After a fine trip to NUU Yawk, I spent a good hour or so in The Virgin Megastore browsing, and of all the commercial merchandise on display, I spot a section of Ramones lunch boxes, tee shirts, clocks, patches and other junk. What little I know about them, The Ramones were far from pop, have a few well known songs and were never rich. With only one surviving member left, who is controlling the legacy of the group, who's giving approval to selling their songs to commercials, where does the money goes from all of the CD collections that are out there? Is this a good thing for them?

The Ramones were Punk-pop. Joey loved Phil Spector & the Beach Boys. They were pop. Real pop, not shit pop. I assume Columbia owns the masters, and approves all usage, and royalties go to the Joey Ramone fund, and surviving members and family members. They weren't rich in their lifetimes (apart from Marky), as they became "popular" long after they broke up.
[Edited 4/3/06 21:46pm]

the exact same thing could be asked for a lot of other older rock groups.

I find punk merchandise in general kinda ironic.

CinisterCee said:

true, because punk is all about the DIY aspect of things so all the mass merchandise of punk stuff, like what they sell at hot topic or wherever else, is rather off-putting to me.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

yeah even the pins, I'm like, aren't you supposed to make those?

It must have been their family since most of them have passed.

RIP Ramones!

CinisterCee said:

some people still do, but that's becoming somewhat of a rarity...