James Hetfield shared his thoughts about Ramone to launch.com in April when Joey Ramone died. He said "My school buddies and I would change our last names on our school papers to Ramone to be one of the brothers in the band. Joey was one of the greatest anti-heroes there ever was."

"We were trying to get the tribute album out on the one-year anniversary of Joey's death [on April 15], but at the same time, we don't want to put it out until it's perfect," Zombie told VH1. "We kind of want it to be the be-all, end-all Ramones tribute record. A lot of times, tribute records are just thrown together, but we really want to make this special."

Other bands on the list are Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring, Eddie Vedder, Rancid and Joe Strummer, though the album is still very much in the early stages.