O n April 15, Joey Ramone, the frontman of the seminal punk group The Ramones, died.

Although a good deal of press was given to his passing, it became painfully obvious after listening to students around campus converse that most people don't understand just how important he was to music.

The comments were plentiful: "Eww, he's ugly" or "I don't remember hearing any of their songs on the radio."

And my personal favorite: "What did they ever do for music?"

Well, the band didn't do that much — it only turned the entire music business upside down and changed music forever. That should count for something.

Listen:

In the mid-'70s, the music industry was in a very sorry state.

Rock 'n roll had become extremely pompous and overblown, with bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Styx and Kansas making overlong songs and playing endless solos simply because they could, not because it benefited the music.

And to top it off, the musicians started to believe that they had attained god-like statuses, as they grew more and more distant from the audience.

It was the beginning of arena rock. God help us all.

Enter Joey Ramone and his three bandmates, Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee Ramone, and a simple, fast, furious brand of music called "Punk rock."

Think of punk as the pin that popped the bloated balloon that was late '70s music.

The songs the bands wrote were short, tight and simple, taking rock back to its basics. Actually, the early Ramones songs aren't that different from early Elvis and Chuck Berry songs. They're just a lot louder and faster.

Plus, punk brought the audience back into the show.

They were actually participating in it, not merely watching it.

And the lyrics were more down to earth, reflecting what was happening on the streets.

While other artists were penning songs like "Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat" and "The Three Fates: Clotho/Lachesis/Atropos" — these are actual songs, I'm not making this up — the Sex Pistols sang about government in "Anarchy in the U.K." and The Clash ranted about shit jobs in "Career Opportunities."

Punk musicians didn't care about being rich and famous, they cared about making music.

Tickets were cheap if there was any charge at all and some bands, e.g. The Clash, took cuts in their royalties to have their albums sell at a lower price.

A few years after it was "invented," punk morphed into New Wave, described by one journalist as "punk without teeth."

It brought with it some more bands you might have heard of — The Pretenders, Talking Heads, U2, The Police, Blondie and others.

And considering that Blondie introduced rap to many new ears with "Rapture," helping it become as popular as it is today, rap aficionados should be very grateful to Mr. Ramone.

As should every other person who complains about high ticket prices, egocentric rock stars and greedy record moguls. Had The Ramones not come along, things would be a lot worse than they are today.