The Ramones, as the name suggests, was a band full of musicians with the last name Ramone… except that’s not quite true, as all the group members just adopted stage names that only made them seem like family. (Not even leader Joey Ramone used his real name, which was Jeffrey Hyman). They had the natural chemistry of a family, though: For two decades, the band released new albums nearly every year and toured just about nonstop.
As Uproxx’s Joypocalypse, it was their cohesiveness that made the whole thing work.
She says:
“Getting all your band members to adopt the same last name and wear similar haircuts and outfits is an interesting level of commitment, commitment that the Ramones pulled off, and I would argue that that cohesive quality didn’t just stop at looks and names. I think you also see it in their sound, and I would say that their sound has a recipe to it. A recipe that consists of fast tempo, short songs, simple chord progressions, no solos, no excess kind of deal. This combination is why the Ramones are so identifiable; You can recognize them in seconds, visually and sonically.”
Joy concludes, “From leather jackets and ripped jeans to Joey Ramone’s unmistakable vocals, the Ramones had a formula and they stuck with it.”
Check out the video above.