Harvey Kubernik 2002 Interviews with Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, Marky Ramone
"April 23, 1976: It only took Three chords, Four guys (from Forest Hills), Seven days, Fourteen songs, 29 minutes and Four seconds, $6,400, and Then a Total of 2,263 concerts …to Change EVERYTHING." – Gary Gabba Gold.
Ramones Productions, Inc. and Hollywood Forever have announced The Official Ramones 50th Anniversary Tribute. Taking place the evening of August 30th, 2026, at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, this special edition of an annual Los Angeles tradition will serve as the first milestone celebration commemorating 50 years since the release of the Ramones' self-titled debut album.
Hosted by screen icon John Travolta, the concert will include the inaugural live performance from Cretin Family – a supergroup featuring Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Travis Barker (Blink-182), CJ Ramone (Ramones) and special surprise guests playing a set of Ramones songs – as well as a double feature screening of Carrie's 50th Anniversary Deluxe edition, and John Travolta's new film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Shepard Fairey will also present a Guest DJ set, with proceeds from the event supporting David Agus MD Cancer Research at Ellison Institute.
"I'm excited to celebrate the best band ever with Ramones fans from all over the world, and to welcome our new generation of fans. See you at Hollywood Forever. Hey Ho, Let's Go! Gabba Gabba Hey!"
– Linda Ramone
"Two years ago, I had the pleasure of experiencing the Hollywood Forever Johnny Ramone Tribute for the first time. It was a blast, and I want to return again for the Ramones tribute! With showing something new, my directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. And something old, the 50th anniversary of original Carrie. It is going to be a fun night. See you there!"
– John Travolta
"From the moment I first heard the RAMONES, music was never the same. They are my favorite band of all time ! I can't wait to play those great and perfect RAMONES songs with my friends CJ, Travis and Billie. It's gonna be wild !"
– Tim Armstrong
"The spirit of the Ramones is alive in every backyard punk show, punk club and festival. Generation after generation of cretins and weirdos become Ramones lovers. Kids are influenced by the Ramones and they don't even know it yet.
¡Viva Ramones!"
– Billie Joe Armstrong
"The Ramones are the blueprint. Punk rock wouldn't be what it is today without them. I'm honored to celebrate 50 years of one of the greatest bands ever!!!"
– Travis Barker
"This is gonna be the biggest celebration of the Ramones anyone has seen for a long time!!!"
– CJ Ramone
With the release of Ramones in 1976, the Ramones ignited the punk rock revolution. Fast, loud and relentless, Joey Ramone (vocals), Johnny Ramone (guitar), Dee Dee Ramone (bass) and Tommy Ramone (drums) cut through the era's excess with a brash attitude and a set of songs – "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Judy is a Punk" and a dozen other short, combustible, stripped-down but groundbreaking blasts – that were like nothing else at the time.
"Punk rock started in 1976 in New York, when four cretins from Queens came up with a mutant strain of blitzkrieg bubblegum," said Rolling Stone, when naming Ramones the #1 Greatest Punk Album of All Time this year.
"The revolution they inspired split the history of rock & roll in half. But even if punk rock began as a kind of negation — a call to stark, brutal simplicity — its musical variety and transforming emotional power was immediate and remains staggering."
In the five decades that have passed, "the album's influence has been incalculable" (The New York Times), and the Ramones' music reaches more ears today than ever before. The Official Ramones 50th Anniversary Tribute arrives at the center of a series of year-long festivities to honor not only the record's generational legacy, but the birth of a genre and the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' enduring impact on this global grassroots movement. From punk to pop to the perennially cool, music and style have never been the same since.
Ahead of The Official Ramones 50th Anniversary Tribute, Rhino will release a limited edition, first-time picture disc pressing of Ramones on July 17th, and a 2LP colored edition of the Ramones' Live at The Roxy, 8/12/76 on July 31st, as part of its Spirit of '76 campaign.
In 2002, I interviewed Johny Ramone. I asked if he always knew constant touring was essential to the Ramones’ mission.
