The Ramones -- S/T

    The best damn rock 'n' roll album ever put out -- that's my opinion.  And if you try to simply label it as punk rock because it's loud and fast, forget that.  This record changed the whole ball game of the music business once the needle hit the wax.  These guys gave music a total face lift, no more pretty boys, no more showing off, justpure rock 'n' roll music from the most basic skeletal perspective.  But it wasn't that simple either, maybe the riffs were, but you had some bubble gum pop, 60's girl groups, Spector's wall of sound, Chuck Berry's Maybelline simplicity and the Raw Power of the MC5/ Stooges all mashed together into one sound, rattling the world, and forcing some major changes. 

  I would have loved to be there in 1976 when this album hit the streets.  Jaws must have been dropping on epidemic scale, thinking what the hell is this and are these guys for real, but there's no mistake, those songs would have engrained themselves your mind until you started your own Ramones rip-off band.  People constantly argue, which is the real first punk band is it, The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, The MC5, The Stooges or maybe the 60's punks, The Sonics, The Music Machine, The Seeds, The Velvet Underground, yadda yadda, admittedly those groups are all just pieces, but The Ramones mastered it first, putting their stamp on the sound!

  The Ramones never made it as big as their influence on music, but every year their legacy grows ... I think I saw one of the Backstreet Boys wearing a Ramones t-shirt on TV, now does that douchebag really like the band or is it just trendy nowadays to wear their t-shirts, who really knows?  As far as I'm concerned Dee Dee is one of the coolest cats in Rock history, like a Lou Reed or a Bob Dylan, his lyrics have beat poet quality and essence of life, freedom meets struggle, the ideal punk rocker.  The Ramones proved to us all that less is more and more is just a waste of time!! Hey Ho Let's Go!