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Tommy Ramone

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Tommy Ramone
Ramone in 2008
Ramone in 2008
Background information
Birth nameErdélyi Tamás
Also known asTommy Ramone, Scotty, Thomas Erdelyi
Born(1949-01-29)January 29, 1949
Budapest, Hungary
OriginForest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
DiedJuly 11, 2014(2014-07-11) (aged 65)
Ridgewood, Queens, New York City, New York, United States
GenresPunk rock, bluegrass
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Drums, percussion, mandolin, guitar, vocals
Years active1974–2014
LabelsSire, Radioactive, Chrysalis
Websitewww.ramones.com

Thomas Erdelyi (Hungarian: Erdélyi Tamás; January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014), better known by his stage name Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian American record producer and musician.[1][2] He was the drummer of the influential punk rock band the Ramones for four years. He had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer, and was in hospice care following unsuccessful treatment for it when he died on July 11, 2014.[3]

Background

Erdélyi was Jewish,[4] and was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1949,[5][6] to Jewish parents who had survived the Holocaust by being hidden by neighbors, though many of his relatives were victims of the Nazis.[7] The family emigrated to the US when Ramone was aged four and he grew up in Forest Hills, New York. [8] Tommy and guitarist John Cummings (later to be dubbed "Johnny Ramone") performed together in a mid-60's four-piece garage band called the Tangerine Puppets while in high school.[9] In 1970, Erdelyi was an assistant engineer for the production of the Jimi Hendrix album Band of Gypsys.

Producer and drummer for the Ramones

When the Ramones first came together, with Johnny Ramone on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone on bass and Joey Ramone on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer after finding that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled.[10]

He remained as drummer from 1974 to 1978, playing on and co-producing their first three albums, Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket to Russia, as well as the live album It's Alive.[11]

In a 2007 interview with the BBC, Ramone said the the band had been heavily influenced by the 1970s hard-rock band the New York Dolls, by singer-songwriter Lou Reed and by pop-art figure Andy Warhol. He said, "The scene that developed at CBGB wasn't [for] a teenage or garage band, there was an intellectual element and that's the way it was for The Ramones."[12]

Behind the scenes with the Ramones

Tommy Ramone was replaced on drums in 1978 by Marky Ramone,[13] but handled band management and co-production for their fourth album, Road to Ruin; he later returned as producer for the eighth album, 1984's Too Tough to Die.[14]

Dee Dee, in his books, expressed resentment towards Tommy for having it "together" more than anyone else in the band, being able to cook himself dinner and organize his life in a much more functional manner, without the psychosis or addiction problems that Dee Dee himself suffered from. In contrast to everyone else in the band, Tommy was seemingly "normal," though there are accounts of him partying with the band and driving them around in his car in the early days.

Tommy Ramone wrote "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and the majority of "Blitzkrieg Bop" while bassist Dee Dee suggested the title.[9] He and Ed Stasium played all the guitar solos on the albums he produced, as Johnny Ramone largely preferred playing rhythm guitar.[15]

In the 1980s he produced the Replacements album Tim, as well as Redd Kross's Neurotica.[16][17]

On October 8, 2004, he played as a Ramone once again, when he joined C.J. Ramone, Daniel Rey, and Clem Burke (also known as Elvis Ramone) in the "Ramones Beat Down On Cancer" concert. In October 2007 in an interview to promote It's Alive 1974-1996 a double DVD of the band's greatest televised live performances[18] he paid tribute to his deceased bandmates:

"They gave everything they could in every show. They weren't the type to phone it in, if you see what I mean."

Ramone and Claudia Tienan (formerly of underground band the Simplistics) performed as a bluegrass-based folk duo called Uncle Monk. Ramone stated: "There are a lot of similarities between punk and old-time music. Both are home-brewed music as opposed to schooled, and both have an earthy energy. And anybody can pick up an instrument and start playing."[19] He joined songwriter Chris Castle, Garth Hudson, Larry Campbell and the Womack Family Band in July 2011 at Levon Helm Studios for Castle's album Last Bird Home.[20]

Illness and death

Ramone died at his home in Queens, New York City, on July 11, 2014, aged 65.[5] He had been receiving hospice care following unsuccessful treatment for cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). Tommy was the last of the original band members.[21][22][23]

In The Independent, Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith wrote that "before Tommy left the line-up, the Ramones had already become one of the most influential punk bands of the day, playing at the infamous CBGB club in the Bowery area of New York, and touring each album incessantly." In response to Ramone's death, the band's official Twitter account had been tweeting previous quotes from band members, including his own 1976 comment that New York was the "perfect place to grow up neurotic". He had also said: "One of the reasons that the Ramones were so unique and original was that they were four original, unique people."[24][25]

