Ramones

USA, 1974–1996

New York band formed in Queens in 1974. Their short, fast songs in strict downstroke eighth notes, beginning with the 1976 debut album, became the basic template of punk rock.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Ramones and 24 artists Ramones influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Ramones?

• The Stooges — The Stooges' raw proto-punk is the direct ancestor of the Ramones.
• The Beatles — The Ramones' melodicism and short songs are a Beatles inheritance.

Which artists did Ramones influence?

• Buzzcocks — The Ramones' fast, tight two-minute songs were the model Buzzcocks refined into melodic punk-pop.
• Bad Religion — Brett Gurewitz discovered the Ramones in the late 1970s and started Bad Religion in their wake.
• Descendents — The Descendents built their sound on Ramones-style speed and hooks, adding harmonies and everyday lyrics to invent melodic pop-punk.
• The Offspring — Like the whole 1990s California punk wave, the Offspring's fast, catchy songs descend from the Ramones.
• NOFX — The Ramones' template of fast, hook-driven punk is the root of NOFX's skate-punk sound.
• The Queers — The Queers modelled themselves so closely on the Ramones that their 'Don't Back Down' was called the best Ramones album the Ramones never made.
• Screeching Weasel — Screeching Weasel's Ramones-worship melodicism, peaking on My Brain Hurts, became a Lookout! Records pop-punk touchstone.
• The Strokes — As fellow New Yorkers, the Ramones' brash two-minute blasts fed directly into The Strokes' short, hooky, no-frills songs.
• Danzig — The Misfits end of him: two minutes, three chords, and a horror film for a lyric.
• Bad Brains — The band took its name from the Ramones song 'Bad Brain' — the New York punk spark that redirected the fusion players.
• Sex Pistols — The Ramones' tours and records spurred the British punk scene.
• The Clash — The Ramones' July 1976 London shows lit the fuse of British punk — the Clash formed and accelerated in their immediate wake.
• Hüsker Dü — Hüsker Dü began as a hardcore blur built on the Ramones' template — before the melodies broke through.
• Cheap Trick — The raw guitar roar of first-wave punks like the Ramones fed the speed and edge of Cheap Trick.
• Green Day — The Ramones' fast, short, melodic punk is the template Green Day's pop-punk was built on.
• Pearl Jam — The Ramones were among the punk bands Pearl Jam cited, feeding the raw urgency beneath their arena rock.
• Roxette — Gessle said that rather than fellow Swedes ABBA, the Ramones and the punk of the Sex Pistols were more his thing.
• The Hives — The Ramones' terse, tongue-in-cheek two-minute punk is a direct template for the Hives' economy and wit.
• Good Charlotte — The Ramones' terse, catchy punk template underlies Good Charlotte's three-chord hooks.
• Ash — The Ramones' fast, hook-packed bubblegum punk is a direct template for Ash's melodic pop-punk.
• L7 — The Ramones' buzzsaw punk is a direct template for L7's fast, hook-driven attack.
• The Presidents of the United States of America — The Ramones' short, silly, hook-packed punk is the clear template for the Presidents' cheerful two-minute rockers.
• Wire — Newman: 'You could list the Ramones as one of our influences, but we were never interested in just doing that genre.' Pink Flag takes the speed and the brevity and throws away the style.
• The Ting Tings — Part of the post-punk and new wave the Ting Tings drew on, with Blondie and Talking Heads.