204) The Ramones

I went on holiday in April and was with my much better half in a very trendy designer clothes shop purchasing t shirts so my stunning physique could be covered at the pool.

You probably won’t know this designer shop so I will tell you, it was called Primark and whilst looking at the expensive one (two for eight pounds) I noticed that they were selling Ramones t shirts, I voiced my disgust that people would not know who they are, she was one of these people but correctly guessed that they were a crap band that I liked.

How the hell did this happen? Probably because it was nearly fifty years ago and only old people like me, who live in the past remember how important this debut was to the UK punk bands and meant that you didn’t have to listen to Yes and Genesis.

Do we really need to review it? Fourteen songs in twenty-nine minutes all speeded up with Johnny Ramone aggressive on guitar throughout and Joey Ramone with one of the most recognisable voices in music. They never strayed far from their blueprint but then again why should they?

Blitzkrieg Bop with an opening of “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go” is a magnificent start to this or any record and I’m sure Beat on the Brat with a baseball bat was shocking in 1976, as was Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue (wonderful riff), now not so much.

People may have dismissed them as cartoonish but Judy Is A Punk with the wonderful line of “Second verse, same as the first” shows arrogance and intellect.

I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement is basically the same lyric again and again but with Dee Dee solid on his bass and Tommy hitting his drums even harder and there is not much change to the formula but with Dee Dee’s 53rd & 3rd we have a tale of male prostitution, not a subject matter touched on in songs back then.

Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World shouts us out.

All these years later it doesn’t seem too revolutionary but it’s certainly a good way to spend half an hour.

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: 53rd & 3rd.