Ramones Collecting First Six Albums Into Box Set

A new Ramones box set, Ramones: The Sire Years (1976-1981), which collects the seminal New York City punk act’s first six records, will see release on October 29th on Rhino.

For around $40, fans will be able to score the Ramones’ 1976 debut, Ramones; their 1977 follow ups Leave Home and Rocket to Russia; 1978’s Road to Ruin; 1980’s Phil Spector-produced End of the Century; and 1981’s Pleasant Dreams.

Where Does the Ramones’ First LP Rank on Our List of the Top 100 Debuts?

Rhino will also release an expanded digital set that includes those six physical LPs, plus the band’s output from the rest of the Eighties: Subterranean Jungle, Too Tough to Die, Animal Boy, Halfway to Sanity and their final record with bassist Dee Dee Ramone, Brain Drain.

Formed in Queens in 1974, the Rhino set traces the Ramones’ legacy from three-chord maestros to punk pioneers willing to push the music beyond just loud and fast. To whet your appetite for the set, you can check out this incredible clip of the band performing their 13th-ever show at New York’s CBGB in 1974, two years before their debut. In classic Ramones form, they tear through three songs in seven minutes (“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement” and “Judy Is a Punk”), though it might have been less if not for a minor spat after Tommy insists the band play “Loudmouth” instead of “I Don’t Wanna Go Down.”