Johnny Ramone

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Johnny Ramone
Background information
Birth name	John William Cummings
Also known as	Sharby
Born	October 8, 1948(1948-10-08) Long Island, New York, USA
Died	September 15, 2004 (aged 55) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre(s)	Punk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1974 - 1996
Label(s)	Sire, Radioactive, Chrysalis
Associated acts	Ramones
Website	Official Johnny Ramone site
Notable instrument(s)
Mosrite

John William Cummings (October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004),^[1] better known by the stage name Johnny Ramone, was the guitarist for the seminal punk rock group The Ramones. He was a founding member of the band, and along with vocalist Jeffrey Hyman, aka Joey Ramone, he remained a member throughout their career.

[edit] Career

He was raised in the Forest Hills, Queens neighborhood of New York City, where he grew up absorbing rock music.^[2] As a teenager, Cummings played in a band called the Tangerine Puppets alongside future Ramones drummer Tamás Erdélyi (better known as Tommy Ramone).^[3] When he was older, he was known as a "greaser," though was later described as a tie-dye-wearing Stooges fan. Also, he was a big New York Yankees fan. Johnny Ramone also worked as a plumber for his father before the Ramones was official.

He met future bandmate Douglas Colvin, later to become Dee Dee Ramone, in the early 1970s when he was delivering dry cleaning. They would eat lunch together and discuss their mutual love of bands like the Stooges and MC5. They went to Manny's Guitar Emporium in New York City in January 1974. Johnny bought a used blue Mosrite Ventures II for $54 and change, including tax. On the same trip Colvin bought a Danelectro bass. They collaborated with future bandmate Jeffrey Hyman and formed the Ramones, with the almost-unknown Ritchie Stern on bass, who left after a few rehearsals. Erdelyi joined the band in the summer of that year, after failed public auditions for the position of Ramones drummer. Although Johnny Ramone wasn't as prolific of a songwriter as his bandmates, especially Dee Dee Ramone, his guitar style was a key part of the Ramones sound and was a major punk rock influence.

Cummings later commented on working with Phil Spector on the recording of the 1980 album, End of the Century, "It really worked when he got to a slower song like 'Danny Says'—the production really worked tremendously. For the harder stuff, it didn't work as well."^[4]

Cummings was responsible for initiating one of the major sources of stress for the band when he started dating Hyman's ex-girlfriend, whom he later married. Allegedly, this incident prompted Hyman to write the song "The KKK Took My Baby Away", although it has been speculated that the song was actually written before the founding of the Ramones in 1974. Though the band remained together for years after this incident, relations between the two remained frosty and verbal communication was almost non-existent.^[5] Years later, when Hyman was in the hospital dying of cancer, Cummings refused to telephone him. He later discussed this incident in the film End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones, saying an attempt at such a reunion would have been futile. He did add that he was depressed for a week after Hyman's death, and when pressed, acknowledged that this was because of the bond forged by the band. In their road manager, Monte Melnick's, book on the band Johnny is quoted as having said "I'm not doing anything without him. I felt that was it. He was my partner. Me and him. I miss that."

Alongside his music career, he appeared in nearly a dozen movies (including Rock 'n' Roll High School) and documentaries. He also made television appearances on such shows as The Simpsons (1F01 "Rosebud", 1993) and Space Ghost Coast to Coast (Episode 5 "Bobcat").^[6]

[edit] Politics

Infamous in the punk community as being one of a few conservatives, Cummings 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 — he said "God bless President Bush, and God bless America."^[7] He said in an interview, when questioned on his conservatism, "I think Ronald Reagan was the best President of my lifetime." This was evident at least in the mid-Eighties: when the band released the UK single "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg/Go Home Ann" in 1986, Cummings pressed for a name change, finding it insulting to Ronald Reagan, and the song was retitled on American releases to "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)" after a line from the song's chorus. In this same interview he claimed that "Punk is right wing".^[8]

[edit] Death

On September 15, 2004, Cummings died in his Los Angeles home at age 55 after a five-year battle with prostate cancer.^[9] Many of his friends came to pay their respects. After his death, his remains were cremated.^[10] A cenotaph was built in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, near the gravesite of former bandmate Dee Dee Ramone.

[edit] Posthumous honors

In 2006, the remake of the horror film The Wicker Man was dedicated to Johnny Ramone's memory, as he was a close friend of the film's producer and star, Nicolas Cage. The lyrics for Pearl Jam's 2006 single "Life Wasted" were written by Eddie Vedder while driving home from Cummings' funeral.^[11]

[edit] Guitar technique

Johnny and guitar

Cummings was known for his fast, high-energy playing style that consisted of rapid down stroked barre chords, often in a simple I-IV-V progression. Called "buzzsaw", this technique was highly influential on first- and second-wave punk. This technique was used in New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands like Iron Maiden, and Def Leppard. It's also used in alternative rock bands, as well as thrash metal. Guitar Virtuoso Paul Gilbert has cited Johnny Ramone as one of his influences. Cummings was strictly a rhythmist, as evidenced by live recordings. Johnny played very few leads on the studio albums (e.g. "Time Has Come Today", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", and "California Sun" amongst others). The lead guitar parts on studio albums were overdubbed by Erdelyi, Ed Stasium, Daniel Rey, Walter Lure and other uncredited guests.^[12]

[edit] Musical equipment

Statue of Johnny Ramone holding his Mosrite Ventures model at his grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

• Mosrite - White Ventures II - Owned until the end of his retirement later sold to producer Daniel Rey
• Mosrite - Blue Ventures II - Stolen in the 1970s.
• Mosrite - Brown Ventures II - Ended up in a music store along with a pair of Johnny's jeans.
• Mosrite - Ventures II - Mint condition never played on stage saved as a backup guitar.
• Mosrite - Ventures I/V1 - Unknown whereabouts.
• Mosrite - White 1 pickup.
• Mosrite - Black 1 pickup.
• Rickenbacker - 450 - Used on the Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, later stolen.
• Rickenbacker - Fireglo 450 - Later traded for a Mosrite.
• Fender - White 1950's Stratocaster - Owned briefly by Johnny before stolen.
• Hamer - White custom endorsement guitar - Traded in the 1980s for another guitar.
• Boss - TU-12 Chromatic Tuner
• Marshall - JMP Super Lead 100W Head
• Marshall - JCM 800 100W Lead Series Head

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Johnny Ramone interview, Boston Phoenix, September 2004
• Johnny Ramone interview in Scram Magazine, 2000
• Johnny Ramone at the Internet Movie Database
• Monte A. Melnick - Ramones Tour Manager "On The Road With The Ramones"[3]
• Johnny Ramone guitar site
• IMDB End of the Century

[edit] References