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—Label
—Sales
—Reissues and remastering


Region Year Label Format Catalog Ref
Worldwide release 1976 Sire Records Vinyl SR-6020 [1]
1999 WEA International Compact Disc RR 1805
2001 Rhino Vinyl SR-7520 [2]
2006 WEA International Vinyl SR-24323-5 [1]
2007 WEA International Compact Disc RR-7506-0
US release 2008 Wrong Records RR-9274-21
Worldwide release Sire/Rhino/London RR-7520

Ramones (LP) Sire Records Company SIR K 56 645 Germany 1976 Ramones (LP, Album) Philips 9103 253 France 1976 Ramones (LP, Album) Philips 6370 805 Netherlands 1976 Ramones (8-Trk, Album) GRT, Sire 8147, 7520 H US 1977 Ramones (LP) Sire SAWL 7520 Italy 1978 Ramones (LP, Album) Sire 26 435 XOT Germany 1978 Ramones (LP, Album) Sire S 60514 Spain 1980 Ramones (LP, Album, RE) AIM (2) AIM 1015 Australia 1987 Ramones (CD, Album) Warner-Pioneer Corporation WPCP-3141 Japan 1990 Ramones (LP, Album, RE, Red) Sire SASD-7520 US 2000 Ramones (CD, Album, RM) Warner Bros. Records, Rhino Entertainment Company 8122-74306-2 Europe 2001 Ramones (CD, Album, RM, RE) Rhino Records (2), Warner Archives, Sire R2 74306 US 2001 Ramones (CD, Album) Warner Bros. Records, Sire Records Company WPCR-1805, 7599-27421-2 Japan 2002 Ramones (CD, RM) Warner Music (Japan) WPCR-12722 Japan 2007



Conception

[edit]

Background

[edit]

In early 1975, Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader and Rock Scene, saw the band performing at CBGB. Robinson wrote about the band on several issues of the magazines she edited. Joey Ramone related: "Lisa came down to see us, she was blown away by us. She said that we changed her life, She started writing about us in Rock Scene, and then Lenny Kaye would write about us and we started getting more press like the The Village Voice, word was getting out, and people starting coming down.[3] Robinson contacted the manager of The Stooges, Danny Fields, and convinced him to consider managing the Ramones as well. By November 1975, Fields decided to manage the band, remarking that the band "had everything [he] ever liked."[4]

On September 19, 1975, the band recorded a demo album produced by Marty Thau, which included "Judy Is A Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." Craig Leon. who had seen them perform in the summer of 1975, brought the demo album to the attention of Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records.[4] Tommy Ramone recalled: "Craig Leon is the one who got us signed. Singlehanded. He brought down the vide presidet and all these people—he's the only hip one in the company. He risked his career to get us on the label."[4][5] Linda Stein, ex-wife of Seymour Stein, also brought attention to the group.[6] Especially praising the song "53rd & 3rd," Linda later discussed the event with Seymour, which lead to the Ramones performing in front of Seymour, Craig Leon, and others from Sire Records.[6]

Sire Records was a small record label based in New York City, New York led by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. The label was originally strictly for "progressive" force bands from Europe under contract.[7] The band was offered a contract to publish a single with their piece "You're Gonna Kill That Girl". The group and Fields rejected the offer because they wanted to record an album.[8][9] The band performed in front of record companies Blue Sky and Arista Records in order to to get a record deal.[10] The Ramones signed to Sire Records and organized several local shows.[11] They took a temporary break from their performances, in order to prepare to begin recording at Plaza Sound studio.[12]

On September 19, 1975, the band recorded two pieces for a second demo tape at 914 Sound Studios, "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Want to Be Your Boyfriend".[7] These recordings were produced by the former manager of the New York Dolls, Marty Thau and were not processed until 1976, as the band wanted an exact reproduction of their live sound.[8][13] The demo was used to promote the band to prospective labels. [7][14]

Recording and production

[edit]

