The Ramones — four guys from Queens, N.Y., in ripped jeans and motorcycle jackets — stripped rock ’n’ roll down to its core.
asserted
Ramones → strip → core
On their self-titled debut album, released in April 1976, guitarist Johnny, singer Joey, bassist Dee Dee and drummer Tommy fired off short, fast, three-chord blasts such as “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Beat on the Brat” and “Judy Is a Punk,” making them central to the punk scene emerging from the dingy club CBGB on Manhattan’s notorious Bowery.
asserted
them → title → Bowery
Everywhere they went, they detonated like a cultural neutron bomb, with new music rising from the fallout.
asserted
music → go → fallout
London, England, felt the blast in July 1976.
asserted
London → feel → July
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 24 and 25, 1976, the Ramones played three thunderous shows at the 562-seat New Yorker Theatre on Yonge Street — two on Friday, then a sold-out midnight set on Saturday.
asserted
Ramones → play → Saturday
It gave a restless generation permission to make noise and launched Gary Topp and Gary Cormier as the Garys, the fearless concert-promoting duo who would redraw Toronto’s live-music map.
asserted
who → give → map
The distorted shock travelled from Yonge Street into basements, bars and bedrooms across the city.
asserted
shock → travel → city
Bands formed.
asserted
Bands → form → ?
Old rules suddenly looked ridiculous.
asserted
rules → look → ?
What followed would transform Toronto — and send ripples across Canada — but its origin story remains gloriously intimate: a darkened theatre, a deafening band and a roomful of converts who would never be the same.
asserted
who → follow → converts
This is how the weekend unfolded, as told by those who made it happen and those who witnessed it: impresarios Gary Topp, Jeff Silverman and Gary Cormier, who ran the New Yorker; filmmaker, TV producer and New Yorker manager Colin Brunton; illustrator John Pearson; musician, photographer and author Don Pyle; illustrator Al Runt; record seller Randy Johnston; Cynthia Ross, poet and co-founder of the Toronto punk band the ‘B’ Girls; Ramones tour manager Monte A. Melnick; and Mickey Leigh, Joey’s younger brother, Ramones roadie and musician; with archival appearances by Toronto Star music critic Peter Goddard and Ramones manager Danny Fields.
asserted
who → unfold → Goddard
For years the New Yorker was the leading art house in Toronto.
asserted
Yorker → lead → Toronto
Bennet Fode brought in foreign films.
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Fode → bring → films
“Easy Rider” — nobody wanted to distribute that film, but he did it, and it ran forever.
asserted
it → want → it
It was the place to go to see movies that you couldn’t see anywhere else.
asserted
you → go → that
But by the mid-’70s, it was dying.
asserted
it → die → mid-’70s
At that point he was playing a lot of soft-core porn.
asserted
he → play → porn
In 1975 Jeff and I decided to rent the New Yorker.
asserted
Jeff → decide → Yorker
I continued the same movie policy as (we’d had at) the Roxy, but the access to films was getting tougher.
asserted
access → continue → films
Gary had done this Marx Brothers festival, and it was really successful.
asserted
it → do → festival
We wanted to do it at the New Yorker but the studio wouldn’t book them.
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studio → want → them
The Uptown, the big theatre across the street, had a lock on the films because (exhibitor Famous Players) didn’t want us to play them.
asserted
us → have → them
I wanted to start booking shows.
asserted
I → want → shows
I was sitting at the back of the theatre.
asserted
I → sit → theatre
We had watched “The Blank Generation,” Amos Poe’s film about CBGB, and I thought: I should build a stage and bring these bands to town.
asserted
I → watch → town
Gary brought me into the theatre and showed me the stage.
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Gary → bring → stage
It was this big massive concrete structure that weighed as much as the building.
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that → weigh → building
Bluestein told me everything I needed to know about upgrading the venue and running shows.
asserted
I → tell → shows
Then he said, “Who do you want?”
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you → say → Who
He hadn’t heard of the Ramones.
asserted
He → hear → Ramones
Booking a band was a lot more stressful than booking a movie.
asserted
Booking → book → movie
I’d never spent that kind of money before.
asserted
I → spend → money
It was unusual for (the band) to play two shows on the same day.
asserted
band → play → day
I guess that’s the way Gary booked it.
asserted
Gary → guess → it
My sister-in-law was (filmmaker) Mary Harron, who was doing Punk magazine in New York, so I’d already heard of the Ramones.
asserted
I → do → Ramones
Gary was looking at music the same way I did.
asserted
I → look → music
John Pearson had done the posters at the Roxy.
asserted
Pearson → do → Roxy
I asked him to design one for this show and he came up with the smashed sunglasses.
asserted
he → ask → sunglasses
I got the idea when I was sitting in the box office.
asserted
I → get → office
I had a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses that my dad gave me.
asserted
dad → have → me
…and 95 more, not listed.
The Aporia
