Sitting here in Queens/Eating refried beans

Tommy Ramone died yesterday; he was the last of the original members of the Ramones. I don't want to overrate the Ramones, but they were a hell of a lot of fun and they had their moments. Here are two from their 1977 release, "Rocket to Russia":

I really didn't discover the Ramones until I got to college in 1981, but in retrospect it's easy to understand why they must have been a breath of fresh air for the lucky folks who did get to hear them. We got a diet of this stuff when I was growing up:

Although I didn't hear this song until later, the Ramones wanted something different:

The 70s were a strange time -- here's a video from network television of the era that, ahem, speaks for itself:

And let's not forget this event, which happened 35 years ago today:

I missed the Disco Demolition because I was still in Guatemala as a high school exchange student at that point. You could argue that the 70s ended that night, though. You certainly didn't hear much disco after that day.