey Ramone’s real name was Jeffrey Ross Hyman.
5. He was born on May 19, 1951, New York.
6. Johnny Ramone’s real name was John William Cumming.
7. He was born on October 8, 1948, also in New York, and making him the oldest Ramone.
8. Dee Dee Ramone’s real name was Douglas Glenn Colvin
9. He was born on September 18, 1951, sharing the same year as Joey.
10. Tommy Ramone’s real name was Thomas Erdelyi.
11. He was born on January 29, 1949.
12. The second drummer for the band was Marky Ramone, whose real name was Marc Steven Bell.
13. He was born on July 15, 1956.
14. The third drummer was Richie Ramone and his real name was Richard Reinhardt.
15. He was born on August 11, 1957.
16. Their fourth drummer was Elvis Ramone. His real name was Clement Bozewski, born on November 24th, 1955.
17. He only lasted for two live gigs: the shortest-serving Ramone.
18. After Dee Dee Ramone left, C.J. Ramone replaced him on bass. His real name was Christopher Joseph Ward.
19. He was born on October 8, 1965, making him the youngest Ramone.
20. There were four Ramones born in New York: Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J.
21. There were three Ramones born in Queens: Joey, Johnny, and, C.J.
22. There were two Ramones born in New Jersey: Richie, and Elvis.
23. There was one Ramone born in Virginia: Dee Dee.
24. There was one Ramone born outside the U.S.: Tommy, born in Budapest, Hungary.
25. They had a total of 14 studio albums throughout their career.
26. They most often released an album in September.
27. But they released at least one album almost every other month of the year; Except March, June, & August.
28. Their first album was released in 1976, titled, “Ramones“
29. Their last album was released in 1995, and was named, ¡Adios Amigos!
30. They had an album titled in Italian: Mondo Bizarro (1992). It means bizarre world.
31. They had an album titled in Spanish: ¡Adios Amigos! (1995), which means goodbye friends; a fitting title, since it was their last one.
32. They released an album with a country in its title: Rocket to Russia (1977).
33. Their only album title that mentions drugs: Acid Eaters (1993).
34. The Ramones were very prolific. They released TWO albums in one year, 1977. They were Leave Home (January 10) and Rocket to Russia (November 4)
35. In the ’70s they released 4 albums (Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, Road to Ruin).
36. In the ’80s they released 7 albums (End of the Century, Pleasant Dreams, Subterranean Jungle, Too Tough to Die, Animal boy, Halway to Sanity, Brain Drain).
37. In the ’90s they released 3 albums (Mondo Bizarro, Acid Eaters, ¡Adios Amigos!).
38. The longest time between albums was 3 years: 1989’s Brain Drain and 1992’s Mondo Bizarro.
39. The shortest time between albums was 10 months: January 10, 1977 – Leave Home to November 4, 1977 – Rocket to Russia.
40. Their Shortest Album was “Ramones” from 1976 at 29:04.
41. Their Longest Album was “Mondo Bizarro” from 1992 at an astonishing 37:25.
42. Therefore, their avearge album length was about 32:45. Which is perfectly punk: Fast, Loud, and Done.
43. The Ramones published 177 songs.
44. For a total of 7 hours and 42 of non-stop play.
45. The first Ramones song was ‘Blitzkrieg Bop.’
46. The last Ramones song was ‘Born to Die in Berlin.’
47. The most songs they ever had on an album was 14.
48. Their average was 13.
49. But the most common number of songs on an album was 12.
50. The longest song was ‘Bye Bye Baby’ from Halfway to Sanity in 1987. It was an epic 4:35.
51. The shortest non-instrumental song was ‘Judy is a Punk’ from Ramones, in 1976. It roars by at 1:33.
52. The absolute shortest song is the instrumental track ‘Durango 95’ from Too Tough to Die in ’84. It’s on and gone in 55 seconds.
53. Their longest song title is ‘Everytime I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me Think Of You’ from Mondo Subterranean Jungle [1983]. It’s 10 words and 52 characters.
54. Actually, ‘every time’ is misspellled as ‘everytime’, so the song title is really 11 words and 53 characters long.
55. Besides their numeric song titles, their shortest title is ‘No Go’ from Too Tough to Die [1984] at 2 words and 5 characters.
