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Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is set to front a new punk rock supergroup to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Ramones’ first album.
The play-it-fast-and-simple icons are widely considered the world’s first true punk band, with the MC5 and the Stooges laying the groundwork before them. Their 1976 self-titled LP, which included stonewall classics like Blitzkrieg Bop and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, kick-started America’s powerful punk scene.
Armstrong, who performed Blitzkrieg Bop at the band’s 2002 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will be joined by Rancid guitarist/vocalist Tim Armstrong, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and C.J. Ramone on bass. Ramone played in the group between 1989 and 1996, when the band retired. His audition, however, got him sent to a naval prison.
Their one-off performance is slated to take place on August 30 at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, which, apart from being a very rock n’ roll location for a gig, is where Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone were laid to rest. The show will raise funds for Dr. David Agus’s cancer research at the Ellison Institute Research Foundation.
John Travolta will host the event, which will also feature screenings of the supernatural horror film Carrie and Travolta’s new film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach.
“The spirit of the Ramones is alive in every backyard punk show, punk club, and festival,” Armstrong enthuses (via Rolling Stone). “Generation after generation of cretins and weirdos become Ramones lovers. Kids are influenced by the Ramones, and they don’t even know it yet.”
Incredibly, Tommy Ramone was originally meant to be the band’s manager, but after countless drummer auditions, it became clear he was the only sticksman capable of complementing Johnny Ramone’s buzzsaw guitar style.
And while the Ramones influenced a slew of next-gen punk bands like Green Day, the power trio have in turn inspired 21st century artists like Yungblud – it’s the cycle of punk. Yet Smashing Pumpkins man Billy Corgan believes Green Day have gone on to eclipse the Ramones.
The announcement coincides with the release of Green Day’s new single, I’m Never Gonna R.I.P, after Armstrong rekindled his love of guitar solos on their 2024 album, Saviors.
