Ramones “End of the Century” released 40 years ago today, February 4th, 1980. Produced by Phil Spector, End of the Century was their fifth album and went to #44 in the US and #14 in the UK, their highest chart showing. The Spector production is heavy and obvious: echo chambers, wall-of-sound, etc., especially on tracks like “Danny Says” and The Ronettes cover “Baby, I Love You” (Ramones’ version went to #8 in the UK). There’s a really great article about the collaboration (Spector had been asking to work with them since ‘77, enamored with their irreverent and basic rock-n-roll sound) at Pitchfork  – linked here – but some of the best quotes/info: “Marky Ramone described the producer rolling up to his hotel room with a cape, bodyguard, bottle of kosher wine, and unprompted tirade about the 1966 death of Lenny Bruce…While Marky Ramone described Spector as a drinking buddy and friend, his bandmates had a far more acrimonious relationship with the producer. Dee Dee and Phil hated each other. The bassist and songwriter was taking lots of sedatives at the time, which may have contributed to his paranoia about Spector’s guns. In his memoir, he told a story about Phil pointing a gun at his heart before forcing the band to stay all night at his house while he sang them “Baby, I Love You.” Marky would later deny stories about the Ramones being threatened or held hostage by Spector, though Dee Dee always remained firm in his account. The drummer confirmed that multiple guns were present throughout the recording process: Spector apparently carried four on his person at any given moment, which doesn’t include what his bodyguards had on them or the turrets mounted to his house…One of the most famous scenes from the album’s sessions transpired when Spector forced Johnny to play the opening chord of “Rock‘n’Roll High School” repeatedly for hours on end. It was an attempt to get the same sustained chord effect from the “Hard Day’s Night” intro, and it was taking forever. This band was used to bashing out albums quickly, and now, they were being asked to draw everything out—to ponder the resonance of every chord. At some point, after appearing to grow increasingly agitated with Johnny’s performance, the producer started laying all of his guns out on a table in the studio. “After he shot that girl, I thought, ‘I’m surprised he didn’t shoot someone every year,’” wrote Johnny.”

My favorite tracks are the great punk classics including “Chinese Rock” (written by Dee Dee and Richard Hell, though I do prefer The Heartbreakers version), “This Ain’t Havana” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” (#67 UK; the first version was recorded by Ed Stasium for the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School movie soundtrack).