With a budget of $20,000, the band began recording in early February 1976.[11][15] In total, the album took seven days to record; the instruments taking three days and vocals taking four days. The album took $6,400 to record. Joey related: "Some albums were coasting a half-million dollars to make and taking two or three years to record."[16] The band recorded using the same mic placement techniques as many orchestras use to record pieces.[17] In 2004, Craig Leon admitted that they recorded the album quickly due to budget restrictions, but later said that it was all the time they needed.[18]

The recording process was similar to the recording sessions of The Beatles from the early 1960s with four-track recording representation of the devices, the guitars heard separately on the stereo channels — electric bass on the left, rhythm guitar on the right channel , drums and vocals are mixed in the stereo mix in the middle.[19] The mixing of the recordings were also more modern techniques such as overdubbing and doubling the vocal line used.[20]

The album was produced by Craig Leon, and co-produced by drummer Tommy Ramone.[21] Nicholas Rombes said that the production's quality sound like "the ultimate do-it-yourself, amatuer, reckless ethic that is associated with punk," but concluded that they approached the recording process with a "high degree of preparedness and professionalism."[22] Conflict arose between guitarist Johnny Ramone and Tommy Ramone, over the topic of whether to overdub, a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance.[21] The main purpose of overdubbing is to give the recording a more "thick" sound. Tommy Ramone was planning on overdubbing, while Johnny Ramone refused to do it.[21] The result of the argument was not to overdub.[21] The album was released April 23, 1976.[23][24]

Photography and cover art

[edit]

The black and white photograph on the front of the album cover is from the American photographer Roberta Bayley, who made numerous attributions to the punk scene in the late 1970s. Previously, Sire already had a different photographer take pictures for a fee of US $2,000, however, the results dissatisfied the record label.[25] Bayley had their black and white photographs first taken for an article in the New York punk magazine as Sire their offered to buy up the rights to any of the pictures for the album cover.[26] The cover was ranked number fifty-eight on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Album Covers.[27]

Before the album's release, the Ramones had planned to make an album cover similar to The Beatles's 1964 album Meet The Beatles!. John Holmstrom said that the original idea "came out horribly."[28] The Ramones later met up with Roberta Bayley, at the time a photographer for Punk magazine, to make the album's cover.[28] Holmstrom also noted that "getting the Ramones to pose was like pulling teeth," and also said it turned out to be "the classic Ramones album cover."[28] The stance of the Ramones on the front cover was by influenced the style for the design of several of their album covers as well as many other photos of the band.[26] The cover photo features (from left to right) Johnny Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Joey Ramone, and Dee Dee Ramone. Each stand against a brick wall and are in a straight line. Legs McNeil insists that "Tommy [is] standing on his tip-toes and Joey [is] hunched over a bit."[28] The four band members are pictured standing upright next to each other in front of a brick wall, looking at the camera with blank faces.[26] The back cover art, which depicts a belt buckle with American Eagle, and the band's logo, were designed by artist Arturo Vega and were both made in a passport photo machines.[26]

Compositions

[edit]

Johnny said that the when writing the lyrics, they were "trying to be offensive."[29] "Blitzkrieg Bop", the album's opening track, was written by Tommy Ramone. Tommy originally named the track "Animal Hop",[30] but after Dee Dee Ramone reviewed the lyrics, they changed the lyrics as well as the name.[31] The song's original concept was "about kids going to a show and having a good time."[31] "Blitzkrieg Bop" is two minutes and fourteen seconds long.[1] It begins instrumental, which lasts twenty seconds. At second twenty, the guitar and bass cease, marking Joey's first line "Hey Ho, Let's Go!". The bass and guitar "gradually" rebuild and it is "in full–force again."[32] The piece is resolved in the same way as the seconds twenty to thirty–three.[32] Described as a "three-chord assault,"[1] it lives up to the speed, menace, humor, and mystery. The first lines are "not so much a warning as an innovation to the listener."[32]

"Beat on the Brat" is the album's only song sung in third-person view. The song was said by Joey to have origins relating to upper class. Joey explained: "When I lived in Birchwood Towers in Forest Hills with my mom and brother. It was a middle-class neighborhood, with a lot of rich, snotty womenm who had horrible spoiled brat kids. There was a playground with women sitting aroing and a kid screaming, a spoiled, horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever. The kind of kid you just want to kill. You know, 'beat on the brat with a baseball bat' just cam out. I just wanted to kill him."[33] Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how "Joey saw some mother going after a kid with a bat in his lobby and wrote a song about it."[34]

