Tommy Ramone, The Last Original Ramone Dead At 62

I can't hardly tell you what The Ramones mean to me.  I have every album. I learned to play bass to Blitzkrieg Bop.  I listen to Joey's version of "What A Wonderful World" when I'm feeling beat down.  Now, the final member of "Da Boyz" has passed away.

Tommy Ramone was actually Tommy Erdelyi. He was a record producer who actually worked on Jimi Hendrix's "Band Of Gypsys" album.  He was in a band with Johnny Ramone before The Ramones were formed.  When the band decided to kick Joey up to nothing but vocals they turned to Tommy to play the drums.  In addition he co-produced several of the bands albums and even managed the band for a while.  Tommy was 62 and died in hospice suffering from bile duct cancer.  You can find out more about Tommy here.

I have many pieces of memorabilia people are envious of.  I have a Nivana "Nevermind" Platinum album.  I also have platinums from Aerosmith, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day and more.  I also have tour jackets from Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and AC/DC.  I would sell ever single bit of all of that, and everything else I own, before I ever sold my Ramones jacket. It's not even the original lineup, it's the "Mondo Bizarro" lineup, but it still means more to me than anything else I've got over the years.  It no longer even fits, because my arms are too big from working out.  Still, I can't bear to take the sleeves off, and I can't bear to get rid of it.  To me The Ramones were more than four dudes and all of the other players that carried on the legacy.  To me, all of us who were into the band were "Ramones".  R.I.P. Tommy.