Joey Ramone
"Hey, ho, let's go!"
How many rock singers could give the preceding words the urgency of a Dylan verse? Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Ross Hyman) may not have had the world's most mellifluous voice, but backed up by Johnny Ramone's power-chord roar and the galloping grooves of Dee Dee and Tommy, he helped crystallize not only punk's most infectious songs but its most joyous expression.
The Ramones came roaring out of Queens, New York, in 1974. Clad in leather jackets and tight jeans, their hair cascading over their eyes, they looked like a brood of undernourished bikers. But when they hit the stage they cranked out a righteous cacophony that blew away the bloated jam-rock of the '70s. Joey's stentorian bellow (like his stock-still stage stance and wire-frame shades) was his signature, but his affinity for classic pop came through in his tenderer moments, as collaborators like Phil and Ronnie Spector clearly understood.
Joey Ramone and the boys profoundly influenced the punk movement and its pop-leaning descendants, though their greatest recognition came toward the end of their time together. After struggling with the disease for seven years, Joey died of lymphoma in 2001. The following year, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — and his moving version of the standard "What a Wonderful World" was released.
But the rambunctious catalog of tunes Joey Ramone sang — "Blitzkrieg Bop," "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker," "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and too many more to list here — remains the go-to playlist for anyone requiring an aural boost.
Our Joey Ramone T-shirts are fully licensed, endorsed and made from the softest, prewashed and shrunk cotton jesery. We faithfully reproduce the original article as tracked down by Worn Free from archive images. Checkout other Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramones T-Shirts.
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Joey Ramone T-Shirts
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