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The Ramones' Pioneering Punk Rock

Sire Records Founder Seymour Stein on 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Ramones and their pioneering punk rock

Seymour Stein

GRAMMYs

Jul 12, 2014 - 10:30 am

GRAMMY.com

(The Ramones were honored with The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. The original version of the following tribute ran in the 53rd GRAMMY Awards program book that year. The last original founding member of the Ramones, Tommy Ramone died July 11 at the age of 62.)

Being head of Sire Records, which turns 45 in 2011, I was responsible for all artists, and as hard as it was not to show favoritism, for the most part I succeeded. It was hardest with the Ramones, partly because soon after I signed them their manager Danny Fields asked my wife Linda to be his partner. It was harder still because I admired the band's total dedication to their music, despite the fact that selling millions of records eluded them throughout their career.

With Linda as their co-manager, the Ramones knew my every move. One Sunday within 10 minutes of returning from a 10-day trip to London, I received a call from Johnny. "Seymour, we got some great songs, ya know, we want you to hear 'em, ya know."

I said, "Great, just got home. Come in anytime you want on Tuesday."

"No, we want you to hear 'em live, ya know, and we know you're not doing anything Wednesday night, ya know, so we booked ourselves into CBGBs."

That evening proved monumental. The opening act was supposed to be the Shirts. I had seen them many times before and was standing outside the club with Lenny Kaye.

The opening act goes on and I hear a screeching voice: "When my love, stands next to your love…" and all of a sudden as I'm sucked into CBGBs, I say, "That's not the Shirts." Lenny says, "No, they got another gig, that's the Talking Heads.

Armed with the Ramones and Talking Heads, amid the buzz building around the Bowery and CBGB, Sire finally got the distribution deal I always wanted with Warner Bros. Records, where we have been for the past 35 years.

Thank you Johnny. Oh yes, and thank you Joey, thank you Tommy, and thank you Dee Dee.

Over the years I can't tell you how many artists were lured to Sire by the Ramones, and yes, also Talking Heads.

The Ramones made it seem easy and as such were an inspiration to bands as varied as U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Pearl Jam, the Offspring, Motörhead, Metallica, the Undertones, the Strokes, Bad Religion, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, and many others.

I remember when we first brought the Ramones to London back in 1976. Members of the Clash and Sex Pistols, both only semiprofessional at the time, attended the second show and it was said both bands turned pro right after that.

According to Danny Fields, Johnny Ramone asked the Clash's bass player Paul Simonon, "Are you in a band?" Paul said, "Well, we just rehearse. We call ourselves the Clash, but we are not good enough." Johnny said, "Wait 'til you see us. We stink, we're lousy, we can't play. Just get out there and do it."

Joey Ramone had the biggest heart ever and was always trying to help new acts. Last time we spoke, two weeks before he died, Joey called to tell me he had just sent a new band's CD.

Bono once said at a Madison Square Garden gig, "We love New York City…New York City has given us a lot of things, but the best thing it ever gave us was a punk rock group called the Ramones, without whom a lot of people would have never gotten started; certainly us!"

Eddie Vedder might have set a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame record by speaking for more than 20 minutes when he inducted the Ramones back in 2002. "The Ramones didn't need Mohawks to be punk. They're visually aggressive. They were four working-class, construction-worker delinquents from Forest Hills, Queens, who were armed with two-minute songs that they rattled off like machine-gun fire. And it was enough to change the Earth's revolution."

I've been to Beijing twice this past year to check out China's emerging punk music scene. There is a club called D-22, reminiscent of CBGB, and aspiring young bands like Carsick Cars, P.K. 14 and Rustic are carrying on the tradition, further proof the Ramones' music is truly global and will endure forever.

(As founder of Sire Records, Seymour Stein signed the Ramones, Talking Heads, Pretenders, Madonna — all of whom have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — Depeche Mode, Echo And The Bunnymen, Ice-T, the Replacements, the Smiths, k.d. lang, Erasure, the Cult, the Cure, Seal, the Undertones, and Barenaked Ladies, among many others, to the label. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.)

News

Lifetime Achievement Award: The Kingston Trio

Peter, Paul And Mary's Peter Yarrow on the transcendence of 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients The Kingston Trio's contributions to popular folk music

Peter Yarrow

GRAMMYs

Feb 7, 2011 - 7:00 am

GRAMMY.com

In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. Each year, The Academy invites friends and colleagues of Special Merit Awards recipients to pay tribute to the honorees' career accomplishments, while also adding colorful anecdotes and personal accounts. In the days leading up to the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 12 Special Merit Awards recipients for 2011.

