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 Johnny Ramone |
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JOHNNY RAMONE |
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John Cummings (October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004), better known as Johnny Ramone, was the guitarist for the punk rock group The Ramones. Along with vocalist Joey Ramone, he remained a member of the band throughout their career. He was known for his high-energy playing, that consisted of only downstrokes that made his guitar sound bombered. He was also known for his ability to keep everyone on task. Though often times it was thought he over-worked everyone, his focus kept the Ramones a cohesive unit, and his personal and musical style seem to have provided the motive power for Ramones songs. The Ramones song "The KKK Took My Baby Away" was allegedly written by Joey Ramone after his ex-girlfriend Linda left him for Johnny. Though the band remained together for years after this incident, relations between the two remained frosty and verbal communication was almost non-existent. When Joey Ramone was in the hospital dying of cancer, Johnny refused to telephone him. Johnny discusses this incident in the biographical film "End of the Century: The Story of The Ramones", saying that given their differences and estrangement it seemed pointless to call his former bandmate on his deathbed. Alongside his music career, he appeared in nearly a dozen movies (including Rock and Roll High School) and documentaries. He also made television appearances on such shows as The Simpsons. As a kid, he played in a band called the Tangerine Puppets. When he was older, he was known as a "greaser", though was later described as a tie-dye-wearing Stooges fan. According to remarks made by Tommy Ramone in the November 2005 issue of Mojo, Cummings had been briefly addicted to heroin and lived a criminal lifestyle in his late teens, surprisingly considering his image in the Ramones as a sober disciplinarian who disapproved of drug use. Johnny was noted for a cool, reserved attitude that he rarely abandoned. Although never a "closet Republican," (many around him said he was vocal about his opinions), Johnny made his political affiliation known to the world in 2002, when the Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After thanking everyone who made it possible — clad in his trademark T-shirt, ripped blue jeans and leather jacket — Johnny said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America," [1]. He said in an interview, when questioned on his conservatism, "I was a Nixon man." Johnny Ramone's cenotaph at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Southern California. His insistence on the band uniform of bowl haircut, leather jacket and white tennis shoes grated on some members, but his authoritarian style ultimately served to focus the Ramones. Johnny's hardcore attitude seems to have been balanced out by Joey's love for bubblegum pop, surf rock, love songs, and left-leaning political subversion. On September 15, 2004, he died in his Los Angeles home after a five year battle with prostate cancer. |
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