"Judy Is a Punk" was written around the same time as "Beat on the Brat". Joey had explained that the first line came about after he walked by Thorny Croft, an apartment building that, as Joey says, it was "where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out on the rooftop and drank." The second line came about after walking down a different street. It is considered the first song in the history of rock music with a title that contains the word "Punk".[35] The resulting lyrics are summarized as two juvenile offenders, in the settings of both Berlin and San Francisco, who possibly at the song's conclusion are dead.[35] The song is fictional as announced Nicholas Rombes who describes this meta-perspective in his analysis of the album as "both line in a song and song line across a line in a song."[36] "Judy Is a Punk" is the original album's shortest song, being one minute and 32 seconds.[37]

"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" the slowest and only romantic colored pieces on the album composed by Tommy, where the text has origins of irony and humor and depiction of violence. The piece pays homage to love songs in pop music acts of the 1960s and guitarist Johnny Ramone used a Fender Stratocaster instead of his usual model, the electric Mosrite Ventures II.[38] "Chainsaw" opens with the sound of a circular saw running and was influenced by the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper. "Chainsaw" has album's the fastest tempo, and according to Nicholas Rombes, is the most "home-made" sounding.[39]

"Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" consists of only four lines of minimalist lyrics which are about youthful boredom and inhaling the glue contained in the solvent vapors. On the question of the authenticity of the text, Dee Dee said in an interview: "I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue. I stopped when I was eight [years old]."[40] Dee Dee also explained that its concept comes from adolescent trauma.[40] After several pieces of the Ramones, whose song's titles begin with "I Don't Want to ..." , Tommy said that "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" is known as the first positive song from the album.[35] The song was named one of the first and most famous punk fanzines, published in September 1976 by Mark Perry's Sniffin' Glue.[35][41]

"I Do not Want to Go Down to the Basement" was inspired by horror movies minimalist piece, the entire text of only three lines there, which is based on only three major chords, and with a playing time of two minutes and 35 seconds, the longest piece on the album is.[40] "Loudmouth" has six major chords and is the harmonically complex piece on the album. The song's text is — depending on the reading and punctuation — just a single row or four very brief lines.[42] "Havana Affair"'s concept deals with the comic strip "Spy vs. Spy" of the Cuban-born illustrator Antonio Prohias.[43][44] The studio recording for the debut album has been expanded by Mickey Leigh and Craig Leon for percussion effects, which went unmentioned in the liner notes to the album's release.[45] "Loudmouth" and "Havana Affair" proceed at nearly the same tempo.[43]

"Listen to My Heart" is one of the first of many in the repertoire of the Ramones, made up of an ironic and pessimistic perspective with failing or already failed human love relations deals.[43] The song "53rd and 3rd" is about "Dee Dee turning tricks," said Johnny[46] The text of this composition was written solely by Dee Dee Ramone and is about a male prostitute ("rent boy") who is vainly waiting on the street in Midtown Manhattan, at the corner of Fifty-third Street (53rd Street) and Third Avenue, because it appears to be threatening. When the prostitute finally gets a customer yet, he killed him with a razor to prove not to be homosexual.[47] About the authenticity and autobiographical coloring of lyrics exist contradictory statements by both the author and by his contemporaries. In some interviews with Dee Dee Ramone, the piece is described as autobiographical: "The song speaks for itself, everything I write is autobiographical and very real way I can not even write."[48]

"Let's Dance", is a cover version of the Chris Montez composition.[49] "I Don't Want to Walk Around With You" consists of only two lines of text and three major chords. It is one of the earliest common compositions of the Ramones. According to Johnny Ramone, the song at the very first sample of the tape was written at the beginning of 1974, with a similar, previously unpublished pieces, "I Do not Want to Get Involved With You".[50]

