Johnny Ramone: Punk Legend, Leader, Republican

Punk rocker Johnny Ramone passed away nearly eight years ago, but the literary world is only now getting his story in print.

“Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone” details the life and music of the late guitarist as presented by his wife of more than 20 years, Linda Ramone.

Billboard.com spoke to Linda Ramone about the passionate guitar slinger, and the conversation touched on his conservative philosophy.

Johnny was an outspoken Republican, to say the least.

Johnny is always a leader, never a follower so he wouldn’t care if everyone he knew is a Democrat it didn’t matter. He was a Republican. He worked hard and saved. That was his thing. The Ramones didn’t really ever have a big hit single so do you want to get out of The Ramones and what, get a regular job? What can you do at that point? So you have to save your money. The American dream is to make money and save your money and not depend on anyone. Johnny lived the American dream.

Do you think he would have run for office?

I think later on he would have become more political. When we moved to L.A and retired he probably would have been leaning towards something. While he was in The Ramones he never really talked about politics because it can affect your fans not liking you.