No wrestling content in this particular installment of Breaking Kayfabe.

Just a tribute to a man whose music reinvigorated the spirit of rock and roll at a time when most groups in the post-Beatles and Doors era known as the 70's were either extravagant like Led Zeppelin or the Stones, outrageous like Alice Cooper or Parliament-Funkadelic, bombastic like Kiss, ahead of their time like Aerosmith or Iggy Pop, or just downright boring like Pink Floyd and Yes. A man whose band inspired countless others, including everyone from the Sex Pistols and the Clash to this writer, to pick up guitars, basses, and drums, and make their own music. A man without whom there would not have been any rock and roll after 1974, and whose music continues to influence in some way close to 30 years after their inception… Joey Ramone.

As lead singer, frontman, songwriter, and one-fourth of the Ramones, Joey (real name Jeffery Hyman) and the rest of the group - guitarist Johnny Ramone (born John Cummings); bassist/vocalist/songwriter DeeDee Ramone (born Douglas Colvin), and drummer/producer Tommy Ramone (born Thomas Erdelyi) - merged the hooks and songwriting craft of 60's pop-rock with the urgency of underrated early proto-punk pioneers like the Stooges and the MC5.

Although surprisingly bigger stars abroad than in their home country, The Ramones built up a steady and loyal following through constant touring both here and abroad, inspiring their biographer to dub them "the Grateful Dead of punk rock" in 1993. Although their music has gotten little radio and MTV airplay, and their only platinum album award was for their 1988 best-of compilation Ramonesmania, their discography of close to 20 albums has remained in print and continues to sell since it was first released, and many of their songs and albums are considered classics today. Even for those who deny that they ever listened to any kind of "punk" rock, Ramones classics such as "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Wanna Be Sedated", "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", "Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio?", and countless others are just as revered as any hit from any other "classic" rock group you could mention. Their music has been heard in countless movies (National Lampoon's Vacation and Pet Semetary immediately come to mind) and TV shows and even in a Bud Light commercial. They've been covered by artists as diverse as Skid Row, Sonic Youth and Mojo Nixon, sampled by The Beastie Boys on their landmark Paul's Boutique album, and paid the ultimate tribute by Motorhead, who wrote and recorded a song about the group, "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", for their Grammy-nominated album 1912.

The Ramones formed when Johnny and DeeDee had both been laid off from their day jobs, partly for something to do and partly as a reaction to how boring rock music had become in 1974. Initially a three-piece with DeeDee singing and playing bass whilst Joey drummed and Tommy, then a recording engineer, was managing them. Joey, having previously sang in a glitter-rock band, took over the vocal spot when DeeDee gave up trying to sing lead and hold down the bass lines at the same time. Unable to find a drummer that was willing to play the way the group wanted them to, Tommy, who had been showing the potential auditionees what kind of patterns to play, took over the drum seat. The group, having started writing their own material when trying to cover their old 60's pop rock favorites initially backfired, auditioned not long afterward at the now-legendary club CBGB's. In a remarkable instance of being at the right place in the right time, the group became part of a new musical movement in New York City along with such acts as The Talking Heads, Blondie, Richard Hell, and Television.

Inspired by the Beatles, the group took their collective stage surname from a stage name Paul McCartney had used in the Fab Four's early pre-recording days, "Paul Ramone", and their look from the basic on-and-offstage dress the Beatles had word during their Hamburg, Germany club residencies: black leather jackets, blue jeans, and sneakers.

Eschewing guitar solos in favor of thick, unwavering power chords, Johnny Ramone's guitar sound merged with DeeDee & Tommy's driving, basic rhythm, covering all sonic frequencies with the simplest of arrangements whilst Joey, his lanky six-foot-six, skinny frame leaning into the mic stand, sang lyrics (penned by either himself or DeeDee) about everything from being bored to being in love.

The group signed a deal with Sire Records (the then-future home of the Talking Heads, Madonna and Ice-T) in 1975 and recorded their self-titled debut album in a matter of days at a recording studio in Radio City Music Hall, at one point recording seven songs in one day, with only minimal overdubs - a second guitar on two songs, glockenspiel on "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (the first of many Ramones power ballads, a Joey Ramone specialty), and organ on a cover of the Chris Montez classic "Let's Dance". Carrying their admiration of early Beatles further, the group deliberately mixed the album with the main guitar on one channel and the bass on the other. Released in early 1976, the fourteen tracks of Ramones' bare-bones, raw rock scared away many who were used to either the gentle soft-rock of the Eagles or the pretentious recordings of Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer, but attracted many fans and critics who wholeheartedly embraced their sound.

