Tragic Details About Joey Ramone

April 2024 · 2 minute read

In 2021, The Ramones' YouTube channel published the last known interview that Joey Ramone ever did. It took place in December of 2000 (just over a year before his death), and in it, he didn't pull any punches when he was asked about what he thought of the current state of radio and music. For starters, he said he would change everything about what radio had become, a far cry from the radio of the 1960s: Music had gotten too corporate, with stations unwilling to play enough of the edgy stuff. And he saw it continuing to be that way, while lamenting the loss of freedom and creativity.

He'd felt that way for a while, too. In 1995, he spoke with the Los Angeles Times around the time of the official break-up of the Ramones. He said that while he was grateful that they were finally being recognized for their impact on the music scene, he added that he saw something different even in the edgier stuff of the time.

"I see music today as more of a business than ever before. When I was a kid, growing up in the '60s, music was an outlet for enlightenment, frustration, rebellion. It was more about individualism. Today, it's just like a big business." While there were some groups out there that he did appreciate — like Hole — he condemned what he heard as a formulaic sound that was becoming the new popular thing.

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