It was sad to hear yesterday that Thomas Erdelyi (better known as Tommy Ramone) had died meaning that no one remains of that Seminal New York Punk band. I first heard of them when visiting Terry at his Lismore St Flat in Easter 1978. His flat decided to throw a Punk Rock themed party which was really filled with a sense of irony for a bunch of agricultural and horticultural students who were more at home in bush shirts than black T Shirts. I am not sure how much research they did but the soundtrack to the party was very well selected with what are now recognised as the first two Punk Records on either side of the Atlantic with the Damned's Damned Damned Damned, The Ramones debut and a great compilation of New Wave.
Somehow I inherited the first two albums and I am not sure what happened to that compilation. I have always enjoyed the simplicity of their music. Many claim it is dumb rock but it takes skill to write simple short songs. I will always enjoy Beat on The Brat, Blitzkrieg Bop and Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.
Two years later I saw The Ramones at the Wellington Show Buildings where they played a great short set of their songs. Tommy had already left the band by then pursuing a career in record production - the highlight of which was probably his work on The Replacements Tim.
In recent years The Ramones has been a soundtrack to drives between Suva and Nadi with Chris driving. Quite why teh whole band has died is not quite clear - sure Dee Dee had drug problems but the others did not seem overly afflcted.
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