28: Joey Ramone (5/19/51-4/15/01) "Blitzkrieg Bop" for my new gallery "Telling
Stories from the Grave" and the November Song Titles/One Artist Challenge.



In 1974, Jeffrey Hyman co-founded the punk rock band Ramones with friends John Cummings and
Douglas Colvin, upon which point all three adopted stage names using "Ramone" as their
surname: Cummings became Johnny Ramone, Colvin became Dee Dee Ramone, and Hyman became
Joey Ramone. The name Ramone stems from a story that Paul McCartney briefly used the stage
name "Paul Ramone" during the Beatles early days when the band used the name The Silver Beetles.

The Ramones were a major influence on the punk rock movement in the United States, though
they achieved only minor commercial success. Their only record with enough U.S. sales to be
certified gold was the compilation album Ramones Mania. Recognition of the band's importance
built over the years, and they are now regularly represented in many assessments of all-time
great rock music, such as the Rolling Stone lists of the 50 Greatest Artists of All Time and
25 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and Mojo's 100
Greatest Albums. In 2002, the Ramones were voted the second greatest rock and roll band ever
in Spin, trailing only The Beatles.

In 1996, after a tour with the Lollapalooza music festival, the band played their final show
and then disbanded. Within eight years of the breakup, the band's three founding members –
Joey, Johnny, and Dee Dee – had all died.