56. The Ramones released three songs with numbers in the title: 53rd & 3rd [1976], 7-11 [1981], 7 and 7 Is [1993].
57. Joey was lead vocals in 161 songs.
58. Dee Dee sang lead 7 times, starting with ‘Time Bomb’ from Subterranean Jungle in 1983.
59. His last lead vocal song was ‘Punishment Fits the Crime’ from Brain Drain in 1989.
60. C.J. sang lead 9 times, starting with ‘Strength to Endure’ from Mondo Bizarro in 1992.
61. The only album that did NOT start off with Joey singing was Acid Eaters from 1994; that was C.J.
62. The song with the least lyrics, ironically, was “Got Alot to Say” from ¡Adios Amigos! (1995). It has two unique lines and goes on for 1:41.
63. Song with the most lyrics is ‘She Talks to Rainbows’ with 13 unique lines, and goes on for 3:15. It’s from ¡Adios Amigos! in 1995.
64. The Ramones released a Christmas song, titled ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)’ it was on Brain Drain (1989).
65. They also released a sequel to a song – ‘The Return of Jackie and Judy’ from End of the Century (in 1980), which continued ‘Judy is a Punk’ from Ramones (1976).
66. Richie, the 3rd drummer, wrote a song about Jesus for the band, titled “I’m Not Jesus” from Halfway to Sanity in 1987. It was a very Heavy Metal style song.
67. Their most violent song is ‘Scattergun’ from ¡Adios Amigos! (1995) with lyrics like “I got the bead on you, she fires true” and “Cut any man right off at the knees Don’t need to bother the police”
68. But if you think about it, even from the earliest song, ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ – Ramones [1976], they had lyrics like, “Shoot him in the back now.”
69. Even their second song ‘Beat On the Brat,’ which is about beating a kid with a baseball bat is pretty violent!
70. The bleakest song is ‘Worm Man’ the last song from Halfway to Sanity (1987), with lyrics such as, “I’m no good to anyone” and “” and ends with “I wish I was dead.”
71. The happiest song is ‘Chasing the Night’ from Too Tough to Die (1984), with lyrics such as, “I’m never ever gonna tire.” “Life my life as I choose.” “Rock all night.” Excitement generated.
72. Song titles that start with ‘I’ – 21.
73. Songs that start with ‘You’ – 3.
74. Songs that start with ‘We’ – 1.
75. Songs titles that include ‘Love’ – 9.
76. Songs that include ‘Hate’ – 0.
77. Believe it or not, they had a song for every letter of the alphabet. If you bend the rules for U, V, and X, that is.
78. First concert was August 16, 1974 CBGB in New York.
79. Last Concert was August 6, 1996 at The Palace in Los Angeles.
80. This list is coming at you from San Diego. The Ramones played in San Diego 18 times.
81. Debbie Harry, from Blondie, sung guest backing vocals on ‘Go Lil’ Camaro Go’ from from Halfway to Sanity [1987]
82. Flo & Eddie from The Turtles sung guest backing vocals for ‘Touring,’ on Mondo Bizarro.
83. Pete Townshend, from the Who, sung guest backing vocals on ‘Substitute’ from Acid Eaters [1993].
84. Sebastian Bach, from the Heavy Metal band Skid Row, sung guest backing vocals ‘Out of Time’, also on Acid Eaters.
85. Lastly for Acid Eaters, notorious underage porn star Traci Lords sung guest backup vocals for Somebody to Love.
86. What was Acid Eaters? An album completely of covers from 1993.
87. The Ramones loved covering songs, and had one in every one of their 14 albums except 4.
88. The Ramones had their own movie: “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” from 1979.
89. The Executive producer was Roger Corman, a trailblazer of independent film.
90. Joe Dante gets co-Story credit. Dante later went onto create such memorable films as “Gremlins” in 1984.
91. Alan Arkush was the director and was most famous for TV projects like ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ‘L.A. Law,’ and ‘Ally McBeal.’
92. The Ramones appeared on ‘The Simpsons’: in 5th-season episode “Rosebud” from 1993. They’re hired by Smithers to play at Mr. Burn’s birthday party. Afterward, Mr. Burns orders, “Have the Rolling Stones killed.”
93. The Ramones also appeared on the 5th espisode of the 1st season of ‘Space Ghost Coast to Coast,’ in 1994. They ate Space Ghost’s birthday cake.
94. On March 18, 2002, the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
95. In 2011, the Ramones earned the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
96. Sadly, Joey was the first to die. He was 49 (April 15, 2001).
97. Dee Dee was the second to die. He was 50. (June 5, 2002).
98. Johnny was the third to die. He was 55 (September, 15, 2004).
99. Tommy has been the most recent to die. He was 65 (July 7, 2014).
100. The Ramones toured non-stop for 22 years.
101. They fuckin’ rocked!

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