Joey Ramone - Year of the Cock Shirt

After photographing Joey I was asked to drive him & Arturo Vega to Little Tokyo during the Ramones second So Cal tour.

Although born and raised in LA, I’d never been there. I shot the whole group and David Moon, the first live Pinhead, inside a store. I love one group shot, with cropped Joey holding the Year of the Cock t-shirt. I also photographed a better known shot of Joey standing next to the Kamen Rider, both with their fists in the air.

Japanese culture was not something Americans were into at that time. No transformers, toys, comic books, animé. It was very underground and new, but leave it to them to be on the cutting edge. I had so much fun with Joey Ramone. Very few people wore t-shirts with designs in those days. All the Ramones were avid t-shirt collectors, and proudly wore what they bought or were given wherever they went. And the smaller/tighter, the better.

Words by Jenny Lens