Well in this particular thread, Ramones really did go for broke, with all four of the band's founding members now departed, all before their time:
Joey (lymphoma in 2001)
Dee Dee (heroin overdose 2002)
Johnny (prostate cancer 2004)
Tommy (bile duct cancer 2014).
The recording that I have selected though includes Richie Ramone incumbent upon the drum stool and he is still alive and gigging. By the mid-80's the music press had written the Ramones off as a spent force, but as a 17 year old in 1986 I loved 'Animal Now' and 'Halfway To Sanity' which followed in 1987. I do however think that in their middle years there was an element of 'innovators as imitators' as they were forced to follow band's who enjoyed considerably more success with material that was clearly highly influenced by the early Ramones albums. I have never really fathomed why it was that American record buyers never really took the ultimate 'All American' punk band to heart, success in the homeland eluded the band whilst they enjoyed great success in Europe and massive support in South America. In the latter years, Ramones seemingly felt compelled to play faster and faster, sometimes to the detriment of the live show.
The band played on this tour in Brighton on 7th May 1986, but I did not have the money to go at the time as I has a ticket to see PiL in London a couple of weeks later and my teenage funds didn't stretch so far! I didn't get to see the band until 1988 in Dusseldorf with The Stranglers... but at least Dee Dee was still in the fold at that time.
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-DOGVnGkVw6
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