joey ramone, dead at 49

Singer Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Hyman) lost his battle with lymphatic cancer on Sunday afternoon. While the UK punk movement sported an almost uniformed short hair, anti-establishment messy look, over in NYC the Ramones chose a route of the long hair with dark glasses look and no decorative messages on their backs. Sure, it was NYC punk and they helped put the disgusting CBGB's club on the map (along with the popularity of Blondie, Talking Heads and others), but their charming blend of rock ideals (4 chords and songs about sniffing glue and teenage labotomies) helped make their tunes some of the biggest rock'n' roll youth anthems. In the career that approached three decades, the group never changed their look and always held true to their guns. .