When I was at Cornell as a freshman I was a nerd, an outsider and a square. I was immersed in (perhaps obsessed with is the right phrase) traditional folk music. Yet, when I heard the undeniable joy and pleasure of three voices, meeting in midair to create the sound of the Kingston Trio, all of a sudden I was no longer out of step. In an insensitive, biased, selfish era, and a highly stratified society, these three bridged the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us who had to be satisfied with leftover scraps until, and unless, we bootstrapped our way out.

The Kingston Trio transcended this clearly dismal aspect of those times without moralizing, without philosophizing and without preaching. They brought us together by simply being comfortable in their skin, and being together, united as friends. They offered a more hopeful, brighter path to me and, I suspect, to many others.

Their music was a balm to the growing angst of a generation that was soon to turn our country and our world upside down. They tossed off renditions of song gems that felt effortless yet genuine, cool yet caring, sympathetic yet "no big ting." Sometimes they were wistful, as in "Sloop John B"; sometimes they sang a great, happy joke, as in "M.T.A."; sometimes they were oddly, at least for men in those times, sensitive, as in "Tom Dooley"; and sometimes they were wonderfully cutting-edge "hip," as in Bob Shane's classic rendition of "Scotch And Soda."

In college, I imagined them, only a very few years older than me, to be devoid of malevolence or unkindness. And I was right. I met the Kingstons for the first time with Noel Paul and Mary at our first club gig outside of New York, at Boston's mainly jazz club Storyville, owned by George Wein. We were opening up for the immortal Josh White.

I was self-conscious, and secretly blown away by the fact that they had come to see us perform. They were, all three of them, somewhat shy, gracious and oh so just plain nice.

Ah, we were all so young then. We were wide-eyed and green. Singing together was intoxicatingly wonderful. And the Kingston Trio had come to see us perform. Wow!

History has a way of allowing the truth of each era to become trivialized and marginalized, as the "gods" of the next thing obscure what has come before. However, we of the folk family know what we know. We know how much we learned from each other, how we inspired one another, and how indebted we are to those who brought us along in our similar paths.

Let us take our hats off to the Kingston Trio and the wonderment of a new chapter of American life to which they brought us closer. They showed us a very special and never-out-of-style path to love, life, music, and joy. Like the sound of a banjo, their music will always remain one of the best ways, ever, to announce that we are, indeed, a family.

(Peter Yarrow, a former Recording Academy New York Chapter Governor, is a member of Peter, Paul And Mary, who have earned five GRAMMY Awards, including four for "If I Had A Hammer" and "Blowin' In The Wind." In 1999 he founded Operation Respect, a nonprofit dedicated to creating safe school environments, an effort that was recognized by a congressional resolution in 2003.)

The Lifetime Achievement Award, established in 1962, is presented by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. To view a complete list of Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, click here.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Julie Andrews, Roy Haynes, Juilliard String Quartet, Dolly Parton, Ramones, George Beverly Shea
Trustees Award: Al Bell, Wilma Cozart Fine, Bruce Lundvall
Technical GRAMMY Award: Roger Linn, Waves Audio Ltd.

Photo Gallery

Lifetime Achievement Award: Glen Campbell

GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Chris Isaak pays tribute to one of country music's finest

Chris Isaak

GRAMMYs

Feb 11, 2012 - 3:13 pm

GRAMMY.com

I have had the privilege of working with Glen Campbell. He probably won't remember me. Not that his memory is that bad, but how can a guy be expected to remember everything and everybody? If you look up Glen on Wikipedia it just says "played on everything and worked with everybody." He would have such an easy time making small talk anywhere he went just by turning on the radio in the background. "Oh, yeah…I love this song. I played on it...oh, on this one too...." It is a startling but true scientific fact that the only man-made things that can be seen from outer space are the Great Wall of China and Glen Campbell's résumé. It is impressive and endless. He is the guy that had the perfect hair and the perfect smile and the impossibly perfect voice...and then he played guitar, not just a little but a lot. He is also the guy who worked his way through clubs and gigs and practice to make it all the way to the top. And he started in a little town out of the way of the star-making machines: Delight, Ark. He harmonized with his brothers and sisters after the day's work. They didn't have electricity so there wasn't much to do after dark. Then he got a guitar and found his ticket out.