The band quickly followed up their debut with the slightly less-raw but still unpolished Ramones Leave Home, recorded between tours and showcasing 14 more classic tracks from their stockpile of over 50-some songs written during the first two years of the band's existence. The record's distribution suffered a couple of set backs after its late 1976 release, first when the band was sued by the Carbona Chemical Company over the album track "Carbona Not Glue" (forcing the track out of print until it was released on the Hey Ho! Let's Go! Anthology in 1999), then when Sire switched distributors from the failing ABC Records label to Warner Bros., who reissued the album a second time in early '77 with a track previously issued only as a single, "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker". A few months after this re-release came Rocket To Russia, considered by many to be the groups' best cohesive long-playing work. A remixed "Sheena" joined 13 other future Ramones classics including the hilarious "Teenage Lobotomy" (with its legendary "D-U-M-B/Everyone's accusing me" couplet), the unofficial Ramones national anthem "We're A Happy Family", a cover of the trash-rock standard "Surfin' Bird" that remained in the group's set list for the rest of their existence, and the group's first slow song to be recorded, "Here Today Gone Tomorrow", a song where Johnny's overdubbed and overdriven guitars end up suggesting a string section playing behind the group. The album was also the first of many to be produced or co-produced by Ed Stasium, who would later add albums by the likes of Living Colour, Soul Asylum, and The Rolling Stones to his resume.

The group made their English touring debut on July 4th, 1977, an ironic date. In the audience at their London debut show were the members of the many punk bands that had been inspired by The Ramones' first three albums and had started their own groups - The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Jam, and countless others. The Clash's Joe Strummer and The Sex Pistols' Johnny Ramone even went through the trouble (despite their own self-intimidation) of getting backstage to meet the group (although in a rather playful moment, Johnny Ramone later claimed to have "besmirched" Johnny Rotten's beer 24 years before Chris Jericho did the same to William Regal's tea on WWF Raw Is War). Such was the influence of the Ramones that not only was one of the first English punk fanzines titled Sniffin' Glue after the Ramones song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", but Joe Strummer is even reputed to have taken his own copy of Rocket To Russia to the sessions for the Clash's first album in order to give the studio's engineer an exact idea of what they wanted to sound like.

Tommy chose to depart the band to concentrate on production after touring behind Rocket To Russia (and recording the It's Alive double-live album in England at the end of '77). In his place came Marc Bell, former drummer for both early glam-rockers Dust and fellow early punkers Richard Hell & The Voidoids, who got the job when he passed two important qualifications - he was a professional drummer, and he already had a black leather jacket! After learning the group's live set and all of the songs written for the next album in a matter of days, Marc, now renamed Marky Ramone, did a quick tour with the group prior to recording the band's first major breakthrough release, Road To Ruin. Released in 1978, Road To Ruin featured a slightly more mature Ramones in its 12 slightly longer songs (some breaking the three-minute mark) and a more polished production produced the band's first major hit, "I Wanna Be Sedated". Written by Joey after a rather hectic return European tour, "Sedated" became the group's best known song and is now considered a standard by not only every garage band in every neighborhood in America and every bar band that ever played for gas money and free beer, but by National Public Radio, who named "I Wanna Be Sedated" one of the 100 Greatest Musical Works Of The 20th Century. The album also essentially solidified Marky as the definitive Ramones drummer and the Joey-Johnny-DeeDee-Marky lineup as the classic Ramones lineup.

After more touring, the group found themselves in Los Angeles late in 1979 for two of the more unique experiences in their careers. First, the group was tapped to play versions of themselves in the movie, Rock And Roll High School, a Roger Corman film centered around a Ramones-worshipping female fan/budding songwriter and the anti-rock principal of her high school, that is now a cult classic today. Then, immediately afterward, the group found themselves in the studio with the legendary producer, Phil Spector - a situation that initially pleased Joey, who was a big fan of Spector's work with the Ronettes, Darlene Love, and many others and who hero-worshipped Ronnie Spector (the Ronettes' lead singer and Phil's ex-wife).

