10 Years

"It wasn't just music in The Ramones: it was an idea. It was bringing back a whole feel that was missing in rock music – it was a whole push outwards to say something new and different. Originally it was just an artistic type of thing; finally I felt it was something that was good enough for everybody." - Tommy Ramone, 1978

I missed that yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Tommy Ramone dying, which means it's now been 10 yers since there was a living member of the original Ramones. That's crazy; I still can't believe it. Here's what I posted the day he died:

Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of The Ramones, has died. His Wikipedia:

When the Ramones first came together, with Johnny Ramone on guitar, Dee Dee Ramone on bass and Joey Ramone on drums, Erdelyi was supposed to be the manager, but was drafted as the band's drummer when Joey became the lead singer and found that he couldn't keep up with the Ramones' increasingly fast tempos. "Tommy Ramone, who was managing us, finally had to sit down behind the drums, because nobody else wanted to," Dee Dee later recalled.

He remained as drummer from 1974 to 1978, playing on and co-producing their first three albums, Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket to Russia, as well as the live album It's Alive.

He also produced The Replacements' Tim.

Cursed in their career with no sales, The Ramones were curiously cursed with early deaths - 55, 50, and 49. Jesus. The fact that Tommy lasted 10 years past the most recent death (Johnny) and still was only 62 is crazy.