Ramones

1
  • Year:
    2002
  • Inducted by:
    Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)
  • Category:
    Performers

Introduction

The Ramones took punk rock on its maiden voyage.

All the elements of punk rock were in the air—the aesthetic, the violence, the pent-up energy—but the Ramones coalesced them into a movement.

Hall of Fame Essay

2002

Dr. Donna Gaines

In the Dark Ages that preceded The Ramones, fans were shut out, reduced to the role of passive spectator. In the early 1970s, boredom inherited the earth: The airwaves were ruled by crotchety old dinosaurs; rock & roll had become an alienated labor - rock, detached from its roots.

Gone were the sounds of youthful angst, exuberance, sexuality and misrule. The spirit of rock & roll was beaten back, the glorious legacy handed down to us in doo-wop, Chuck Berry, the British Invasion and surf music lost.

If you were an average American kid hanging out in your room playing guitar, hoping to start a band, how could you possibly compete with elaborate guitar solos, expensive equipment and million-dollar stage shows? It all seemed out of reach. And then, in 1974, a uniformed militia burst forth from Forest Hills, Queens, firing a shot heard round the world.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Program Cover 2002
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2002 Inductees Ramones
for the whole Seattle community, that the Ramones were our Beatles.
Eddie Vedder