Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe Memorializes Late Ramones Drummer Tommy Ramone
On July 11, founding Ramones drummer Tommy Ramone passed away from bile duct cancer. The loss of Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi) is tragic for fans of the punk architects, as Tommy's death marks the passing of the last surviving original Ramones member. After absorbing the sad news, Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe took to his Instagram page, where he memorialized Tommy Ramone, going as far as to declare, "No Ramones = No Lamb of God."
Tommy Ramone manned the drums on the Ramones' first three albums, 'Ramones,' 'Leave Home' and 'Rocket to Russia.' Tommy also co-produced those three records, while reuniting with his former bandmates in the studio two more times to track 'Road to Ruin' and 'Too Tough to Die.'
The entire music world has been mourning Tommy Ramone, including the always outspoken Randy Blythe, who wrote one of his trademark blog posts via Instagram:
The last original Ramone, Tommy Ramone (second from right), has died, & with him the last of one of the main roots of all modern punk/hc/and metal as we know it today. The importance of the Ramones in the history of underground music cannot be overstated- before the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Black Flag and waaaaaaay before any speed/thrash metal band, the Ramones were blowing minds with LOUD, FAST, AGGRESSIVE music. Although to the calloused ears of modern youth who have grown up listening to crust punk/grind core/speed & thrash metal/and even some of the more aggressive music on commercial radio, the Ramones might sound like fast pop, at the time they started playing out in NYC at CBGB/Max's Kansas City (1974) they were something that had never ever been seen or heard before. The first time my band played CBGB, I was completely emotionally overwhelmed- "Man, the FREAKING RAMONES started out here!" I thought as I stood on stage- I almost started crying. Without that band, the tempo of underground music would have never reached the speed that it has today- there were a bunch of glam bands & hippies at that time, & (yeeeech) disco was big- the Ramones came along & blasted everyone straight out of the water. No Ramones= no lamb of god, or any of the other music most fans of my band listen to. Metal existed, but it was not until punk rock kicked it right square in the ass with a combat boot that things got FAST & AGGRESSIVE. Tommy passed away from cancer yesterday in Queens, NYC, at the age of 62. Rest in peace, bro, & thank you for helping to create the music that changed and saved my life. #BEATONTHEBRATBEATONTHEBRATBEATONTHEBRATWITHABASEBALLBAT!!!! OOOOOOOHYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH,OHOHOOHHHHH!!!!!!
Thank you for your music, Tommy. We'd like to send out condolences to the family and friends of Tommy Ramone. Rest in peace.
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