1The Ramones The Ramones performing in Liverpool, England.
2The Ramones The Ramones clothing and sneakers.
3The Ramones Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy Ramone walking on a street.
4The Ramones Bassist Dee Dee and lead singer Joey Ramone in performance.
5The Ramones The Ramones in performance.
6The Ramones Ramones Anthology album cover.
7The Ramones L-R. Dee Dee Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone (Photo by Roberta Bayley/Redferns)
8The Ramones Halfway to Sanity album cover.
Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first band to define the punk rock sound. Despite achieving only limited commercial success, the band was a major influence on the 1970s punk movement in both the United States and United Kingdom.
All of the band members adopted pseudonyms ending with the surname "Ramone", although none of them were related. They performed 2,263 concerts, touring virtually nonstop for 22 years. In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played a farewell concert and disbanded. By 2014, all four of the band's original members—lead singer Joey Ramone (1951–2001), guitarist Johnny Ramone (1948–2004), bassist Dee Dee Ramone (1951–2002) and drummer Tommy Ramone (1949–2014)—had died.