These sessions produced what became the End Of The Century album (released in 1980), but they were anything but the smooth, all-business and no-bullshit affairs that normally categorized Ramones sessions. The group would be forced to sit idly by in their hotel room waiting to find out what studio they'd record in (it ended up being the same one, despite what the credits on the record say otherwise), or find themselves slowed down into doing one track per day - an eternity for a band used to working fast in the studio. Spector would often come to the studio intoxicated. DeeDee and Johnny got so disgusted with the slow pace that they went back home to New York after recording all of the original material for the album (session musicians played on the album's lone cover version, the old Ronettes standard "Baby I Love You"). End Of The Century became the group's biggest selling studio album to date, partly because of the Phil Spector connection and partly because of early videos for "Rock And Roll High School" and "Do You Remember Rock And Roll Radio?", but DeeDee hated it so much that he dismissed the material he'd written for it as his "worst" (save for his reclaiming of "Chinese Rocks" from Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers) and later falsely claimed in his own autobiography that none of the Ramones played on it.

The group next recorded with a rather unlikely choice for producer, 10cc bassist Graham Gouldman, for the album Pleasant Dreams. The album, which featured the single "We Want The Airwaves" and Joey's Who tribute "It's Not My Place (In The 9-To-5 World)", became the first to introduce individual songwriting credits for the songs (divided between Joey and DeeDee; previously all the songs had been attributed to the entire group), and partly because of its slick production, is a rather hotly debated subject amongst Ramones fans and critics. A critic in Trouser Press magazine (a regular publication devoted to alternative music in the late 70's and early 80's) dissed the album outright in a full-page review, but hardcore Ramones fans protested, one of them even sending a shredded copy of the negative review to the writer in protest.

The Ramones continued their quest to gain mainstream airplay without diluting their sound by recording the Subterranean Jungle album in 1982 (released February 1983), but during the sessions Marky was fired from the group when his drinking became too much, forcing the band to record the last track for the album with a session drummer. One of the album's pivotal tracks, "Psychotherapy", became a Ramones concert staple, but the video for it was banned from MTV, while the rest of the album, admittedly their weakest, was weighted down with a record three cover versions, including a version of the Chamber Brothers' "Time Has Come Today" (a clip for which did make MTV rotation.) but did feature DeeDee's lead singing debut on the track "Time Bomb".

Marky was replaced with Richie Beau, formerly of the New York band The Velveteens, for the subsequent tour and for the next Ramones album, Too Tough To Die, an album whose recording was delayed when a former roadie attacked Johnny Ramone after a New York homecoming gig, forcing the guitarist into emergency brain surgery. Recorded and released in 1984 with Ed Stasium and Tommy Ramone back behind the mixing desk and the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart throwing his two cents in on the single "Howling At The Moon", the album, musically directed by DeeDee as an answer back to the challenge of the American hardcore punk movement (Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Fear, Suicidal Tendencies, etc.), returned the band to top form.

In the summer of 1985, the Ramones released a 12-inch single, "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg", written by Joey and DeeDee with former Plasmatics bassist/keyboardist turned producer Jean Beauvoir, in protest of President Ronald Reagan's state visit to Bitburg, a German cemetery containing the graves of Nazi stormtroopers. Joey, having been raised under the Hebrew faith, noted with disgust at Reagan's tribute, "How could anyone forget six million people gassed and roasted?" but, the single's content ruffled Johnny Ramone, who by his own admission is a loyal Republican and was a public admirer of Reagan. As a compromise, the song was retitled "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down" (after the tagline in the song's chorus), with the original title in parentheses, when released on the 1986 album Animal Boy. The album also returned the band to MTV visibility with the single and video "Something To Believe In", a secular gospel-punk song written by Joey that perfectly balanced the band's guitar sound with pop keyboard coloring.

For their next album, Halfway To Sanity (released September 1987), the band co-produced themselves with Daniel Rey (who became a frequent songwriting collaborator with both Joey and DeeDee) and returned to basic guitar rock with little outside ornamentation save for some keyboard orchestration on the album's token Joey ballad, "Bye Bye Baby", and a guest backing vocal from Blondie's Debbie Harry on "Go Little Camaro Go", but as the group were about to begin touring behind the album, drummer Richie Ramone demanded a pay raise. Instead, the group fired him and brought back a newly clean and sober Marky.

