1234 - Of Course, It's A Ramones Playlist

Introduction

The reason being is that every live and some studio Ramones songs start with the shout "1 2 3 4". I remember buying "Blitzkrieg Bop" and then their first album and someone described their songs like smarties, you can't have just one, you gotta swallow the whole tube.

I remember that a lot of people seemed to be under the impression that the Ramones invented punk, formed in 1974, releasing their first album in 1976 preceding the British punk explosion of 1977.

This seems to forget the American bands of the mid to late sixties such as The Standells, The Stooges and the MC5 and even the New York Dolls. The Ramones refined the sound and speeded things up and all their music sounded the same, but still brilliant.

The great thing about their music was that anyone with a guitar could play their songs.

I suppose that you could say that The Ramones kick-started a punk revival in the seventies and their music has more than stood the test of time. The thing is their songs were perfectly crafted and sometimes complex, so they were no musical slouches. Their website is below if you would like to find out more about the band.

So here we go with a random selection of Ramones songs for you to pogo to.

"Blitzkrieg Bop" from "Ramones"

The opener to their eponymous debut album and as a single the first record of theirs that I bought. This was the template for all their songs on the first few albums that they released. You knew that it was a Ramones song by the speed and sound.

I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" from "Ramones"

I remember John Peel (Tom Ravenscroft's dad) describing this as their take on the story of Troilus and Cressida, which definitely does work and it is perfect because it is a Ramones song.

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" from "Adios Amigos"

The Ramones were not averse to covers and this was their take on a Tom Waits favourite of mine, enunciating what a lot of us feel about life and the video is fun too.

"I Wanna Be Sedated" from "Road To Ruin"

An absolute fun favourite of man that I played and sang with Spoon many years ago. Another slice of Ramones perfection.

"Rock N' Roll High School" from "End of The Century"

This makes me think of the Beach Boys, I could imagine them covering this and it is another great Ramones song. The film is great fun too, and again the song clocks in way under three minutes.

‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ from ‘Rocket To Russia’

I think this was their first charting single and one that I bought straight away. This was way before you could hear and download stuff online, but was absolutely worth going to town to the record shop to actually buy the physical piece of vinyl.

"The KKK Took My Baby Away" from "Pleasant Dreams"

Written by Joey Ramone someone said:

"No band has ever done more with only three chords!"

Which is a perfect description of the whole raison d'etre of and for the existence of The Ramones. This song probably did not endear them to the right-wing side of America but is another three-minute gem from the band.

Concluding Addendum

I hope you have enjoyed this short playlist with a few of my Ramones favourites but there will still be hundreds that I have missed off so go and search them out for yourself. My favourite album of theirs is the first live album, "It's Alive" which deserves a place in everybody's collection.

I will close this with a local Ramones tribute band who are Facebook friends of mine, The Rawmones at The Star in 2011 with their take on "Cretin Hop". I was a bit worried when I first saw them as baldy performers but their wigs solved that, and think that Adas Cowan's artwork for the backdrop is amazing.