Artist – Album: Ramones - Ramones
Released: 23rd April 1976
Sounds Like: Changing the world three power chords at
a time
Make no mistake, the Ramones – with their simplistic, frenzied
songs and retro leanings – changed the course of popular music with this album.
Reacting against the proggy direction rock music had begun to take and
hankering for a return to the true rock and roll sounds of the 60’s and
earlier, they turned to hectic and melodic power pop songs to manifest their
distaste for the overly complex music being produced by their peers. The record
was a major factor in greasing the wheels of the UK punk movement (The Sex
Pistols, The Clash and The Damned were all blown away by the band during a
brief tour of England), which in turn demolished rock’s old guard and rewrote the
rules for the new alternative scene. Not bad for a group of gangly New Yorkers
who claimed that they couldn’t even play.
Well, I hear you say, well, It’s all well and good being
important, but what we really want to know is, is it still worth listening to
Joe? Yes, (insert name). Yes it is.
From the first chant of “Hey Ho, Let’s Go!” on ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, the Ramones tear
through fourteen vital snippets of American punk. The high tempo never lets up,
and each song sounds pretty much the same. But when the songs sound like this,
that doesn’t matter. Especially when they’re each only a couple of minutes
long. ‘Beat on the Brat’ is a great
nonsensical paean to violence, ‘Judy is a
Punk’ led to an upsurge in the number of girls being called Judy, and ‘I Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You’ is a
brilliantly brash dismissal.
Raucous, rebellious, cool and cocky, and a true game changer
to boot.
Albumaday... rating:
10/10
1. Blitzkrieg
Bop – 2:12
2. Beat
on the Brat – 2:30
3. Judy
Is a Punk – 1:30
4. I
Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – 2:24
5. Chain
Saw – 1:55
6. Now
I Wanna Sniff Some Glue – 1:34
7. I
Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement – 2:35
8. Loudmouth
– 2:14
9. Havana
Affair – 2:00
10. Listen
to My Heart – 1:56
11. 53rd
& 3rd – 2:19
12. Let’s
Dance – 1:51
13. I
Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You – 1:43
14. Today
Your Love, Tomorrow the World – 2:09
Listen to ‘Judy Is a
Punk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLq6KaWaQYQ
Also released on the 23rd April:
1971: The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
|
Also released on the 23rd April:
2002: Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
|
No comments:
Post a Comment