Brooklyn, NY · punk

Marky Ramone

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The Ramones' longest-serving drummer, keeping the two-minute blitz alive with a rotating cast — thirty-plus songs an hour, as the law requires.

Marc Steven Bell was born in Brooklyn in 1952 to a longshoreman father and a mother who ran the Brooklyn College music library; he has a twin brother, Fred. He started drumming in 1971 with the hard rock band Dust, alongside bassist Kenny Aaronson and guitarist Richie Wise, recording two albums before moving toward punk.

He was briefly considered as a replacement drummer for the New York Dolls after Billy Murcia's death, though the job went to Jerry Nolan. He then played in Estus, recording an album produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, and in Wayne County & The Backstreet Boys, before joining Richard Hell and the Voidoids for their debut, Blank Generation.

He joined the Ramones in 1978, replacing Tommy Ramone, after auditioning on "I Don't Care", "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" and receiving coaching from Tommy himself. His first album with the band was Road to Ruin. He appeared in Rock 'n' Roll High School, played on "I Wanna Be Sedated" and worked with producer Phil Spector.

A drinking problem led to his departure in February 1983; he returned in 1987 and stayed until the group's final shows in 1996, making him the drummer on more Ramones records than anyone else. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2002 and published his autobiography, Punk Rock Blitzkrieg, in 2015.

Since then he has toured with Marky Ramone's Blitzkrieg, a changing lineup that plays Ramones material at close to the original tempo and with very little space between songs. He lives in Brooklyn Heights with his wife, Marion Flynn, and remains one of three surviving members of the band, alongside Richie Ramone and C.J. Ramone.

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