Tommy Ramone

On July 11th we lost Thomas Erdelyi, a.k.a Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of The Ramones. The Ramones and their contribution to music, fashion, and the overall milieu is simply incalculable, so there's no point in going over that again, but Tommy needs some attention. Tommy, despite drumming on three studio albums and three albums, producing the groups excellent Too Tough To Die, and managing the band to success, he is often overlooked in favor of Marky, his replacement. It's a shame, because the classic status of the albums he played on have a lot to do with his drumming and his production. Let's take a look.

Ramones

Simply classic. Four brilliant street-urchins crafting perfectly unpretentious pop with vigor and youthful abandon. Johnny, Joey, and Dee-Dee were the stars, thrashing about on two white chuck taylor covered feet, bleating and making buzzsaw three-chord nuggets. It's great, don't get me wrong, but without Tommy it would be Chris Montez with fuzz. Tommy gave punk its traditional backbeat, helping solidify a genre in the process. 

Leave Home

Featuring beefier production, faster tempos, and a brasher sound. Leave Home was more typically punk than its predecessor. It features classics like "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," "Pinhead," and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment." Can you imagine "Suzy is a Headbanger" without Tommy's manic backbeat?

Rocket To Russia

The third studio album by The Ramones, this one is Tommy's last. Despite being a near perfect album (have you heard Rockaway Beach!) Tommy was not satisfied, feeling that the band was doomed to failure and that punk was ruined by The Sex Pistols. It was his last album as a studio drummer. 

It's Alive

Tommy played on their first live album. Recorded in 1977 and released on 1979, this is a massive, two-record slab of early Ramones. Can't go wrong with it. Live Ramones is five times faster and a thousand times more desperate than any studio recording. 

Too Tough To Die

This is the only Ramones album Tommy produced on his own and, as a result, it is the most fierce and thrashy. It is very much indebted to the burgeoning New York hardcore scene and Speed Metal. This is probably the heaviest the Ramones ever got. This is a return to the simplicity of their roots. Killer.

NYC 1978

The last piece of Ramones material involving Tommy, this is a recording of a live set at the Palladium. It's standard live Ramones greatness, with a cover of Surfing Bird!

What's your favorite album Tommy played on? Comment below!