Ramones - Ramones (23rd April 1976) 48 Years Old Today!

 I've done a lot of posts on Soundtrack4Life over the years spotlighting the Ramones but I was flicking through many of them recently and noticed that most of them have dead links and pictures that are missing and so I thought maybe I should redo some of them and there's no better place to start than the debut album which was released on this day 48 years ago in 1976. There's lots of links to the music so click on them to enjoy.

Ramones - Ramones
Sire
Produced by Craig Leon
Released 23rd April 1976
US Chart #111
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A1 Blitzkrieg Bop 2:12
A2 Beat On The Brat 2:30
A3 Judy Is A Punk 1:30
A4 I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend 2:24
A5 Chain Saw 1:55
A6 Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue 1:34
A7 I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement 2:35

B1 Loudmouth 2:14
B2 Havana Affair 2:00
B3 Listen To My Heart 1:56
B4 53rd & 3rd 2:19
B5 Let's Dance 1:51
B6 I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You 1:43
B7 Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World 2:09

It's been 48 years ago since my ears first heard the sound of the Ramones blaring out of the radio (thanks John Peel) and in that moment the way I listened to music totally changed. The world of music was a bizzare place in the mid seventies. There were Prog bands playing songs that sometimes lasted 20 minutes or more, hard rock bands who seemed divorced from reality, and a pop world that was even more confusing at times. Enter into this mix the self titled debut album of a band from Forest Hills, New York called Ramones.
Released on April 23rd 1976, containing 14 songs that clocked in at 29 minutes and 4 seconds! This album was a radical departure from what had been the norm. Even in New York City bands like Television and Talking Heads were quite arty whereas the Ramones were a band that had their sight clearly set on reclaiming true pop music! Though in saying that, the themes of their songs were not exactly "radio friendly" and on release the album was pretty much ignored by American Radio and the record only reached #111 on the Billboard Chart. You wonder if today a number of these songs would not see the light of day due to their subject matter.
The album cost $6,400 to record over a period of seven days. There's no guitar solos, no pompus musical arrangements, just plain old rock and roll played at breakneck speed.
It was an album that for many changed their whole musical landscape and 48 years on it still sounds incredible.
"Hit it Dee Dee...1-2-3-4!"

 There was a 40th Anniversary Mono Mix of the album released by Rhino Records in 2016 that came as part of a 3CD, 1 LP Limited Edition of 19,760 set (the LP was the Mono Mix). You can listen to the Mono Mix by clicking here. You can also listen to the complete 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition by Clicking Here.  CD1 includes the 2016 Remaster & Mono Mix on CD1. CD2 is a mixture of Single Mixes and Demos. CD3 features two identical sets from The Roxy, CA on 12th August 1976.

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 Joey Died 15th April 2001
Dee Dee Died 5th June 2002
Johnny Died 15th September 2004
Tommy Died 11th July 2014

 

All the original members of the band have passed away but their legacy still lives on through the music of CJ Ramone, Richie Ramone, Marky Ramone and loads of bands scattered across the world.