The group then released their first retrospective release, Ramonesmania, in May of 1988, and was then commissioned by Stephen King to compose the title song for the movie adaptation of his novel Pet Semetary. King, a longtime fan, specifically wanted the group mainly because the book's protagonist is seen singing along with "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" in one part of the book, checking into a hotel under the name DeeDee Ramone in another, and saying "Gabba gabba hey" to his resurrected pet black cat in another. To further the Ramones connection in the movie, the band licensed "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" to the filmmakers for use in the movie, and Joey also makes a cameo in the feature.

The Ramones then recorded their next studio effort, 1989's Brain Drain, (which included "Pet Semetary") with Bill Laswell (Material, Public Image Ltd., Motorhead, Miles Davis) producing, but just prior to the album's release, DeeDee left the group to concentrate on a solo career, but continued to write material for the group he helped establish. He was replaced by one Christopher Joseph Ward, renamed C.J. Ramone, who remained in the group for the rest of its existence.

The Ramones left Sire Records and signed with MCA's Radioactive imprint after delivering a live album, Loco Live, to Sire to fulfill their contract in the summer of 1992. That September, they released their debut for Radioactive/MCA, Mondo Bizarro, again with Ed Stasium behind the board. Kicking off the album was Joey's ode to Tipper Gore and the PMRC, "Censorshit": "Ah Tipper come on, ain't you been getting it on? / Ask Ozzy, [Frank] Zappa, or me, we'll show you what it's like to be free." The album also featured the theme to Pet Semetary 2, "Poison Heart", and guest appearances from Flo & Eddie (of The Turtles and Frank Zappa fame) on backing vocals and Living Colour's Vernon Reid contributing a guitar solo to the song "Cabbies On Crack" (inspired by a rather scary cab ride taken by Joey). The group made a rare American TV appearance to promote the album on the Jay Leno show, playing "Censorshit", "I Wanna Be Sedated", and their cover of The Doors' "Take It As It Comes".

That latter cover version inspired the Ramones' next release, Acid Eaters (released January 1994), which featured the group tearing through covers of several mid-to-late-60's rock classics, including a faithful cover of the Who's "Substitute" with Pete Townshend contributing backing vocals, an undoubtedly lifelong thrill for longtime Who fan Joey.

By 1995, as the band were finishing up another album, the likes of Nirvana and Green Day had finally "broken" punk rock into the mainstream, inspiring Johnny Ramone to vow that the Ramones would retire if the album, Adios Amigos did not meet the same chart success as the bands that had been inspired by them. Released in July 1995, the album featured a rocked-out retake on Tom Waits' "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" (which did get substantial airplay on modern rock stations), as well as a guest phoned-in vocal appearance from DeeDee (for the first time on a Ramones album since Brain Drain), singing in German on the song "Born To Die In Berlin", and a song of interest to wrestling fans, "The Crusher", wherein the protagonist in the lyrics vows to challenge "the Russian Bear" in Madison Square Garden, only to chicken out when the match does take place!

Despite the attention gotten to the band by Adios Amigos, the band retired anyway, going on a farewell tour that was capped off by an appearance on one of the last Lollapalooza tours at the insistence of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who reportedly demanded of Lollapalooza's promoters that the Ramones be included on the bill… otherwise they wouldn't get Pearl Jam either! (When the tour concluded, Johnny Ramone reportedly sold one of his trademark Mosrite guitars to Vedder.)

A veritable who's who of rock joined the Ramones on their final recording, a combination live recording and home video of their final show with a multitude of special guests too numerous to include here. The package's title: We're Outta Here.

The last Ramones release was a more comprehensive, precise and updated double-CD anthology of their work, entitled Hey! Ho! Let's Go!, after the tag line from the opening track of their self-titled debut album, "Blitzkrieg Bop", thus bringing their legacy full circle.

Since the retirement of the Ramones, Joey had been working with several young artists as well as producing a record for his longtime idol Ronnie Spector and appearing at various New York clubs as a host or guest performer, and had been working on his first solo album. This past March, he entered the hospital to be treated for lymphomic cancer, but sadly, the treatment didn't take, and on Easter Sunday, April 15, 2001, at about 2:45 PM, he passed away.

Joey summed up the legacy of the band he fronted in Hey! Ho! Let's Go!'s liner notes:

"The Ramones were, and are, a great fuckin' band, in spite of our differences. When we went out there to play, the power was intense, like going to see The Who in the 60's - that intensity and excitement.

"When I put the Ramones on the stereo now, we still sound great. And that will always be there."