Writing in Variety, Cristopher Morris said "Tommy's driving, high-energy drum work was the turbine that powered the leather-clad foursome's loud, antic sound."[21] Biographer Everett True told the BBC "there are hundreds, there are thousands, there are millions of melodies happening in Ramones songs... You hear their influence stretch across all of rock music from 1975 onwards... you just hear it everywhere."[12]

Discography with the Ramones

References

Bibliography

  • Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain: Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk[26]
  • Monte A. Melnick (Ramones Tour Manager): On The Road With The Ramones[27]
  • Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone: Rock In Peace: Dee Dee And Joey Ramone[28]
  • Jari-Pekka Laitio-Ramone: Ramones: Soundtrack Of Our Lives[29]

Notes

  1. ^ Harper, Jason. "Tommy Ramone Gives the Mountain Music Shoppe a Brush with CBGB". Pitch.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  2. ^ "Punk rock legend enjoying venture into old-time music". News.branson.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Tommy Ramone dies aged 62". The Guardian. July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  4. ^ Ralph Blumenthal. "Punk, and Jewish: Rockers Explore Identity". The New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Sisario, Ben (July 12, 2014). "Tommy Ramone Dies at 65; He Gave Punk Rock Its Pulse". The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  6. ^ Melnick, Monte A. (2003). On the Road with the Ramones. MJF Books. p. 18. ISBN 1-60671-020-6. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Ballon, Marc. "Book reveals secrets from the Patriarchs of Punk: CBGBs was really Heebie Jeebies", The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, February 1, 2007. Accessed September 7, 2011. "Erdélyi kept his Jewish identity so well concealed that not even Danny Fields, the Ramones' first manager (himself a Jew), knew of Tommy Ramone's religious background until now. That Tommy Ramone would want to keep his Judaism hidden makes sense. He was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1949, and his parents, both professional photographers, barely escaped from the clutches of the Nazis by hiding out with friends during the war. Most of Erdélyi's family perished in the Holocaust."
  8. ^ "Return of a Ramone...Tommy Ramone & Claudia Tienan Bow Bluegrass Duo Uncle Monk with Self-Titled Album Due Out May 22", PRWeb, press release dated February 4, 2007. Accessed June 17, 2009.
  9. ^ a b "Interview with Tommy Ramone". Mark Prindle. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  10. ^ McNeil and McCain, pp. 182–183.
  11. ^ Alexis Petridis (January 6, 2005). "Interview with Tommy Ramone". London: The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Ramones punk band founder Tommy dies, aged 65". BBC News. London: BBC. July 12, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  13. ^ Gregory, James (May 8, 2005). "Pitchfork interview with Tommy Ramone". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  14. ^ "Boston Phoenix – Gabba Gabba Hayride". Thephoenix.com. July 8, 2008. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  15. ^ Sharby Coms, "How The West Was Lost", in Mojo Punk Special Edition, p. 94.
  16. ^ Relix Magazine – Tommy Ramone is a Bluegrass Punk[dead link]
  17. ^ "Redd Kross Neurotica Re-Issue review". Knac. January 24, 2003. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  18. ^ The Sun. October 5, 2005.
  19. ^ "Interview with Jari-Pekka Laitio". Kauhajokinyt.fi. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  20. ^ Martin, Jim. "Americana songwriter, Womacks play Edinboro, Erie gigs | GoErie.com/Erie Times-News". Goerie.com. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  21. ^ a b Morris, Christopher (July 11, 2014). "Tommy Ramone, Founding Member of Influential Punk Band, Dies at 62". Variety. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  22. ^ Metzger, Richard (July 11, 2014). "Tommy Ramone, RIP: last original member of Ramones passes". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  23. ^ Marotta, Michael (July 11, 2014). "Report: R.I.P. Tommy Ramone (1952–2014), the last living original member of the Ramones". Vanyaland. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  24. ^ Eleftheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae (July 12, 2014). "Tommy Ramone dies: Last surviving founder and drummer seminal punk band The Ramones dies aged 62". The Independent. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  25. ^ @RamonesOfficial (July 9, 2014). ""One of the reasons that the #Ramones were so unique and original was that they were four original, unique people." – Tommy Ramone #punk". Twitter. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  26. ^ "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk: Legs McNeil, Gillian McCain: 9780802142641: Amazon.com: Books". Amazon.com. April 13, 2006. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  27. ^ "Monte A. Melnick (On The Road With The Ramones) on Myspace". Myspace.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  28. ^ "Ramones: My Second Ramones Memory Book". Kauhajokinyt.fi. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  29. ^ "RAMONES: SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (2009)". Kauhajokinyt.fi. Retrieved July 13, 2014.

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