Pre-history

The pre-history of the band is centered in and around the middle-class neighborhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens.

Most of the members had been in various bands since the late 1960s. Johnny and Tommy had both been in a high-school garage band circa 1966-67 known as the Tangerine Puppets, and Joey was in the short-lived early 1970s glam rock band Sniper. The initial version of the Ramones included Jeffrey Hyman on drums, John Cummings on guitar, and Douglas Colvin on bass and lead vocals. Colvin was the first to use the name Ramone, calling himself Dee Dee Ramone. He was inspired by the fact that Paul McCartney (in his "Silver Beatles" days) used the pseudonym Paul Ramon.^[11] He convinced the other members to take on the name and came up with the idea of calling the band the Ramones.^[12] Hyman and Cummings would become Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, respectively.