The Ramones albums in order run from the 1976 debut to ¡Adios Amigos! in 1995: 14 studio albums in nineteen years. My Ramones discography map art print plots each of them as a station, and draws all 40 credited musicians as tube lines running through the records they actually played on. It is a Giclée print in A2 or A1, from £42, unframed or in a black wood frame.
I researched and drew every line of it myself, working from the album credits rather than from memory. That is the part that makes it worth hanging. A Ramones fan can stand in front of it and find something they did not know about a band they have listened to for thirty years, and a few of those things surprised me while I was drawing them.
Only Two Lines Reach All Fourteen Stations
Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone are the only two musicians credited on all 14 Ramones studio albums. Nineteen years, no gaps. On the print their lines run the full width of the map without a break, from the 1976 debut through to ¡Adios Amigos! in 1995.
That is the shape of the band in one glance. A group with a reputation for being four interchangeable men in leather jackets was, in credit terms, two constants and a revolving door behind them. Nobody else on the map gets close.
The Ramones Albums in Order, and Where the Drum Line Breaks
The drums are where the map gets interesting, and where I had to correct my own assumptions. Tommy Ramone plays on the first three albums, Ramones in 1976, Leave Home and Rocket to Russia in 1977, and then stops. Marky Ramone arrives for Road to Ruin in 1978 and holds the seat through End of the Century, Pleasant Dreams and Subterranean Jungle.
Then Marky's line breaks. Richie Ramone takes over for Too Tough to Die in 1984, Animal Boy in 1986 and Halfway to Sanity in 1987. Marky comes back for Brain Drain in 1989 and stays to the end. That is a gap of three albums, drawn as a visible hole in the middle of the print.
Three Ramones on drums, then. But five people in total are credited playing drums on this map, which is not something you would guess from the sleeves. Jim Keltner, a session drummer with several hundred albums behind him, is credited on End of the Century in 1980. Billy Rogers plays drums on one track of Subterranean Jungle in 1983. Both get their own short lines, and both sit directly underneath a Ramone who was supposedly playing everything.
Debbie Harry Appears Twice, Six Years Apart
This is the one I got wrong the first time I wrote about this map, and the credits corrected me. Debbie Harry is not a single guest appearance on the Ramones map. She turns up on Pleasant Dreams in 1981, singing backing vocals alongside Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52's, and again on Halfway to Sanity in 1987 on "Go Lil' Camaro Go".
Two stations, six years apart, with nothing in between. On the print that reads as a broken line rather than a branch, which is a different shape and tells a different story: not a one-off favour, but somebody who kept coming back.
Pleasant Dreams Is the Most Crowded Album on the Map
The 1976 debut has four credited musicians on it. Four men, four lines, nothing else. Pleasant Dreams in 1981 has twelve.
Alongside the four Ramones you get Debbie Harry, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson from the B-52's, Graham Gouldman of 10cc on guitar and backing vocals, Russell Mael of Sparks on backing vocals, Ian Wilson, Vic Emerson on keyboards and Dave Hassell on percussion. It is the widest column on the print by some distance, and it is the moment the map stops looking like a punk record and starts looking like a pop session.
End of the Century in 1980 is the other bulge, at nine. Phil Spector brought his own people in: Barry Goldberg on piano and organ, Dan and David Kessel on guitars, Jim Keltner on drums and Steve Douglas on saxophone. Five outside players on a Ramones album, which had never happened before and did not happen again in quite that way.
Dee Dee Runs Eleven Albums, Then Comes Back Down a Telephone Line
Dee Dee Ramone plays bass from the 1976 debut through to Brain Drain in 1989, which is eleven albums, not the nine that people usually assume because Brain Drain feels late. His line then stops. C.J. Ramone picks up the bass at Mondo Bizarro in 1992 and runs to the finish across the last three records.
Then Dee Dee returns for one last station. He makes his first appearance on a Ramones album since 1989 during the bridge of "Born to Die in Berlin", the closing track of ¡Adios Amigos! in 1995, singing in German. The vocal was recorded down a telephone.
So the very last station on the map carries a credit phoned in from another country, sung in another language, on a song about dying in Berlin, on the final album the band made. It sits at the far right of the print with six years of empty space to its left, and it is my favourite thing on this map.
The handover to C.J. is cleaner on the map than it was at the time. Dee Dee left the band but kept writing for it, and several of his songs turn up on records he does not play a note on. My rule is the same on every map: a line is a playing credit, and a vocal down a phone line is a playing credit.
Phil Spector Produced End of the Century and Still Gets No Line
End of the Century is the most talked about record in the catalogue, and the reason is the producer. Phil Spector took the fastest band in New York into the studio and slowed them down. Fans expect his name to be the boldest line on the map.
It is not there at all. A producer only earns a line on my maps if they are also credited playing something, and Spector played nothing on it. The same rule keeps Tommy Ramone off the map after 1977, even though he returns to later sessions on the production side. It is strict, and it is why the map reads as a record of who played rather than who was in charge.