“Of course! We were recycling everything. The drumsticks would come off the kits, everything, and sell ‘em out there for a profit. Sticks get used, we get the sticks for $2 a pair, and then we’d sell the used drumsticks for $5 apiece – used drumsticks. Everything was to turn a profit, yet to still keep it at a reasonable price, so that if the kid got an item, he’d go. ‘Hey, I got a good deal; here’s a good used drum stick for $5,’ and it’s still a good deal, ya know…So that gets back to my construction job before the Ramones and the collecting mentality…
“I learned by just watching Cream come out on stage, and I watched what they did just by presenting themselves. I saw how important it was – perception – how the group was perceived from the moment the band walked on stage – how important to walk on the stage properly. You know, the stage is dark, and there’s no lights – ‘This is the most exciting moment…now, how long is it gonna take for the band to blow it, ya know, with boredom?’ I learned so much from doing that. “Walk on, don’t start fumbling around; if something breaks, don’t make it obvious to the audience – they don’t know. I’d tell Dee Dee, ‘If your microphone doesn’t work, just throw it down, scream out the count. Don’t have any vulnerability, where you go on, ‘Testing, testing….’ Don’t show any vulnerable moment. Perception is everything…”
I asked Johnny about the Phil Spector-produced End of the Century at the Gold Star recording studio in East Hollywood.
“Regarding the cover of “Baby, I Love You,” yeah, I wanted to do a Phil Spector song. . . I realized that it was a mistake, and to me it was the worst thing we’ve ever done in our career.
“But on ballads like ‘Danny Says’, the production work is tremendous. On ‘Do You Remember Rock ’N’ Roll Radio?’ the production works. On some of the things it works, some of the things it doesn’t work. Because of the echo and reverb, I can’t separate; I like to distinguish the guitar from the bass guitar from the drums. I can’t distinguish the separation, because it’s muddy. That’s the sound.
“Looking back, I’m glad I worked with Phil–I worked with a legend of rock ’n’ roll. The last things I know of that he’s done are the Ramones and The Beatles. . . I’m proud to be part of his discography. . . At the time I did it, it was very difficult, it was very stressful. But I’m still happy I did it.”
But what brought the Ramones, Phil Spector and Gold Star together in the first place?
The week before Spector began the Ramones album, Phil helmed a production of Jonathan and Andy Paley’s “Baby, Let’s Stick Together.” Ray Pohlman, Hal Blaine, Tommy Tedesco, Jay Migliori, Jim Keltner, Julius Wechter, Steve Douglas, Barry Goldberg and Dan and David Kessel were on the date. Rodney Bingenheimer, Phil Seymour and I provided percussion on the recording. Andy had earlier visited Gold Star with Darlene Love and Joey Ramone.
In 1978, Dan and David Kessel produced and arranged the Ramones song, “Slug” (available on the CDs All the Stuff (And More), Vol. 2, and Rocket to Russia, as well as on Rhino’s 2005 box set Weird Tales of the Ramones.
“Dan and I got on the phone to Phil,” David Kessel recalled, “and played Phil some of what we had produced with the Ramones. His immediate reply was that we should pick up some pizzas and bring the Ramones over to his mansion in Beverly Hills. That was truly a happening night.
“I love seeing people of all ages now wearing Ramones’ T-Shirts,” enthused current deejay, and Cavehollywood.com founder and owner, David Kessel.
“From little kids to oldsters. They’re letting their punk flag fly. The Ramones cross all generations because their music and lyrics reflect a parody of reality.
“I’m amazed and delighted that after all these years since the Ramones showed up on the scene, and became the scene, they are more popular globally in 2019 than ever. What they created is entrenched in our modern musical DNA.”
Johnny Ramone in 2002 chatted about the current re-appraisal of the Ramones’ catalog popularity and global merchandise sales that have emerged.
“Well, I told my wife the year before I retired, ‘Well, maybe no one will wanna talk to me, and we’ll just be forgotten, and that’s how it’s gonna be, and I’m prepared for that…’ That’s what I told her, all the time, just in case that was gonna happen. I can’t believe it – I hear about the Ramones every day. I see stuff about the Ramones, I hear people talking about the Ramones…I just thought I’d be forgotten.
“I got in my car two days ago, and Paul Stanley pulls alongside of me – I’ve never spoken to the guy before – and says, ‘I’ve seen you around before, but I’ve never met you, but I just wanted to say hello…’ This is nice, Paul Stanley saying hello. Don Henley comes up to me one day, outside of The Ivy (restaurant) and says – and I have no idea who Don Henley is, but I’m thinking he must be somebody important – ‘I hear you’re retiring ya’ know, and you shouldn’t retire…’
“I didn’t sell any records, and I’m retired with a nice home!
“I tell him, ‘It’s been a great 22 years of my life, but it’s time to move on…great, thanks for saying hi to me…’ I’m thinking, ‘Who the hell is he? I get home and say, ‘This guy Don Henley said hello to me…’ and (my wife) goes, ‘Don Henley! He’s in The Eagles!’