The album's final track, "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", refers to a Hitler Youth member.[46][51] Seymour Stein complained about the song and insisted that the track was offensive, contending that the lyrics "I'm a Nazi baby, I'm a Nazi yes I am," could not be claimed on a record. Before they released the album, they came up with alternate lyrics or the line that read "I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am." They went with the alternate lyrics and released the album, and has since been the group's "signature closer at live shows," says Mickey Leigh.[46][52]

Several songs from the album features backing vocals from several different guests. Mickey Leigh, Joey Ramone's brother, sings backing vocals on "Judy Is a Punk", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", and in the bridge of "Blitzkrieg Bop".[49] Drummer Tommy Ramone sings backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You", "Judy Is a Punk", and during the bridge of "Chainsaw."[49] The album's executive producer, Rob Freeman, sings lead vocals for the last refrain of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." The album does not feature overdubbing of any instruments.[49] The album's length is twenty-nine minutes and four seconds, and features fourteen tracks.[15]


Reception

[edit]

Critical response

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(A)[53]
Rolling Stone[54]
Allmusic[55]

Ramones was released April 23, 1976.[56][57] The album was well-received by critics. Reviewing for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album five out of five stars, saying the album "begins at a blinding speed and never once over the course of its 14 songs does it let up." Erlewine also noted that the album "is all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity."[1]

Douglas Wolk of Rolling Stone gave the album five out of five stars as well, and noted the album "is one of the happiest albums ever made."[54] Robert Christgau gave the album an A, and continued with a positive review, specifically writing about the album's themes and quality.[53]


Robert Christgau gave the album a very posin his criticism of the album in the magazine The Village Voice awarded Ramones a near top grade "A" and also wrote the album "blows everything else off the radio: it's clean the way the Dolls never were, sprightly the way the Velvets never were, and just plain listenable the way Black Sabbath never was."

Charles M. Young, an employee for the Rolling Stone praised the album, noting that the album was "one of the funniest rock records ever made and," and went on to say that it would be "a historic turning point."[58]

Jeff Tamarkin of Allmusic said that the album started the punk rock era referring to the album, and also proclaimed "rock's mainstream didn't know what hit it."[58]

In 1999, Collins Gem Classic Albums wrote that "They stared from the cover of this magnificent debut album with dumb defiance written all over them. The songs within were a short, sharp exercise in vicious speed-thrash, driven by ferocious guitars and yet halting in an instant. It was the simple pop dream taken to its minimalist extreme. There just couldn't be anything faster or harder than this. The Ramones was the starting gun for English punk."[58] 

Joe S. Harrington declared that the album "split the history of rock 'n' roll in half."[58]

Theunis Bates, a music writer for Time magazine and an editor at worldpop.com, composed that "Ramones stripped rock back to its basic elements," and noted that its "lyrics are very simple, boiled-down declarations of teen lust and need." Bates later went on to say that it "is the ultimate punk statement."[58]

Accolades and commercial performance

[edit]

Ramones peaked at number one-hundred eleven on the Billboard 200.[59] The album was included in Spin's List of Top Ten College Cult Classics, noting that "everything good that's happened to music in the last fourteen years can be directly traced to the Ramones."[60] The band's debut album was ranked thirty-three in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time."[61] In 2003, Ramones was considered by Spin magazine's Chuck Klosterman, Greg Milner, and Alex Pappademas to be the sixth most influential album of all time.[62] They noted that the album "saved rock from itself and punk rock from art-gallery pretension, bless their pointy little heads," and also said that the their songs had "one lightning-bolt riff."[62] In Spin's 1995 Alternative Record Guide, the album is listed in the top spot of their Top 100 Alternative Albums.[63] VH1 named the album number fifty-three on their 100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll'. Despite the lack of airplay in its first few months, Blitzkrieg Bop has appeared in the media on many occasions, and in 2009 it was named the 25th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[64]