He has a body of work that would be impressive for 10 men. There's Glen Campbell the guitar slinger and the songs that he cut as part of the famous "Wrecking Crew" (no wonder all those bands in the '60s sounded like they could really play). And then the other part of his career as a singing star with an incredible voice that cut through pop songs such as "Wichita Lineman" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" like a bell. And the TV show that brought him to an even bigger audience. And the movies (Glen Campbell and John Wayne in True Grit). And the live shows….

And at a time when most mere mortals would be tanning by the pool, he still delivers. I was amazed to hear him hit every one of those crazy high notes live when he was taping a TV interview for my show. They are high and held, and he nails them every time. I guess that's what comes from growing up without pitch correction. He has had his battles and the great thing about great men is that the battles just prove their greatness. He has been in and out of style but never lost his talent, his voice, his calling. The minute he starts to sing, the technicians, the makeup artist and the other people in the room all shut up and stand and stare and soak it in. It's a rare bird. A crazy amount of talent all in one man. And when he opens his mouth and picks up that guitar, everyone in the room knows it. He can do it all. And he has. So if Glen forgets a detail here or there, who wouldn't?

Singing star; star of stage, screen and television; a guy who traveled all over the world from Delight and kept right on going. And going.... Did I mention he plays bagpipes?

A two-time GRAMMY nominee, Chris Isaak contributed vocals to "In My Arms" on Glen Campbell's 2011 album, Ghost On The Canvas, and interviewed Campbell for his 2009 Biography channel show, "The Chris Isaak Hour." Isaak's most recent album is Behind The Sun, a tribute to Sun Records.

In addition to the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy presents Special Merit Awards recognizing contributions of significance to the recording field, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award. Each year, The Academy invites friends and colleagues of Special Merit Awards recipients to pay tribute to the honorees' career accomplishments, while also adding colorful anecdotes and personal accounts. In the days leading up to the 54th GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMY.com will present the tributes to the 2012 Special Merit Awards recipients.

Follow GRAMMY.com for our inside look at GRAMMY news, blogs, photos, videos, and of course nominees. Stay up to the minute with GRAMMY Live. Check out the GRAMMY legacy with GRAMMY Rewind. Keep track of this year's GRAMMY Week events, and explore this year's GRAMMY Fields. Or check out the collaborations at Re:Generation, presented by Hyundai Veloster. And join the conversation at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Feature

A tribute to Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Diana Ross

A tribute to one of the most successful female artists of all time

GRAMMYs

Feb 6, 2012 - 1:38 pm

GRAMMY.com

In 1969, when Diana Ross, with the Supremes, joined the Temptations to sing "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," the song was truly an understatement. She had already won the world's heart as the leader of music's most successful girl group, though even she likely didn't know the extent to which she would ultimately own our collective affection.

Through her role as the lead voice of America's top singing group, a solo music career that resulted in a number of signature hits, and a film and Broadway career that proved she was a multidimensional talent, Ross became a beacon of hope and possibility not just for young African-American women, but for any woman aspiring to prove her worth in a professional world stacked against her.

Ross and friends Florence Ballard, Barbara Martin and Mary Wilson formed the Supremes (originally the Primettes) in the Brewster housing projects in Detroit. The group didn't emerge as stars immediately, and after their first few mid-chart singles, Martin left. But starting with "Where Did Our Love Go?" in 1964, the Supremes would ultimately chart 12 No. 1 pop singles with Ross.

That might have been enough for mere mortal singers, but Ross went solo in 1969 and started a hit-making run of her own that rivaled the Supremes. No less than "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" launched her with a No. 1 hit in 1970. Her first leading movie role came in 1972 with Lady Sings The Blues, which resulted in a Best Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. The role led to 1975's Mahogany — for which Ross even designed some of the costumes — and a No. 1 hit for "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)." Major hits continued into the '80s with such No. 1s as "Upside Down" and the smash movie theme "Endless Love" with Lionel Richie.

Among Ross' list of other achievements are 12 GRAMMY Award nominations, three recordings inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame (with the Supremes), two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars (one with the Supremes and one as a solo artist), and a Kennedy Center Honors recognition. And most of all, the status of being arguably, as the Guinness Book Of World Records stated in 1993, the most successful female artist of all time.

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Hey! Ho! The Ramones' Influence Spotlighted At SXSW

GRAMMY Museum panel examines the lasting legacy of the group that "felt like having your hand in a light socket"

Lynne Margolis

GRAMMYs

Mar 17, 2016 - 6:05 pm

GRAMMY.com

Punchlines flew with nearly as much speed as a Ramones song during Celebrating 40 Years Of The Ramones, this year's annual GRAMMY Museum Musical Milestones panel at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on March 17. The panel and an evening showcase were held as a prelude to the exhibit Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Ramones And The Birth Of Punk, opening April 10 at the Queens Museum in New York and Sept. 16 at the GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live.

Rolling Stone senior writer David Fricke, Sire Records co-founder Seymour Stein, pioneering punk singer/songwriter John Doe (X, the Knitters, the Blasters) and Johnny Ramone's widow, Linda Ramone, needed little prompting from GRAMMY Museum Executive Director and panel moderator Bob Santelli as they regaled a room full of acolytes with recollections and insights about the band's history and continuing impact.

Fricke was writing for a local weekly in Philadelphia when a radio DJ gave him an album. The DJ knew his station would never air the self-titled 1976 debut by four Queens, N.Y., guys who took on the same last name and look: ripped jeans, biker jackets and black hair cut in longer-locked versions of a Prince Valiant pageboy.

"As soon as I put it on, it was like, head blown," Fricke recalled. "It was everything I wanted at incredible velocity." The writer, who wears his locks in a shoulder-length Ramones cut, added, "And the look. I ripped that look off immediately. I said, 'You guys invented it, but it's mine now.'"

Speaking of hair and punchlines, Linda Ramone drew a round of laughs by reciting the time Johnny Ramone came home from auditioning bass players and pronounced with disgust, "Oh God, one of them had curly hair."

Fricke said that witnessing the Ramones for the first time at a University of Pennsylvania coffee house informed his entire career, calling the show "one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen."

Whether the Ramones marked the birth of punk was in some dispute, because as the panelists observed, their songs really were pop — just done at lightning speed.

Though the band's chart impact was minimal — the 1977 single "Rockaway Beach," their biggest hit, reached No. 66 — 40 years on, new fans continue to discover songs the panelists cited as favorites, including "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?" and "Blitzkrieg Bop."

"The songs were so sharp," Fricke said. "They were concise. And there was lot of thought in there."

Stein, who signed The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients to his then-new label, had to rent a studio for an hour so he could hear them play because he kept missing their shows while signing bands in England.

"They must have done 15 songs in 18 minutes or 18 songs in 15 minutes," he said, drawing laughs. "They could have stopped after five minutes. I wanted to sign them. It was like having your hand in a light socket. We used the other 45 minutes to discuss the deal. And they were in the studio a couple of days later and they were done."

Doe said the Ramones influenced X lead guitarist Billy Zoom's playing style, as well as the L.A. punk band's song lengths.

"The Ramones were a conceptual art piece that had nothing to do with fine art. It was pop art," said Doe. "It was the connection between Andy Warhol and the street and popular music. And we wanted to be part of that."

Noting that the 1976 music scene included both California rock and prog rock, Santelli observed, "It seems like the Ramones were the great correction."

Describing New York at the time as a disintegrating disaster mitigated by a cultural surge "at all levels," Fricke responded, "It wasn't that rock needed a correction. It was that there was a city where something could happen — needed to happen." The Ramones, he added, just took their influences, from the Bay City Rollers to girl groups, "and sucked all the unnecessary air out of it."

Stein disagreed, saying, "It wasn't so much that New York needed a correction; it needed an infusion. And the Ramones led the way because they were the most extreme."

Doe countered, "I think rock and roll absolutely needed a correction — absolutely needed to be knocked upside the head. It was the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Yes and all that. As a youngster, whether you're 15 or 25, you can't necessarily play all those notes and don't want to have to be a virtuoso. That has nothing to do with rock and roll."

Regardless of their preferences, all seemed to agree with Stein's pronouncement, "There's great music coming from everywhere. And the reason that rock and roll has survived is because of its ability to change."

(Austin, Texas-based writer/editor Lynne Margolis contributes regularly to print, broadcast and online media including American Songwriter and Lone Star Music magazines. Outlets also have included the Christian Science Monitor, Paste, Rollingstone.com, and NPR. A contributing editor to the encyclopedia, The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen From A To E To Z, Margolis also writes bios for new and established artists.)