“But as far as the compliments from the people like Eddie Vedder, it’s great, it’s tremendous. I didn’t think I was appreciated throughout the 1980’s. It wasn’t until the 1990’s – around ‘93/’94 that people started coming up to me and saying these things, and asking me to go on tour with them. And I started thinking, ‘Hey, this is nice…’
“See, we stayed in our own world so much that we didn’t think anyone cared; we thought we were totally unappreciated.
I told Johnny that the Ramones are now looked upon as a legacy group!
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…I never thought this! (laughter). I thought we’d do one album, and I’d go back to construction work, ya know.
“Well, I bought the Mosrite guitar in January of ‘74, and we started playing CBGB’s in August of ‘74. So that’s when I started playing guitar. I started down-strumming to keep time, ya know. I also liked the way Jimmy Page played on ‘Communication Breakdown’ (sings ‘da-da-da-da-da/da-dum-dum’) I liked the way it drives…”
“Johnny Ramone was the new Link Wray,” emphasized Dan Kessel. “We were proud to be Ray-Men when we recorded with the Ramones and producer Phil Spector during their End of the Century. Johnny was a phenomenal bandleader. Dee Dee and Marky were both extraordinary too. And Joey was inspirational.
“When we were recording, David and I would thrash on our acoustic guitars all night long until our hands were bloody and raw. We’d mainly just keep playing rhythm, staying out of Johnny’s way, following Marky and Dee Dee. Other times we’d play more nuanced things, rhythmically or harmonically, as requested, when Phil was building on the arrangement.”
A key factor in the sound created by the Ramones can be traced to the 1965 Mosrite Ventures II guitar Johnny Ramone played on stage and in the recording studio, often in a series of splendid solos. He had a DeMarzio DP110 FS-1 Pickup. Johnny utilized a Marshall Superlead Guitar Amplifier Head coupled with a Marshall 1960B 4x12” Cabinet that contributed to the distorted and enticing tone.
“Mosrite is a guitar that gave life to New Wave,” suggests guitarist/singer/songwriter Greg Franco, bandleader of Rough Church and Man’s Body.
“Being a California kid, I heard the Ventures on the radio in the late 60’s. “Walk, Don’t Run” is a song that is a better soundtrack to the Los Angeles vibe. The gliding melodic guitar is distinctive talk about earworm riffage!
“The feel of the tune has hips and shoulders. It’s body movement in the city of body worship. Hollywood after all.
“The Mosrite has this California orange juicy sound, enchanting and dancing around your ears. My next encounter with this sound was when it was in the hands of the late Ricky Wilson of the Athens, Georgia band, the B-52’s
“On radio station KROQ-FM, we all heard songs like ‘Planet Claire,’ ‘52 Girls,’ and of course ‘Rock Lobster,’ in the perfect moment of the Summer of 1980. The band was enamored by 60’s kitsch culture, and Yoko Ono!
“The kids in our city took to the sound of this band as their own identity. Here come the weirdos, with unique style and sound. They were accessible, pop, and so they called it ‘New Wave.’ If not for them, the Ramones, who also had a unique, Mosrite-driven sound, we would not have had the rich easter egg albums that collectively turned into the culture we wanted to join. Music comes first, then fashion, and then movies and art, or maybe they all influence each other, but for sure, being a musician influenced by that time and what was on the radio at the time, it made a huge impact on me and others.
“Yes, there were the classic rock and hard rock people to me that were so overdone and dying; there are the jazz, jazz rock, and prog rock folks, for sure the rockabilly thing, punk, but in a way, back then, you had to pick a lane, and mine became New Wave for lack of a better term and proto-punk or post-punk. We know now that the guitar drove that sound, and that sound was reaching back to things like surf music and girl group bands like the Ronettes mixed with anything experimental and wild. We didn’t know that we craved that sound, but bands began providing it, and we dove right in,” Franco happily confessed.
In 2002, Dee Dee Ramone and I conducted an interview.
“The thing with Marky Ramone as a drummer was that he was very particular about the drum sounds and all of that,” explained bass player Dee Dee Ramone.
“But I think Joey was into a Keith Moon type drummer who would splash around the tom toms and all that thing. But you know what, we didn’t bother Marky in the studio. He is a very self-willed person, and Johnny Ramone would show him a lot of parts. I wouldn’t worry about what everyone was doing; I would just lead it.
“Playing bass with the Ramones, I think I had a real good sense of time. That’s one thing. I could play bass like a drummer, and I don’t know how other people do it, and they get better, or learn guitar tapping, whatever.
