.

500 Greatest Albums

33

Ramones - Ramones


Ramones - Ramones
33/500

"Our early songs came out of our real feelings of alienation, isolation, frustration — the feelings everybody feels between seventeen and seventy-five," said singer Joey Ramone. Clocking in at just under twenty-nine minutes, Ramones is an intense blast of guitar power, rhythmic simplicity and ferocious brevity, a complete rejection of the spangled artifice and hollow, artsy pretensions of 1970s rock. The songs were fast and anti-social, just like the band: "Beat on the Brat," "Blitzkrieg Bop," "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue." Guitarist Johnny Ramone refused to play solos — his jackhammer chords became the lingua franca of punk — and the whole record cost just over $600 to make. But Joey's leather-tender plea "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" showed that even punks need love.


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