The Ramones are one of the most influential and important rock bands of all time.
But it definitely didn't come easy.
Here's a look at the tragic real-life story of The Ramones.
In 1974, four old high school buddies reunited to form a new band: The Ramones.
They soon turned New York's CBGB club into ground zero for a fresh sound that would soon
be called "punk rock."
For each of them, the band was a welcome escape from childhood troubles.
Bassist Dee Dee Ramone, whose real name was Doug Colvin, whote in his autobiography Lobotomy:
Surviving the Ramones,
"People who join a band like the Ramones don't come from stable backgrounds.
Punk rock comes from angry kids who feel like being creative."
For Colvin, that instability stemmed from domestic violence at home; according to Vice,
he responded by dropping out of high school and getting into drugs and prostitution.
For guitarist Johnny Ramone, aka John Cummings, his dark childhood came courtesy of an emotionally
abusive father and violence at school.
He wrote in Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone.
"I didn't do too well with the nuns, who would smack me around all the time.
I don't think I even did anything to deserve it, but they would hit me with a stick."
For lead singer Joey Ramone, aka Jeffrey Hyman, the violence came at home courtesy of an abusive
father.
Hyman also faced health issues from birth.
Born with a rare tumor called a teratoma, Hyman underwent surgery at just a few weeks
old, and was a sickly child as a result, suffering from poor circulation and frequent infections.
And Tommy Ramone, aka Thomas Erdelyi?
Well, he was born in Hungary to Holocaust survivors, and his family was forced to flee
to America during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
After Tommy Ramone left the band in 1978 to focus on producing music, Mark Bell was brought
in to replace him.
Taking the name Marky Ramone, Bell was an on-again, off-again member of the band for
the next two decades.
The off-again part was because he was fired from the band in January, 1983, because of
a massive drinking problem.
The previous year, he had gotten so drunk that the band had to cancel a show because
he couldn't play.
That was the last straw.
Bell wrote in his book Punk Rock Blitzkrieg: My Life as a Ramone that Joey Ramone called
him and said,
"You can't be in the band anymore.
I feel bad about it, but there's nothing I can do.
These guys feel they just can't handle you anymore."
Richard Reinhardt, aka Richie Ramone, took over as drummer, while Bell checked himself
into rehab twice, including once after he drove drunk and crashed his car into a store.
On the road to sobriety by 1987, he was finally asked back into the Ramones after Beau Reinhardt
quit over a financial dispute.
For its fifth studio album, 1980's "End of the Century", the Ramones looked to change
up their pure and simple sound and hired producer, and future convicted murderer, Phil Spector.
By all accounts, it was an uncomfortable process.
According to Far Out, things got so intense between Spector and Johnny Ramone that Spector
hired a bodyguard.
But as it turned out, Spector was probably the scarier one.
Dee Dee Ramone wrote in Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones that on one occasion at Spector's
house, the producer pointed a handgun at them and forced them to listen to him sing and
play the Ronettes hit "Baby I Love You" until about 5 a.m.
Yikes.
Though they started as the best of friends, according to Marky Ramone's tell-all book,
the band didn't remain that way for long.
Bell wrote that original drummer Tommy Ramone quit the band due to bullying, and he further
claimed that Johnny and Joey weren't even on speaking terms for most of the band's 22-year
history, and refused to even sit near each other in the tour van.
Why?
Well, Johnny apparently once slapped a woman Joey was dating, and later, he stole Joey's
girlfriend of two years and ended up marrying her.
Joey reportedly never got over the heartbreak, and according to The New York Times, he and
Johnny never reconciled before Joey's untimely death.
Sadly, none of the original Ramones are still with us, as all four passed away young.
Iconic frontman Joey Ramone was the first to leave us.
Diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1995, Joey finally succumbed to the terrible disease
on April 15, 2001, at just 49 years old.
Just one year later, in June, 2002, the band lost its second founding member when Dee Dee
Ramone was found unresponsive by his wife.
Doctors were unable to revive him.
The cause was an accidental heroin overdose; he was just 50 years old.
Sadly, just a few years later Johnny Ramone also passed away from cancer.
The lead guitarist for the Ramones was a rarity in rock music, he stayed clean and sober throughout
the band's long run.
But in 1998 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The disease ravaged his body for years, and he faced tremendous and constant pain for
the final months of his life before finally passing in September 2004 at the age of 55.
Finally, the last member to leave us was the first to leave the band.
Tommy Ramone, who had quit the Ramones back in the 70's, passed away from bile duct cancer
in 2014 at the age of 65.
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