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From Pleasant Dreams

Sing along - lyrics here!

Official web site: Ramones.com

All too often people underestimated the Ramones. Sure, they were a shaggy band, but behind the hair there was a clan of visionaries.

A case in point is "We Want the Airwaves"; while the lyrics aren't all that cereberal, it is ironic to note that this song was released all the way back in 1981, and way back then the Ramones had noticed that commercial radio outlets were denying a voice to their type of music.

The only difference between their song and today's state of the medium is people are more likely to set up their own transmitters instead of taking a hammer to their receivers.

Of course, the stakes are much higher now; if any sense of indpendent musical diversity's gonna stay alive, we must take those airwaves back.

The Ramones called it quits back in 1995, but briefly reunited to issue an anthology album of their greatest hits.

Then, the punk rock world took a big hit on April 15, 2000, when Joey Ramone died of lymphoma at a New York Hospital. He was 49.

Their legacy will live on, though, as long as punk music and pirate radio remain alive.