1980–1989

After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman's Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), the legendary producer Phil Spector became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album End of the Century. During the recording sessions, Spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee, and forced him to repeatedly play a riff.^[20] The band would later consider this one of their "not-so-great" albums, crediting tensions between the producer and the artists. Johnny recalls that he was disappointed with the outcome of End of the Century. When asked in interviews, Johnny would indicate that he favored the band's more aggressive punk material. (He also conveyed this feeling with the title and track selection of the post-breakup collection CD that he compiled: Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits.) In contrast, End of the Century material such as the syrupy, string-section laden Ronettes cover "Baby, I Love You" is entirely lacking the guitarist's trademark "buzzsaw" sound.^[21]

In 1981 the Ramones released Pleasant Dreams, which continued the trend established by End of The Century of diluting the rawer punk sound showcased on the band's initial four albums. Instead, slick production was again featured, this time provided by Graham Gouldman of UK pop act 10 cc. Johnny would contend in retrospect that this direction was a record company decision and represented a continued futile attempt to get airplay on American radio.^[21][1] On August 1 of that year, however, while promoting the album, they did become the first band to be interviewed on the newly formed cable video station MTV, which temporarily provided a more receptive outlet for the band's music than FM. After the release of the 1983 Subterranean Jungle, Marky Ramone was fired from the band because of his alcoholism and was eventually replaced by Richard Reinhardt (under the name Richie Ramone). The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was Too Tough to Die in 1984, produced by former drummer Tommy Ramone. The album was largely considered a return to form after the non-flattering pop-production techniques characterizing the previous three full-length releases. Some rock critics contend that it represents their final high quality album.^[22]

In 1986, the Ramones were invited to record the soundtrack to the film Sid and Nancy. During their work, some management problems developed, and the deal was cancelled.^{[citation needed]} However, a handful of songs created for this movie were included in their 1986 album Animal Boy. The album was produced by Jean Beauvoir of the Plasmatics, and included a mix of hard and poppier punk songs.

In 1987, the band recorded their last album with Richie, Halfway to Sanity. Halfway to Sanity was the first collaboration with producer and former Shrapnel (another late 1970s NYC punk band) guitarist Daniel Rey. Richie left in August 1987, upset that after being in the band for five years, the other members would still not give him a share of the money they made selling t-shirts.^[23]

Richie was replaced by Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone) from Blondie. According to Johnny, the shows with Burke were a disaster. He was fired after two shows because his drumming could not keep up with the rest of the band.^[23] Marky, now clean and sober, returned.

Dee Dee Ramone left after 1989's Brain Drain and was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed and recorded with the band until their break-up. However, Dee Dee did continue contributing to the music of the Ramones by lending his lyrics for use in later songs. Dee Dee left to pursue a brief solo career as a rapper, adopting the name Dee Dee King.^[24]