Last week punk poet Jim Carroll (of “People Who Died” fame) passed away at age 59.
Today marks the sad anniversary of another punk’s passing: On this day in 2004 Johnny Ramone, influential guitarist of the Ramones, passed away at age 55 due to prostate cancer.
In honor of Johnny, today’s quiz has a punk rock theme.
Think you’re a music expert? Let’s find out!
1. True or False: The Ramones moniker was inspired by a member of the Rolling Stones?
2. Can you name all four original members of the Ramones?
BONUS: What are the members’ real last names?
3. Johnny Ramone was a rarity among punk rockers: he was a republican.
One Ramones song had a title that Johnny though was offensive to then-President Ronal Regan. What was the original “offensive” title of this song?
HINT: To please Johnny, the song was renamed “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down.”
ANSWERS (and rare video):
1. False. The band was inspired to use the name because Paul McCartney used the stage name Paul Ramon during his pre-Beatles days.
2. Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Covin), and Tommy Ramone (Thomas Erdelyi).
Tommy is the last surviving member of the original line-up.
3. The original title was “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” (Bonzo is a reference to Regan’s 1951 film Bedtime for Bonzo, starring Bonzo the chimp.)
BELOW: The Ramones make a strange appearance on Andy Warhol’s TV show, 15 Minutes. Listen to the guys complain about hair metal and play with a dead piranha (or skip to the 2:05 mark to see a live performance of “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg.”)
MORE Music Quizzes:
QUIZ: Daily Music Quiz: Band Breaks Up After Fan Attack
QUIZ: Daily Music Quiz, VMA Edition: Guns, Kisses and Curses
QUIZ: Daily Music Quiz: Motown, Rolling Stones and a Reggae Icon
QUIZ: Daily Music Quiz: Roger Daltry and Jack Kerouac’s Brother
