'One, two, three, four!' The Ramones turn 40

I still remember the day news broke of Joey Ramone passing away after a long bout with lymphoma in 2001.

I was sitting in my parents’ room watching MTV when a breaking news bulletin came across the screen, “Ramones singer, punk godfather dead at 49.” Although I knew with the breakup of the band in 1996 that the chances of me ever seeing the four leather jacket-clad boys from Queens on stage was a moot point, it was still a big shock that the leader of one of my favorite bands had just died.

All four members of the original lineup have since passed on, bassist Dee Dee Ramone from a drug overdose in 2002, guitarist and mastermind Johnny Ramone from cancer in 2004. The last remaining member, drummer Tommy Ramone, died in 2014, also from cancer.

I discovered The Ramones a few years after their demise when VH1 was playing one of its long-forgotten “100 Greatest” marathons that actually focused on music. At the time, I was struggling with the usual adolescent drama of growing up — the awkwardness, the growth spurts, if talking to girls successfully would always be a mystery.

I saw four scrawny lads in leather jackets, ripped jeans and a mass of black hair and sunglasses which made the singer more akin to Cousin Itt from the Addams Family than the typical rock frontman.

It was a freak show I knew I could be a part of and they became a favorite of mine almost instantaneously. The songs were short, fast and to the point, a far cry from what I was raised to believe was a proper rock n roll song, and the catchiness was infectious.

Their lyrics were even weird and provocative, with songs about boredom (“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”), prostitution (“53rd and 3rd”), horror movies (“Chainsaw”) and Nazism (“Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World”).

It was quite devastating when I found out they had been broken up for a few years and I had come in late to the party, but there was still such a massive catalog of music waiting to be discovered. Up until their final show on Aug. 6, 1996 in Los Angeles, The Ramones toured constantly for more than 20 years in a van, playing more than 2,000 shows and have been a major influence in just about every genre of music.

The late Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead described their final performance as “An insult to the intelligence of the world and a shame for rock n roll. They’re one of the best bands that you have ever seen and you neglect them at your peril. They teach you everything about rock n roll. Everything about rock n roll is in their songs, and if they’re gone, it’s a damned shame.”

Thanks to a steadfast fanbase, there are countless album reissues, DVDs and books that help me imagine what it was like being stuffed into a sweaty, cramped room at CBGB in 1970s New York, watching a punk rock revolution come and go in what seemed like a blink of an eye.

The Ramones’ self-titled debut was released in 1976, kicking off with the anthem everybody knows, “Blitzkrieg Bop.” It was recorded in just seven days at Radio City Music Hall for $6,400 and remains one of the best and most influential albums of that era. If not the songs, the band’s influence stems from the iconic image of four boys from Queens standing together in their leather and punk rock regalia.

A 40th anniversary edition of the band’s debut was released this week and contains a special mono mix of the original album and tons of unreleased material, including two new live sets from Aug. 12, 1976 at The Roxy in Hollywood.

The Queens Museum and the GRAMMY Museum also partnered to create an exhibition honoring the punk rock progenitors, titled “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk,” earlier this year. It may have taken 40 years, but it seems The Ramones, if not in life, are finally getting the honor and respect their fans always knew they deserved.