MoeFOH's Album Of The Week... Week #51

[MoeFOH]

MoeFOH's Album of the Week 🎶

Same as the movie thread, each week we're going to spotlight an album... be it a classic, new release, hidden gem, or outright turd... and open it for discussion: i.e. post up your favourite tracks, clips, lyrics, experiences if you saw live, etc... or dive deeper and give us a critique on why you think it's great, overrated, or a complete train wreck... And finally score it for us...  

All contributors go into a monthly prize draw for a 3-cigar sampler! 

PM me with suggestions if there's an album you want to nominate for next week's discussion. 

 

Week #51: Ramones

Ramones is the debut studio album by American punk rock band the Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote about them in an article and contacted Danny Fields, insisting that he be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones, and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 to record the album.

The album cover, photographed by Punk magazine's Roberta Bayley, features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City. The record company paid only $125 for the front photo, which has since become one of the most imitated album covers of all time. The back cover depicts an eagle belt buckle along with the album's liner notes. After its release, Ramones was promoted with two singles, which failed to chart. The Ramones also began touring to help sell records; these tour dates were mostly based in the United States, though two were booked in Britain.

Violence, drug use, relationship issues, and humor were prominent in the album's lyrics. The album opens with "Blitzkrieg Bop", which is among the band's most recognized songs. Most of the album's tracks are uptempo, with many songs measuring at well over 160 beats per minute. The songs are also rather short; at two-and-a-half minutes, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is the album's longest track. Ramones contains a cover of the Chris Montez song "Let's Dance".

Ramones was unsuccessful commercially, peaking at number 111 on the US Billboard 200, though it received glowing reviews from critics. Many later deemed it a highly influential record, and it has since received many accolades, such as the top spot on Spin magazine's list of the "50 Most Essential Punk Records". Ramones is considered an influential punk album in the US and UK, and had a significant impact on other genres of rock music, such as grunge and heavy metal. The album was ranked at number 33 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revision and dropping to number 47 in the 2020 reboot of the list. It was placed first in the Rolling Stone 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time list in 2022. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2014.

Over to you...

How do you rate it? 🤔

Thoughts, experiences, memories... post em' up! 

Score it out of 10!  

[MoeFOH]

 

[Ford2112]

They suck. 1/10 🤣🤣

[MoeFOH]

3 minutes ago, Ford2112 said:

They suck. 1/10 🤣🤣

Haha... but the t-shirts are great. 

Actually, I've never given them a decent run, so I can't comment. 

[Ford2112]

Some folks really like the Ramones. Those folks are in fact, deaf.

[Akela3rd]

Genius, era defining band. Street attitude, tight jeans and leather biker jackets, loud guitars, 1234!, one minute songs, no messing about and all underlined by trying to sound like the Shangri-las. An early review of their live shows said that this band only has two songs- the fast one and the slow one, fortunately both are very, very good.
It doesn't matter what music you're into - if you don't get this, you have no soul. End of.

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[Namisgr11]

When you consider the era in which they originated, filled with "art-rock" acts and operatic albums, their return to simple, guitar-pounding, short riff-driven rock and roll really stood out, and served as inspiration for so many punk and power pop acts that followed.  The lyrics were equally refreshing, again sometimes simplistic, but other times witty and insightful.

They also put out some classic music videos.

7/10 for this album

[Puros Y Vino]

Not a huge fan but I do like some songs here and there. Their sound is very basic and stripped down. So much so that they make AC/DC sound like Pink Floyd.    I suspect they were a fun band to see live while pounding back some beers.   I do have this album.  It's a 5/10 for me.  

[KCCubano]

Never owned any of their records/CDs. I did like the old MTV video Rock n Roll Radio back in the day. 

[Doctorossi]

I think their next couple records were better, but this has that hungry energy. 8/10.