Cretin Family

Cretin Family — the Ramones-saluting punk supergroup featuring members of Green Day, Rancid and blink-182 — banded together for the first time last night (August 30th) to celebrate the Ramones songbook at Los Angeles, California’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The quartet — comprising Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and late-era Ramones bassist CJ Ramone — came together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ramones’ self-titled debut album. Their name is a reference to Ramones songs “Cretin Hop” and “We’re a Happy Family” (both from 1977’s Rocket to Russia). The group started off their set with Too Tough to Die’s instrumental “Durango 95” before both guitar-playing Armstrongs hit the mic for “Rockaway Beach.” The night notably featured “Cretin Hop,” and likewise legendary tracks like “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” “I Wanna Be Sedated” and more. They also covered songs that Ramones had famously covered, like Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Wanna Dance?” and the Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird.” Bille Joe and Tim Armstrong rotated on lead vocals throughout the night, but CJ Ramone also hit the mic for a salute to founding bassist Dee Dee Ramone’s solo cut “The Crusher,” as well as a cover of Motörhead’s salutatory “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” Ahead of the show, Cretin Family had teased that a few special guests would be making it on stage at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Turns out that included comedian and musician Fred Armisen, who helped out with “Danny Says” (Armisen has a Ramones tribute band of his own with members of Sleater Kinney). Teen group the Linda Lindas also teamed-up with the Cretins for a pair of songs. Billy Idol came out for the last few songs of the night, including a performance of his Generation X’s “Read Steady Go” that led into the ultimate “Hey Ho, Let’s Go” moment — a finale of “Blitzkireg Bop,” which also brought out the Linda Lindas, and pseudo-mascot Pinhead. You’ll find fan-shot footage from throughout the night up above and down below, along with the setlist details (via setlist.fm). Cretin Family setlist 8/30/26:Durango 95 (Ramones)Rockaway Beach (Ramones, Tim and Billie on lead vocals)Cretin Hop (Ramones, Billie on lead vocals)Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment (Ramones, Tim on lead vocals)Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman cover, Billie on lead vocals)The Crusher (Dee Dee King cover, CJ on lead vocals)R. A. M. O. N. E. S. (Motörhead cover, CJ on lead vocals)Danny Says (Ramones, with Fred Armisen)Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (Ramones, Billie on lead vocals)Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio? (Ramones, Jason Freese on saxophone)California Sun (Joe Jones cover, with the Linda Lindas)I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones, with the Linda Lindas)Commando (Ramones, Tim on lead vocals)Havana Affair (Ramones, Tim on lead vocals)Oh Oh I Love Her So (Ramones, Billie on lead vocals)Surfin’ Bird (The Trashmen cover, Billie on lead vocals)Beat on the Brat (Ramones, with Billy Idol)Ready Steady Go (Generation X cover, with Billy Idol)Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones, with Billy Idol)