1980–1989

After the band's movie debut in Roger Corman's Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979), the legendary producer Phil Spector became interested in the Ramones and produced their 1980 album End of the Century. Dee Dee wrote in his book Lobotomy that, during the recording sessions, Spector pulled a gun on Dee Dee, and forced Johnny to play the opening chord to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" hundreds of times. The band would later consider this one of their "not-so-great" albums they had released, crediting tensions between the producer and the artists. Johnny recalls that he was disappointed with the outcome of End of the Century. When asked in interviews, Johnny would indicate that he favored the band's more aggressive punk material (he also conveyed this feeling with the title and track selection of the post-breakup collection cd, which he compiled: Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits); by contrast, End of the Century material such as the syrupy, string-section laden Ronettes cover "baby I love you" is entirely lacking in the guitarist's trademark "buzzsaw" sound.

In 1981 the Ramones released Pleasant Dreams, which continued the trend established by End of The Century of diluting the rawer punk sound showcased on the band's initial four albums. Instead, slick production was again featured, this time provided by Graham Gouldman of UK pop act 10 cc. Johnny would contend in retrospect that this direction was a record company decision and represented a continued futile attempt to get airplay on American radio. On August 1 of that year, however, while promoting the album, they did become the first band to be interviewed on the newly formed cable video station MTV, which temporarily provided a more receptive outlet for the band's music than FM. After the release of 1983's Subterranean Jungle, Marky Ramone was fired from the band because of his alcoholism and eventually replaced by Richard Reinhardt (under the name Richie Ramone). The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was Too Tough to Die in 1984. The album was largely considered a return to form after the non-flattering pop-production techniques characterizing the previous three full length releases. Some rock critics contend that it represents their final high quality album.

In 1986 the Ramones were invited to record the soundtrack to the Sid and Nancy movie. During their work, some management problems developed, and the deal was canceled. However, a handful of songs created for this movie were included in their 1986 album Animal Boy. This uneven release, produced by Jean Beauvoir of NYC punk rock/heavy metal/shock rock act the Plasmatics, featured full throttle cartoon-hardcore punk rants such as the title song, a concession to the ongoing underground punk scene that the band helped to inspire, uncomfortably mixed with decidedly poppier material. In 1987 the band recorded their last album with Richie Halfway to Sanity. Halfway to Sanity was the first collaboration with producer and former Shrapnel (another late 1970s NYC punk band) guitarist Daniel Rey (Rey went on to co-write "Pet Semetary" with Dee Dee, produce the band's swansong album Adios Amigos!, and also produce solo albums by Dee Dee and Joey), and featured a more consistent display of the cartoonish punk/hardcore sound hinted at in Animal Boy. Longtime fans generally were not impressed, feeling that whatever this effort had going for it in terms of energy, it lacked the effervescent humor and originality of the bands vintage material. Richie left in August 1987, upset that after being in the band for five years, the other members would still not give him a share of the money they made selling t-shirts.

Marky was replaced by Clem Burke (Elvis Ramone) from Blondie. According to Johnny, the shows with Burke were a disaster. He was fired after two shows because his drumming couldn't keep up with the rest of the band. Marky, now clean and sober, returned.

Dee Dee Ramone left after 1989's Brain Drain, and was replaced by Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who performed and recorded with the band until their break-up. However, Dee Dee did continue contributing to the music of the Ramones by lending his lyrics for use in later songs. Dee Dee left to pursue a brief solo career as a rapper, adopting the name Dee Dee King (based on B.B. King).

While the quality of band's recorded output may have been uneven during the 1980s, those 10 years comprised the middle period of their nearly nonstop touring on their way to 2,263 concerts