From CNN this morning:

[Johnny]Ramone, who had been fighting a five-year battle with prostate cancer, died in his sleep Wednesday afternoon at his Los Angeles home surrounded by friends and family...

Johnny Ramone co-founded The Ramones in 1974 in New York along with singer Joey Ramone, bassist DeeDee Ramone and drummer Tommy Ramone, who is the only surviving member of the original band. All four band members had different last names, but took the common name Ramone.

And one last snip for Gerry:

Though they never had a Top 40 song, the Ramones influenced scores of followers, including bands such as Green Day and Nirvana.

Even Bruce Springsteen was moved. After seeing the Ramones in Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen wrote "Hungry Heart" for the band. His manager, however, swayed him to keep the song for himself and it became a hit single.

The Ramones and me have always had a touch and go relationship. On for ahwile, off for a while, but always on in crucial times; I had just a little bit of Rock and Roll High School in me; For years I carried around a "Hey Ho, Let's Go" t-shirt given to me by a good friend, Johanna; When Joey died in 2000, I was nearing my last semester as an Art student, and divorcing myself from two of the best friends I'd ever had; Nowadays, the Ramones and the Donnas (He thinks both bands were contemporaries in the 80's. I don't have the heart to tell him) are all I hear come out of my friend Will's car. Can't say I think their music is any good. But it always speaks to me, and I always respond. And that, as they say, is What will suffice.

RIP Johnny. Long live rock and roll.