A story released by the Huffington Post has confirmed that the last surviving founding member of The Ramones Thomas Erdelyi, better known by Tommy Ramone, passed away Friday at the age of 65. According to reporting, a business associate confirmed Ramone died in hospice care after a recent battle with bile duct cancer.
The Ramones were a one of the original Punk Rock bands and still influence music to this day. Tommy Ramone was the bands drummer and co-founded the Ramones in 1974 with Joey Ramone (singer), Johnny Ramone (guitarist), and Dee Dee Ramone (bass). The founding members all had different last names but changed their names in a unified action that can only be described as Rock and Roll.
The band had hits that would later influence pop culture but that started out as underground punk like “Rockaway Beach”, “I Wanna Be Sedated” and of course “Blitzkrieg Bop”. But, for the geek culture which is now main-stream but was once as underground and even counter-culture as Punk, the Ramones have a special place for their rendition of the animated Spider-Man television show theme song from the late 60’s. The track was originally included as a “hidden track” on the vinyl version of The Ramones album “¡Adios Amigos!”. It appears in many other places but notably on the compilation album “Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits”.
The Ramone’s are known for their fast tempo. Tommy Ramone was originally the producer for the band but was given the sticks and the throne because Joey Ramone became the singer after having an increasingly difficult time keeping up with the high tempo Punk music. He would continue as the bands drummer for four years and three albums, “Ramones”, “Leave Home” and “Rocket to Russia”. Tommy was replaced by Marky Ramone in 1978 but continued on as producer for the band.
The Ramones played together for over twenty years between 1974 and 1996 and surprisingly never had a Top 40 hit. Tommy Ramone, like the other members of The Ramones, struggled with limited commercial success in the beginning of Punk Rock. They would become one of the founding members of the Punk Rock movement. That Punk movement would go on to influence geek culture throughout the 70’s and 80’s and would forever tie skateboarding, graffiti art and zines to the geek movement.
The wider recognition of their music took some time but there is no mistaking Tommy Ramone and The Ramones place in history. Their band would go onto be included in Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Photo Credits: Evening Standard via Huffington Post via Getty Images and The Washington Post