A line from "
Blitzkrieg Bop" by
punk rock supergroup The Ramones.
Joey Ramone (
R.I.P.) sung the line it in
phony punk cockney (thus making it sound like, "Ai-O,
Let's Go"), but it should be noted that he was the first to use
ersatz cockney.
"Hey Ho, Let's Go" is unofficially -- or perhaps officially -- the motto of the Ramones. It appears in their seal: the U.S. Presidential seal, but with a baseball bat instead of arrows in the eagle's left claw on the right side of the seal ("Beat on the brat, beat on the brat, beat on the brat with a baseball bat, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh-ho"), and instead of "E Pluribus Unum" inscribed on a strip of paper above the eagle's head, "Hey Ho" on a strip of paper on the left side and "Let's Go" on the right. And around the ring of stars, the band members' names are written, delimited by even larger stars, and this is enclosed by a larger (solid) ring (that is, the names appear between the outer ring and the inner "star" ring).
"Hey, ho, let's go" is also the cry of Ramones fans. Everywhere the Ramones went, no matter where in the world, fans would chant "Hey, ho, let's go! Hey ho, let's go!" while waiting for the Ramones to take the stage. (You can hear them on their "Greatest Hits Live" album.) Even when they were off-stage, fans who were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of their punk heroes would break into the chant, "Hey, ho, let's go!" On a Ramones documentary on VH1, footage recorded from the band's van was shown: as they were driving along in their van, presumably somewhere in South America (as they had just been talking about their popularity there and the kids were ethnic-looking), some kids who were driving alongside them opened up their windows, leaned all the way out and broke into the chant. Even the driver rolled down his window and pumped his fist in unison with the chant.
Ramones-influenced Japanese cult band Shonen Knife used the line in one of their songs, "Redd Kross".
No serious rock music fan is unfamiliar with the shout of "Hey, ho, let's go!"
wharfinger tells me that on what's probably an early LP, an alternate seal appeared with the motto "Look out below!".