Tommy Erdelyi (aka Tommy Ramone) RIP
 

Yes, the last (and always the most erudite) of Da Brudders has passed on to the great CBGBs in the sky, after losing his battle with bile duct cancer: http://www.theguardian.com/music/201...e-dies-aged-65

What else can you say about a man whose no-nonsense, stripped down drumming inspired countless bands once that vaunted "punk" business broke out? And remember he joined the Ramones after getting infuriated with hearing countless John Bonham copyist dullards at auditions, and ended up saying, "no, this is what we want!".

OK, so yeah, I know to many people, the Ramones were all about Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee, but without Tommy's vital input, the Ramones wouldn't have ended up sounding the way they did. So then, RIP Tommy, and here's a good way to remember him by, in the days before Seymour Stein could be found staggering around claiming he "discovered" punk: http://youtu.be/6AO9-HWiYT4

...and if you're wondering whether there is a Ramones/Sonic Youth connection, check out this cover version essayed by SY on their "Master=Dik" 12-inch: http://youtu.be/KqLKPNPIDs0

(Having just heard it again, the SY version doesn't really add anything to the original, does it? Pretty pedestrian, really. I much prefer their take on Crime's "Hot Wire My Heart" - recorded during the same period)

The significance of the SY cover is that the Ramones were VERY uncool at the time, as indeed they were for a very large portion of their career.

sip coffee. RIP.

so now they're all dead? as a drummer i can say that playing like he did takes stamina. it's sounds easy but it aint'.

he was a little short fellow too.

Watching the END OF THE CENTURY doc, it was clear he was the "thinker" of the band. Which is kind of a huge deal.

Oh yeah, that's true enough, of course, in the sense that their golden period was well over by that point. Though as a final gasp, they did put this out as a single in 1986, which, predictably enough, Johnny Ramone hated: http://youtu.be/Su0Hvt6hTmA

You've just reminded me of the anecdote in the book "Please Kill Me", where Messrs McNeil and Holmstrom went to see this lot in CBGBs for the first time. The Ramones stomped onstage, blasted into their first number, then suddenly stopped, stormed offstasge and got into an argument with each other. Apparently they were all playing a completely different song to each other! Lou Reed was present too and was laughing at the whole thing.

I got into 'em after buying their 1st record because a girl I liked in High-Skool always wore a Ramones T-Shirt.

When I told her I liked The Ramones, she said "Who are they?"

It Figures.....

RIP Tommy....

Two pieces up on the passing of Tommy Erdelyi:

This one is by Charles Shaar Murray (who was the first UK journalist to see them play live): http://charlesshaarmurray.com/2014/0...-1-2-3-4-none/

And this one is by John Robb on the Louder Than War site: http://louderthanwar.com/farewell-to...d-the-ramones/

i could play that album till my neck freezes up.

btw, Da Brudders still would've been a awesome band name.

finna rock some ramones today at work.