March 30th 1974 On This Day: The Ramones Played Their First Show as a Three-Piece

American Songwriter

On March 30, 1974, three-fourths of The Ramones performed their first show to a small group of friends and associates at the Performance Studios on 23 East 20th Street in New York City, a makeshift space put together by their band’s longtime tour manager Monte Melnick and their then-future drummer Thomas Erdelyi. Melnick and Erdelyi, who was interested in managing and producing the Ramones, were friends since junior high school and were previously in a band called Butch together.

During the band’s show, they played seven songs, including “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You,” and “I Don’t Wanna Be Learned / I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed,” along with “I Don’t Like Nobody That Don’t Like Me,” “I Don’t Wanna Get Involved With You,” and “Succubus,” which were never recorded.