tommy ramone

The most important member of any rock ‘n’ roll band is the drummer. Seriously, you can have Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar in your band. But if Mitch Mitchell isn’t in the back, holding it all together on drums? You just have noise.  Rhythm is king in rock ‘n’ roll. Naturally, rhythm also rules in […]

One of punk rock’s original goals was “the destruction of rock ‘n’ roll.” While that didn’t happen, most early punk musicians were rock fans, in spite of their espoused rhetoric. Hence why most early pogo soundtracks were basically Chuck Berry with a Marshall amp. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this is hardly […]

There are a lot of people out there who know what punk rock is but have no idea how to explain it to a novice or an outsider. It would seem simple enough to define it as “three-chord teenage rebel music,” but what about all those songs that have four or more chords? Or all […]

Foo Fighters have just announced a summer 2022 North American tour in support of their album Medicine At Midnight. Along with a string of U.K. and European dates, the band will hit several stadiums across the country between May and August. Meanwhile, Dave Grohl is continuing the annual tradition of the “Hanukkah Sessions” with Greg […]

“You’re only as good as your drummer,” Clash singer/rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer lamented in their documentary Westway To The World, as he recounted Nicky “Topper” Headon’s firing ahead of 1982 breakthrough LP Combat Rock’s tour. “Drumming…like nailing a nail into the floor,” he continued. “It’s so precise—the beat has to be there!” Mind you, the […]

Boston, Massachusetts, Sept. 25, 2021: The 1965 Mosrite Ventures II electric guitar played by Johnny Ramone on every Ramones album from 1977 onward and at 1,985 of their live shows sold at auction for $937,500. Not bad, considering the punk guitar architect paid $200 for it, after his original one he bought for $50 in […]

Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe has written a nice tribute to late Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone, the band’s last remaining original member, who died over the weekend at the age of 65. Blythe gives a knowledgeable history of punk and emphasizes the Ramones’ impact on bands like his. Read the full post from Blythe […]

In light of the recent death of iconic drummer Tommy Ramone, here's an older story with a great look back at some of his other skills outside of drumming. Below, you can read a snarky press bio written by Tommy Ramone in 1975, which was penned under the name Tome Erdelyi (the Americanized version of […]

Tommy Ramone, the co-founding and last remaining original member of the Ramones, passed away at his home on Friday at the age of 65, according to a report from Rolling Stone, who have received confirmation from a representative of Ramone's family. Ramone was in hospice care following his recent struggle with bile duct cancer. Tommy Ramone, who […]