There can be no argument that The Ramones were one of the most important bands of the 20th Century. Their no-nonsense, 1-2-3-4 approach to songwriting and playing upped the ante for those that followed in their wake.
At the center of this madness were Johnny and Joey Ramone, two men who drove the band forward even during their darkest times, and yet they were two men who couldn’t have been more different if they tried. Joey Ramone was a liberal hippie and Johnny Ramone was a hippie-hating conservative, and yet it somehow worked.
What’s even more remarkable is that it worked even after a falling out between the two that would see them spend the last 15 years of their careers together, barely uttering a word to each other.
It was the late 70s and The Ramones were about to go out on tour. Joey Ramone had been dating a woman called Linda Danielle and decided to bring her along with him. When they showed up, Johnny Ramone laid down the law to Linda straight away, telling her;
“You sit in the back.”
To which Linda replied;
“Not for long.”
For those who don’t know, Johnny Ramone ruled over the band with an iron fist. An iron fist he wasn’t afraid to use on his own bandmates, especially Dee Dee, as well as whatever woman he was in a relationship with him at the time. Linda standing up to him caught him off guard.
In his autobiography, Commando, Johnny Ramone wrote;
“What is this, this girl answers back to me? Joey told her not to say anything, but she did anyway. I thought it was kind of funny.”
As the tour progressed the two would start an affair behind Joey’s back, but no matter how many times he was told – or by how many people – Joey refused to believe it. Then in 1982 the truth hit him square in the face when Linda and Johnny left their respective partners and moved in together.
The reason that it took so long was, according to Johnny, that he didn’t want Joey to leave the band and even though they didn’t see eye to eye, he really didn’t feel like breaking his heart, stating;
“I had never really gotten along with Joey, but I didn’t want to hurt him, either … We tried our best, but you can’t live a lie.”
Most people would’ve flipped Johnny the bird, at the very least, and quit, but Joey Ramone chose to stick it out, reasoning to a friend;
“We’re the only rock & roll band out there, everybody else has quit, but we’re never going to quit. We’re always going to be the Ramones.”
Though he would admit in an interview many years later that;
“Johnny crossed the line. He destroyed the relationship and the band right there.”
Though they would continue to work together for the next decade and a half, time never helped heal that wound, and in 2001 while Joey Ramone was fighting a losing battle against cancer, Marky Ramone approached Johnny and told him;
“You need to visit him, the window is closing.”
Without missing a beat, Johnny Ramone replied;
“Let it close, he’s not my friend.”