The Guest Stars Hiding in the Last Four Albums
The late records are where the map gets crowded with famous names, and almost none of them are on the sleeve in large type.
| Musician | Album | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Jerry Harrison | Too Tough to Die (1984) | Synthesizer, one track |
| Benmont Tench | Too Tough to Die (1984) | Keyboards, one track |
| Vernon Reid | Mondo Bizarro (1992) | Guitar solo, one track |
| Flo and Eddie | Mondo Bizarro (1992) | Backing vocals, two tracks |
| Pete Townshend | Acid Eaters (1993) | Backing vocals, one track |
| Sebastian Bach | Acid Eaters (1993) | Backing vocals, one track |
| Traci Lords | Acid Eaters (1993) | Backing vocals, one track |
Acid Eaters is a covers album, which is why it pulls in three guest vocalists at once. Pete Townshend singing backing vocals on a Ramones record is the sort of thing that sounds invented until you find it in the credits, and it is exactly why I keep drawing these.
The Longest Lines, End to End
| Musician | Runs from | Runs to |
|---|---|---|
| Joey Ramone | Ramones (1976) | ¡Adios Amigos! (1995), unbroken |
| Johnny Ramone | Ramones (1976) | ¡Adios Amigos! (1995), unbroken |
| Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | Brain Drain (1989), then one vocal on the 1995 finale |
| Marky Ramone | Road to Ruin (1978) | ¡Adios Amigos! (1995), with a three album gap |
| Walter Lure | Subterranean Jungle (1983) | Halfway to Sanity (1987), four albums |
| Daniel Rey | Halfway to Sanity (1987) | ¡Adios Amigos! (1995), four albums |
| Tommy Ramone | Ramones (1976) | Rocket to Russia (1977) |
| Richie Ramone | Too Tough to Die (1984) | Halfway to Sanity (1987) |
| C.J. Ramone | Mondo Bizarro (1992) | ¡Adios Amigos! (1995) |
Walter Lure of the Heartbreakers and Daniel Rey both run four albums, which is longer than Tommy Ramone and longer than Richie Ramone. Neither was ever a member. That is the sort of thing only a map shows you.
¡Adios Amigos! Is the Last Station, and It Reads Like One
The map stops in 1995. ¡Adios Amigos! is the fourteenth station, and the band retired the following year after more than two thousand shows. Every line on the print either ends there or has already ended somewhere to the left of it.
What gives that final column its weight is what happened afterwards. Joey died in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, Johnny in 2004 and Tommy in 2014. The four men whose lines start together at the far left of the map are all gone, and the last of them to arrive at that final station did it from a telephone. I did not design the print to be a memorial and I do not label it as one, but people who know the story tend to stand at the right hand edge for a while.
"Brilliant idea... really like what you've done, Mike."
Sizes, Framing and What to Spend
Both sizes are landscape, which suits a discography that runs left to right across two decades. A2 works above a desk or on a record shelf. Choose A1 if it is going on a main wall and you want the small type readable from the sofa.
| Size | UK | US equivalent | Unframed from |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 landscape | 594 x 420 mm | 24 x 18 in | £42 |
| A1 landscape | 841 x 594 mm | 36 x 24 in | £58 |
Every print is a Giclée on 230gsm premium textured matte fine art paper, archival and acid-free, so the colours hold for years. Unframed for someone who has their own framer, or in a black wood frame if you want it ready to hang on the day.
The Ramones Discography Map
All 14 studio albums from 1976 to 1995, with all 40 credited musicians drawn as tube lines. A2 and A1 Giclée prints, from £42.
Explore This Art PrintRelated Music Maps
If the person you are buying for came up through the same New York scene, the Blondie Discography Map Art Print is the obvious companion, and it gives Debbie Harry a full line rather than two guest stations. For the British side of those years, the Stranglers Discography Map Art Print covers a punk band with a longer run and a messier line-up.
You can see the whole range in the Music Wall Art Prints collection.
Questions I Get Asked About This Map
How many albums did the Ramones make?
Fourteen studio albums between 1976 and 1995, and those are the 14 stations on the map. Live albums and compilations are not on it, which is an editorial rule I apply to the whole range.
Which Ramones played on every album?
Only Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone. All 14 studio albums, 1976 to 1995, with no break in either line.
How many drummers does the map show?
Three Ramones on drums across four spells: Tommy on the first three albums, Marky from 1978 to 1983, Richie from 1984 to 1987, then Marky again from 1989 to the end. Two more people are credited playing drums as well, Jim Keltner on End of the Century and Billy Rogers on one track of Subterranean Jungle.
Is Dee Dee Ramone on the last album?
Yes, but only just. He sings in German during the bridge of "Born to Die in Berlin", the closing track of ¡Adios Amigos!, and the vocal was recorded down a telephone. It is his first appearance on a Ramones record since Brain Drain in 1989.
Did Debbie Harry really sing on a Ramones record?
On two of them. Backing vocals on Pleasant Dreams in 1981 and again on "Go Lil' Camaro Go" on Halfway to Sanity in 1987.
Who is left off the map?
Producers and engineers who did not also play, which is why Phil Spector is not on it. Songwriting credits do not count either, so Dee Dee's post-1989 songs do not extend his line, only the Berlin vocal does. Live albums and compilations are left off as well, so this is the studio records only.
Give a Ramones fan something they will read for years
14 studio albums in order, 40 credited musicians, one unbroken pair of lines, researched and drawn by hand.
See The Ramones MapNot sure which artist they would want? An art print gift card lets them choose their own map.