“There’s something about playing live that just makes you better. John and I had been playing for years, and we played every night. Very few nights we didn’t play. We had a standard joke. We never rehearsed ‘cause we were always playing. To get the speed, though, we had to warm up, and we used to warm up in the dressing room with a trap kit, or fake drums, a Fender Champ amp. And that’s it. We would get the speed with the right hand going, until finally it grew to playing. Only playing downstrokes and then playing back. Speed, aggression, but if you are a singer/guitar player, you have to play up and down strokes or pause a little on the guitar. And John and I weren’t like vocal musicians. That’s what happened to us. We’re like a machine.”
Dee Dee Ramone admitted he still is intrigued by The End of the Century, especially in hindsight:
“Now I realize more and more with time Joey’s voice had a real deep, deep part of the Ramones’ sound. And really that started with End Of The Century. I think Phil Spector and Joey were a great combination. Phil brought out the romanticism in Joey. He was like a romantic guy, and some of the songs and productions on End Of The Century pushed that. . . ‘Baby, I Love You’ on End Of The Century—I never thought there would be a string section on a Ramones record, but I like it.
“The band was a sum of its parts and reflected the music heard in America.
“I think Joey and me and everyone had that sound drilled into them as part of our rock and roll education. It comes from the radio and the vibe and scene. That’s the beauty of American rock and roll. ‘Mersey Beat,’ whatever. There’s nothing like The Shangri-La’s ‘Walkin’ In the Sand.’ I wish I would have known Mary Weiss…
“I’m amazed by the whole thing and feel I’m a lucky person, ya know.
“Like I was really blessed to be in that band and everything that came along with it. The longevity of it is shocking. All of a sudden, the Ramones have this new life.
“It wasn’t like a cruel twist of faith instead, it had a happy ending except for Joey, ya know. We always used to say horrible things to Joey. ‘We could have made it if we had Billy Idol.’ (laughs). We were nasty.
“And a lot of times Joey’s death really affected me. Because he wasn’t friendly to me and I felt shortchanged, and the last year I gave up on him and couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t really get to go through his death with him, ya know. It’s painful for me. I miss him. I think, ‘What did he get out of life? What do you get out of being in the Ramones?’
“He came back after all those tours and sat around the East Village. I feel bad for him that he was sick and didn’t have his freedom. And all I can think of is it’s inspiring not to take life for granted.
“Seymour Stein invented alternative music labeling. Like the Ramones, he was one of the last American dreams. He started from nothing as a record collector buying publishing, putting out Fleetwood Mac albums and stuff, before they were popular, and made a label as a fan. What I remember about Seymour was that he had every single 45. The Teddy Bears’ ‘To Know Him is To Love Him’ which Phil did. During the recording of End Of The Century, he didn’t intrude. He was really generous.”
Dee Dee revealed a hidden Southern California history of his life before the Ramones were even formed, and a time long before he possessed an Ampeg SVT Vintage amplifier.
“I lived in Culver City around 1970. I hitchhiked out here, and when I got to L.A. First stop was Newport Beach. I met some guy, service men, who picked me up, jarheads, who drove me into L.A. particularly. I got to L.A. and stayed in L.A. for five minutes, hitched up the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur for a month. Then I came back and stayed in Culver City in The Washington Hotel. MGM Studios right down the street. Worked as a maintenance man at Helms Bakery. I might have been 18, and started at 12 midnight and hosed all the garbage dumps.
“I listened to the radio. AM and FM dial. I had some history in Culver City. I used to go to all the thrift shops and look for 45’s and find good things. Boxes of singles. I found good R&B and rock and roll singles, and pulled that same trick in New York in 1976. I had an apartment, and the Cramps were living around there and hit the shops for tunes. Obviously, I heard and found some records Phil Spector produced.
“I came to Hollywood all the time. I came to The Whisky even then. I saw Chicken Shack, who might have been on Sire Records. When I was living in L.A. and around Hollywood, it was at a time when everyone was getting a shag haircut. It was wonderful. It was a rock and roll town. I went to The Forum and The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Gazzarri’s club. No wheels. I would hitchhike everywhere. I’m lucky I’m still alive.
“The Ramones were a pain in the ass too, come on. Playing with the Ramones was wonderful—it was probably like bungee-jumping.”
Marky Ramone, who played a custom Ludwig drum kit, has great things to say about his End Of The Century experience but remembers how Joey wasn’t the only band member who felt their time at Gold Star often seemed endless.
“John and Dee Dee were used to working fast. And Phil worked at his own pace, which really frustrated John and Dee Dee because of how things were working.
“I still listen to the record and try to understand what Phil did, which can baffle a lot of people. He’s like a conductor,” sums up Marky. “I was amazed how a certain sax can jump in, then a certain guitar tone would pop up . . . the way the roto-toms bounced off the walls to create that low-end hum after the end of the hit, which bounced right back onto the recording.
