TOMMY Ramone, the last surviving member of influential punk band the Ramones, has died.
Ramone, who was born Erdelyi Tamas in Hungary, died in his home in New York after spending time in a hospice suffering from cancer of the bile duct, Variety reported.

The band’s Twitter account tweeted: “We are saddened to announce the passing of Ramones founding drummer Tommy (Erdelyi) Ramone. #RIPTommy Ramone”.

The band, founded in New York in 1974, had a major influence on punk rock in the US. All members of the band adopted the surname Ramone although they were not related.

Tommy Ramone played the drums in three 1970s Ramones albums, Ramones, Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, co-producing the latter two, and wrote the majority of hit Blitzkreig Bop as well as I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.

He left the band in 1978 to concentrate on production and was replaced by Marky Ramone.

Tommy Ramone went on to produce further Ramones albums, as well as albums for other bands.

The Ramones disbanded in 1996 and guitarist Joey Ramone died in 2001, followed by bass player Dee Dee Ramone in 2002 and singer Johnny Ramone in 2004.

The four original members formed the band in the mid 1970s and emerged as a fixture of the New York punk underground.

“The Ramones revitalised rock and roll at one of its lowest ebbs, infusing it with punk energy, brash attitude and a loud, fast new sound,” reads the band’s biography in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

When their first album appeared “the rock scene in general had become somewhat bloated and narcissistic. The Ramones got back to basics: simple, speedy, stripped-down rock and roll songs.”

Tommy Ramone, who “anchored the frantic beat with superhuman energy,” surrendered his drumsticks to a new drummer, Marky Ramone, in 1978, but remained as the band’s co-producer and adviser through to 1984.

The Ramones disbanded in 1996, and the band was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

“It wasn’t just music in The Ramones: it was an idea,” the band’s Facebook entry read, citing Erdelyi from 1978.

“It was bringing back a whole feel that was missing in rock music — it was a whole push outwards to say something new and different. Originally it was just an artistic type of thing; finally I felt it was something that was good enough for everybody.”

with AFP

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Oh, no, not another one!

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

No, this is Tommy's first time.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating