Ramones were Joey (a.k.a. Jeffrey Hyman), Johnny (John Cummings), Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin), Marky (Marc Bell), Tommy (Thomas Erdelyi), and C.J. (Christopher Joseph Ward.)
Johnny Ramone: (to Paul Simonon): “What do you do? Are you in a band?”
Simonon: “Well, we just rehearse. We call ourselves the Clash but we're not good enough.”
Johnny Ramone: “Wait till you see us—we stink, we're lousy, we can't play. Just get out there and do it."
1976 conversation quoted in Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution by Stephen Colegrave and Chris Sullivan (2005)
Ricou Browning, fan: When that first Ramones album came out, me and my stoner friends were still listening to Zeppelin. One of my pals went out and bought both the Ramones and the latest AC/DC record, not because he actually wanted to try the music but more out of a sort of angry skepticism. After listening to them, he was indignant—he was almost morally offended that the Ramones and AC/DC had defiled rock and roll.
Jeffrey Liles, Artistic Director, The Kessler Theater, Dallas: : I saw the Ramones and The Runaways at Panther Hall in Fort Worth. I was in tenth grade at the time. My friend Vern Evans and I went to the show; his parents drove us over there in the middle of a snowstorm, and then waited for us all night in the parking lot.
Kat McTee, artist, teacher, instructor at Stitch Lab Sewing Studio: It is called a Ramones Conversion Experience. Mine happened at the Judson Road Drive-in theatre in the suburbs of San Antonio, watching Rock'n'Roll High School. "Hey, it's the Ramonesmobile!"
Steve Collier, the Big Boys, Doctor's Mob: In 1979, the Varsity Theatre in Austin showed a double feature of The Who’s movie "The Kids are Alright" and "Rock 'n' Roll High School." Conversion completed. I loved both movies, but I remember that "a-ha" moment of realizing The Ramones could actually be BETTER than The Who. That can't be right, can it?
M Houston Griffin, fan: I saw the Ramones in Austin when they played at the Armadillo World Headquarters. Then I went to watch Rock and Roll High School as a midnighter at the Dobie Mall theatre several times. When I lived in the East Village in NYC in the mid-90's, my roommate worked at this Irish bar, and one night we were leaving the bar at around 4 a.m. Me and this girl were giving my roomate shit about something, and I saw the unmistakable figure of Joey Ramone walking toward us. As our paths crossed, the girl said, "Peter, you asshole, what are we going to do with you?" Joey had just turned to go into his building, but he turned back and said, "KICK HIS ASS!" So I said "Well, you heard that, Joey said kick his ass!" Then Joey went inside.
“We wanted to kind of save rock’n’roll, keep it exciting and fun and the whole bit.”
Joey Ramone