Joey Ramone, bassist and singer of The Ramones, died last week of lymphoma --- cancer of the body's lymphatic system. He was 49 years old.

I must admit, I have never been a big fan of The Ramones. Not that I hate them per se. I just thought they were, well, dumb. The whole "1,2,3,4" count up before every song, the mindless syllables, the silly titles. I'm just not into it. If I am in a punk mood, I go for the glammier, rockier sound of The New York Dolls. Anyway, in general, I like my music moody and mopey, which The Ramones in their relentlessly bouncy ditties never were. The Ramones didn't fit anywhere in my CD collection, no matter how much my leather jacket wearing friends tried to convince me of their genius. Besides, I would say, isn't it all a joke? I mean, they all took the same made up last name like comic book characters or something.

On the occasion of Joey's death last week, I decided to give The Ramones another try. I put on their greatest hits CD and took the time to read any obituary or tribute to Joey that I came across. And I began to realize that without The Ramones, there would be a hole in the music scene. A hole the size of punk rock.

Sure there were bands into ripping things up before The Ramones --- notably Iggy & The Stooges and MC5. But The Ramones were not out to destroy pop music; they just wanted to sing their songs and maybe get some girls to notice them. Basically, they were pop stars in punk clothing. All their early songs had similar musical structures and lyrical themes, and they all clocked in under four minutes. Like pop stars, no one could accuse The Ramones of setting out to make high art. Their music wasn't full of excessive guitar noodling like Sonic Youth --- The Ramones just wanted you to nod your head and sing along and maybe even dance (if you want to call jumping up and down dancing, thrashing about dancing).

The majority of contemporary punk rock bands have all taken their cues from The Ramones. Witness Billy Joe of Green Day waxing about Joey Ramone on MTV. He understands that the glory of The Ramones was to sing fast and loud and have fun. And still look cool while doing it.

Want to learn more about The Ramones and their musical kin?

OLD SCHOOL
	LOBOTOMY: Surviving the Ramones by Dee Dee Ramone with Veronica Kaufmann Thunder's Mouth Press ISBN: 1560252529
	GET IN THE VAN: On the Road with Black Flag by Henry Rollins Two Thirteen Sixty-One Publications ISBN: 1880985241
	A RIOT OF OUR OWN: Night and Day with the Clash by Johnny Green and Garry Barker Faber & Faber ISBN: 0571199577
NEW SCHOOL
	WE OWE YOU NOTHING, PUNK PLANET: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker Akashic Books ISBN: 1888451149
	GREEN DAY by Kalen Rogers Omnibus Press ISBN: 0825615046
	BLINK 182 by Simon Moore Music Sales Corp ISBN: 0825618029

   --- Serena Burns

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