Watch The Ramones Rock The Winterland In 1978

Ramones frontman Joey Ramone sadly died on this date in 2001, just a month shy of his 50th birthday after a years-long battle with lymphoma. As the Ramones’ frontman, Joey Ramone was an iconic figure and highly influential contributor to the 1970s punk movement.

Born Jeffrey Ross Hyman on May 19, 1951 in Queens, New York, Hyman familiarized himself with the proto-punk New York City music scene of the early 1970s, performing with a band called Sniper under the name Jeff Starship. In 1974, however, Hyman helped to found the band that would make him an icon with an iconic name: the Ramones.

Ramones founding bassist Douglas Colvin had been going by the name Dee Dee Ramone with the other members of the band following suit. Guitarist John Cummings became Johnny Ramone and Jeff became Joey Ramone. The name stemmed from a pseudonym Paul McCartney used, Paul Ramon. That band would go on to pay dues at famed NYC locales like Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s.

Idolizing Keith Moon, drummer of punk pioneers The Who, Joey was initially the Ramones’ drummer with Dee Dee handling lead vocals. Recognizing Joey’s talent as a singer and frontman, the band’s manager Thomas Erdelyi suggested he come out from behind the kit.

Erdelyi replaced Joey on the throne as Tommy Ramone although Tommy would in turn be replaced by Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) — with Erdelyi staying on in a studio role — in 1978.

That year the punk revolution was in full force on both sides of the Atlantic and the Ramones were defining the genre stateside. With his black leather jacket, round rose-colored shades and shoulder-length hair with bangs, Joey became the iconic face and voice of the punk rock movement in America, which the band brought to the West Coast with a concert at San Francisco’s storied Winterland on December 28, 1978. The show was captured for posterity and video of the concert emerged from legendary promoter Bill Graham’s personal archives.

Armed with a number of now-iconic punk rock classics from the three frits four albums — Ramones (1976), Leave Home (1977), Rocket To Russia (1977) and Road To Ruin (1978) — and beyond, the video below gets underway with an incomplete albeit tone-setting “Rockaway Beach” before Joey leads the band through additional anthems including “Teenage Lobotomy,” “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Rock N Roll High School,” “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” and more.

The Ramones also included covers like The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” and Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Wanna Dance” among others. The latter kicked off the band’s two-song encore, followed by closer “We’re A Happy Family.”

To remember Joey Ramone, watch the Ramones perform at Winterland in ‘78 below:

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[Article updated from original published on April 15, 2022.]