“Gold Star had a great room. I was facing Phil and engineer Larry Levine while doing the LP. Phil and I would put a towel on the snare drum on certain songs, an old trick, especially on ‘I Can’t Make It On Time.’ I could see Phil grooving along with my tempo, and I knew when he did that he was liking it!
“I like ‘Danny Says’ because it was your typical ‘Phil the great build up’- the master at work. And of course, ‘I’m Affected.’ But to me it all worked. The songs sounded like one, and that’s the way I feel all songs should sound. Not one thing should stand out louder than the other. I also really like ‘Danny Says,’ which Joey wrote because I enjoy touring.
“I like ‘Do You Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio?’ All the different and wonderful instruments that wove in and out of the song.”
"I always thought I knew what the kids wanted to hear," Spector expressed in a 1976 Melody Maker interview I conducted inside his home where we devoured Pink’s Hot Dogs for lunch washed down by bottles of Orange Crush soda.
“They were frustrated, uptight," Phil reinforced. "I would say no different from me when I was in school. I had a rebellious attitude. I was for the underdog. I was concerned that they were as misunderstood as I was."
In 1979, Phil produced the Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio” for the End of the Century album. Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone, and Johnny Ramone penned the tune. I handclapped on it. Joey namechecked Hullabaloo, Murray the K, and Shindig! in the lyrics.
After one session, I had a hallway chat with Joey Ramone next to the Coca-Cola machine, which only stocked Tab. Joey, who shared the same May 19th birthday as Pete Townshend, was stunned when I told him the Who mixed “I Can See for Miles,” and produced “Call Me Lightning” at Gold Star. He took off his sunglasses and shook his head in amazement.
Joey and I saw the Who in 1967 on their first tour of the US, but on different coasts. Joey practically fainted when I told him DJ Murray the K was a guest on my 1977 television show 50/50.
It was a weekly music and interview series I produced and hosted, filmed at Theta Cable in Santa Monica and subsequently broadcast on the Public Access and Z Channel in Los Angeles and in New York on Manhattan Cable. My studio guests included Michael Lloyd, Todd Rundgren, Danny Sugerman, and Murray the K. I programmed film clips and videos from Murray’s archive of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and the Doors.
During a pre-production meeting with Murray, I unearthed a “lost” copy of the Doors performing “People Are Strange” in 1967 on the Murray the K in New York television series and programmed it.
In 1978, Cynthia Kirk from Variety interviewed me and reviewed 50/50, writing, “50/50 was on a par with The Midnight Special.” A telegenic world before MTV. Every record label in town passed on providing videos from their catalog, and all the newly established cable TV channels said no to collaborating with me.
Inside Gold Star, Joey and I chatted about the legendary It's What's Happening, Baby television special that aired on CBS-TV on June 28, 1965, hosted by Murray the K. Joey recited almost all of the guests on that TV show, which included Jan & Dean, Ray Charles, Chuck Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, and the Four Tops. Joey smiled when I reminded him a couple of guests on that program, both the Ronettes and Righteous Brothers, had recorded at Gold Star with Spector and appeared on Shindig!
Joey then joined David Kessel and me for another musical history lesson about a Gold Star session that was in his band’s repertoire.
David and I saw the Ramones’ debut at the Roxy Theater in August 1976, and their encore number was a cover of Chris Montez’s “Let’s Dance,” produced in the same room we were all standing in.
(Harvey Kubernik is the author of 21 books, including 2009’s Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon, 2014’s Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972, 2015's Everybody Knows: Leonard Cohen, 2016's Heart of Gold Neil Young and 2017's 1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love.
Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In 2021, they wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble.
Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters. His Screen Gems: (Pop Music Documentaries and Rock ‘n’ Roll TV Scenes) was published in February 2026 by BearManor Media. Kubernik is currently researching a book on the Beatles for a UK publisher scheduled for a summer 2027 publication.
Kubernik’s writings are in several book anthologies, including, The Rolling Stone Book Of The Beats, and Drinking With Bukowski. Harvey wrote the liner notes to the CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, The Essential Carole King, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special, The Ramones’ End of the Century and Big Brother & the Holding Company Captured Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival.
Harvey spoke at the special hearings in 2006 initiated by the Library of Congress held in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation. In 2017, he appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in its Distinguished Speakers Series and as a panelist discussing the forty-fifth anniversary of The Last Waltz at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in 2023.)
Photo by Danny Fields
Album covers courtesy of Rhino
