Remarkable set of visa applications for the Ramones' 1980 trip to Japan, each one page, 8.25 x 11.5, dated June 2, 1980, all signed using their given names. Applications include Joey Ramone ("Jeff Hyman"), Johnny Ramone ("John Cummings"), Marky Ramone ("Marc Bell"), and Dee Dee Ramone ("Douglas Colvin"), plus manager Monte Melnick. The applications are filled out in another hand, listing the purpose of their visit as "Performance of Concerts," and all bear color passport-style photos stapled to the upper right corner. In overall fine condition, with small areas of paper loss to corners of all but the Dee Dee Ramone document. These were displayed as part of the “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk” exhibit at the Queens Museum in New York from April 10, 2016-July 31, 2016, and the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live from September 16, 2016-February 28, 2017, and the lot is accompanied by the Grammy Museum’s inventory label. From the Monte A. Melnick Ramones Collection.
The Ramones made their first Japanese tour in 1980, playing seven dates in Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka between June 27 and July 4. As distinctly American purveyors of counterculture, the band had a large following overseas and they were especially popular in Japan. Although they would not again return to the island nation until 1988, they performed several Japanese tours in the 1990s and were in Tokyo for their 2,000th show in 1994. As early documents representing their first-ever tour of Japan, these are remarkable pieces of international punk rock history.
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