The Ramones- The Ramones (1976)

For such a well-known and well-loved album- I adore it myself; this is a deeply addictive and cheekily simple set of songs- this is a really hard album to judge in any sort of context. It was the Ramones who formulated the whole “here’s one chord, here’s another, here’s a third, now go and form a band” antithesis to pretentious prog wildling that forms the true core of punk, yet the Ramones don’t quite feel fully punk, as it was undefined when they helped to pioneer it. It’s also true that the whole New York, CBGB’s scene was a very different beat to the London, Sex Pistols-led scene that perhaps is though of as more of a template.

But it’s more than that. I think a lot of it is that the Ramones are suffused with, well, not exactly the 50s but (stay with me here) a very specifically 70s type of 50s nostalgia, the same thing as Happy Days, which most pertinently in this case harks back to a time before rock ‘n’ roll became “rock”. That’s entirely present in the sound of this album and, let’s face it, the Ramones didn’t exactly develop as a band, did they, said with all affection?

There’s something beyond even this, though, perhaps it’s the fact that the band was all dead within a few years of the new century. Perhaps it’s the disconnect between the vague whiff of right-wing politics that surrounds the band and the fact that their lyrics (see “Commando”), and even Johnny Ramone’s public statements, look oddly like ironic satire even if they almost certainly aren’t. Perhaps it’s the hints at depth in the lyrics- “53rd and 3rd” subtly discussing Dee Dee’s days as a rent boy, or the splendid breaking of the fourth wall in “Judy Is a Punk”.

All that is probably just me being a pretentious git. But we all know this album, we all know these songs, and they are awesome. That is all.