Zitat des Tages von Tommy Ramone:
We all started calling ourselves 'Ramones' because it was just a fun thing to do.
The closest things to an influence would be people like Charlie Watts or Al Jackson. But I didn't really listen to drummers; I basically played what I thought was needed for the Ramones.
Even from the very beginning, the type of fans the Ramones generated were the kind of people who wound up running industry, who became professors and scientists. Our staunchest fans were always a little bit more on the outside, the type of people who didn't fit in with society.
Most of the people who are given these Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame things sell millions of records, so it's kind of like a trophy for them. But for the Ramones, it really was a symbolic gesture of, 'Yes, you guys are special and are important to rock n' roll.' So in that sense, the Roll Hall of Fame served its purpose.
Dee Dee very much filled in the bottom of our sound as opposed to supplying the rhythm.
There's been rumors going round. I never confirm any of them.
I've been a loner all my life, so it didn't bother me that Hungarian was my first language and that I had to learn English. I had a pretty heavy accent in junior high school and would say things like 'wolume control' instead of 'volume control.'
It was never fun being in the Ramones, which is the saddest thing of all, cause it shoulda been fun. It was probably fun when we played Performance Studio, and maybe some of the early gigs at CBGB's. But the Ramones were the type of group that had a bizarre mindset. Being in the band was so cut off from reality.
Johnny was an athlete who didn't play sport. His first love was baseball, but he didn't think he had it in him to be a professional.
In the early days, I was living with Dee Dee for a little while, and he was never around then, either. He would always be out. He was kind of an energetic guy who was always on the run.
It wasn't just music in the Ramones: it was an idea. It was bringing back a whole feel that was missing in rock music - it was a whole push outwards to say something new and different.
Mostly I listen to old-time music, some bluegrass, some Americana stuff, too many to name. But of the younger acts, there are The Freight Hoppers, who were big in the '90s, and The Foghorn Stringband from Oregon, and there's a lot of young string bands coming up now, basically punkers who play acoustic instruments forming new bands.
We used to sit around and listen to the radio and not hear anything like the stuff we like, so we decided to play it ourselves.
Groupies are just very enthusiastic fans, that's all.