Ramones did release a couple of singles from the LP in ‘76, “Blitzkrieg Bop” (which gave us the endearing and enduring “Hey Ho! Let’s Go!” anthem) and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” I’m fairly certain neither single charted at the time. Besides those two songs, the whole album really is a stream of classic tracks back-to-back. I’m particularly fond of “Beat on the Brat,” “Judy Is a Punk” and first songs of many more over the years that gave insight into what the Ramones wanted to do: “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” and what they didn’t want to do: “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” and “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You.”

Approximately a million people have written/said about a million things about Ramones and it’s been included on almost as many best-of lists, but of note is The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame around the time of the Ramones’ induction in 2002: “The Ramones got back to basics: simple, speedy, stripped-down rock and roll songs. Voice, guitar, bass, drums. No makeup, no egos, no light shows, no nonsense. And though the subject matter was sometimes dark, emanating from a sullen adolescent basement of the mind, the group also brought cartoonish fun and high-energy excitement back to rock and roll.” Allmusic states in its 5 star review, “Ramones is all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity. The songs are imaginative reductions of early rock & roll, girl group pop, and surf rock. Not only is the music boiled down to its essentials, but the Ramones offer a twisted, comical take on pop culture with their lyrics…”

The post Ramones “Ramones” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

“End of the Century” is the Ramones fifth studio album and produced by the infamous Phil Spector, which created a bit of disconnect between the band’s punk lo-fi sensibilities and Spector’s legendary use of high production techniques like overdubbing and, you know, quality (”End of the Century” was the most expensive album of the Ramones’ career). Spector also used less high end techniques like the threat of violence during the recording sessions – he allegedly held the band at gunpoint to get them to continue to work into the wee hours of the morning. The result is a more pop orientated and higher grade sound but a “watered-down” version of the Ramones, according to Johnny. It even contains a cover of The Ronettes’ “Baby I Love You” that Johnny claimed the band didn’t even perform: just Joey and studio musicians.  The album did well though, charting at #44 on Billboard and #14 in the UK. Our vinyl went through a punk rock blender: this copy is scraped to all hell and in places barely playable.

My favorite track is “Chinese Rock,” which Dee Dee wrote in 1976 and Richard Hell/The Heartbreakers recorded with lyrical revision in 1977. There remains contention over the writing credits: on “End of the Century” the song is credited to D.D.Ramone/R.Hell. However, it later appeared on the CD rerelease credited to the Ramones as a whole, with no mention of Richard Hell. According to Dee Dee in ‘97, the credits to Hell were false. He wrote, “Johnny Thunders ranked on me for fourteen years, trying to make out like he [Hell] wrote the song. What a low-life maneuver by those guys!”

The post Ramones “End of the Century” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.