  1. ^ a b c d e f Erlewine & — Allmusic Cite error: The named reference "allmusic" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "allmusic ((( Ramones (Expanded) > Overview )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  3. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 65
  4. ^ a b c Rombes 2006 p. 66
  5. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 67
  6. ^ a b Leigh 2009 p. 126
  7. ^ a b c True 2002 p. 51
  8. ^ a b Porter 2004 p. 37
  9. ^ Melnick 2007 p. 62
  10. ^ True 2002 p. 47
  11. ^ a b Leigh 2009 p. 128
  12. ^ Leigh 2009 p. 131
  13. ^ True 2002 p. 50
  14. ^ Porter 2004 p. 43
  15. ^ a b Ramones (Media notes). Sire Records. 1976. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help)
  16. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 69
  17. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 72
  18. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 73
  19. ^ Jon Savage. England's dreaming: anarchy, Sex Pistols, punk rock, and beyond 2002. p. 143.
  20. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 73
  21. ^ a b c d Leigh 2009 p. 132
  22. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 5
  23. ^ The Ramones - The Ramones Retrieved 2010-03-24
  24. ^ "MoMA | Looking at Music: Side 2 | The Ramones". MoMA. Retrieved 2010-06-09
  25. ^ Porter 2004 p. 52
  26. ^ a b c d Rombes 2006 p. 75
  27. ^ "Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Album Covers". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
  28. ^ a b c d Leigh 2009, p. 138
  29. ^ Jim Fields (director) Michael Gramaglia (director) (January 19, 2003). End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (Motion picture). United States: Rhino Records/Sire Records. Event occurs at 30:25 – 20:45. ISBN Unavailable. OCLC Unavailable. AISN = B000642JG8. Archived from the original (DVD) on 2010-06-04 13:27:54. Retrieved 2010-06-04. trying to be offensive {{cite AV media}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check |oclc= value (help); Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  30. ^ Leigh 2009, p. 120
  31. ^ a b Leigh 2009, p. 121
  32. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Rombes 77 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 69
  34. ^ McNeil and McCain 2009 p. 183
  35. ^ a b c d True 2002 p. 60
  36. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 83
  37. ^ http://music.barnesandnoble.com/Ramones/The-Ramones/e/81227430627
  38. ^ The Guitars of Johnny Ramone: The White Stratocaster. Rockometer.com. Retrieved 2010-10-23
  39. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 85
  40. ^ a b c Rombes 2006 p. 86
  41. ^ Savage 2002 p. 182
  42. ^ Rombes 2006 p. 87
  43. ^ a b c Rombes 2006 p. 88
  44. ^ Dowell, Grey; Mangus, Don; Halperin, James (2006-01-21). Heritage Signature Auction, #819: The MAD Auction. Heritage Auctions. p. 55. ISBN 1599670224.
  45. ^ Leigh 2009, p. 131
  46. ^ a b c Leigh 2009 p. 134
  47. ^ McNeil and McCain 2009, p. 215
  48. ^ Porter, Darwin; Prince, Danforth (2007-12-10). Frommer's Germany 2008. Frommers. p. 50. ISBN 978-0470138267.
  49. ^ a b c d Leigh 2009, p. 135
  50. ^ True 2002 p. 23
  51. ^ Leigh 2009, p. 131
  52. ^ Leigh 2009, p. 133
  53. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference christgau was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  54. ^ a b Wolk, Douglas "Music -- Latest News --The Ramones -- RollingStone.com". Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  55. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas "allmusic ((( Ramones [Expanded > Overview )))"]. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  56. ^ The Ramones - The Ramones. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  57. ^ "MoMA | Looking at Music: Side 2 | The Ramones". MoMA. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  58. ^ a b c d e Craig Zeller and others "Ramones". Superseventies. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  59. ^ "allmusic ((( Ramones > Charts & Awards )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  60. ^ Eric Weisband; Craig Marks (1995). Moshpit: The Violent World of Mosh Pit Culture. Vintage. ISBN 0679755748.
  61. ^ Levy, Joe (2005). 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Wenner. ISBN 1932958010.
  62. ^ a b Chuck Klosterman, Greg Milner, and Alex Pappademas (July 9, 2003) Fifteen Most Influential Albums... | Spin Magazine Online Spin Magazine. 2003-07-09 Retrieved 2010-05-24
  63. ^ Eric Weisbard; Craig Marks (1995), Spin Alternative Record Guide, Vintage, pp. 3–22, ISBN 0679755748
  64. ^ VH1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
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