1.Ramones (1976); 2.Leave Home (1977); 3.Rocket to Russia (1977); 4.Road to Ruin (1978); 5.End of the Century (1980); 6.Pleasant Dreams (1981); 7.Subterranean Jungle (1983); 8.Too Tough to Die (1984); 9.Animal Boy (1986); 10.Halfway to Sanity (1987); 11.Brain Drain (1989); 12.Mondo Bizarro (1992); 13.Acid Eaters (1993); 14.Adios Amigos! (1995)
Ramones
Released April 23, 1976, Length 29:04, Label Sire/Philips
Side A
1.Blitzkrieg Bop 2:12
2.Beat on the Brat 2:30
2.Beat on the Brat 2:30
3.Judy Is a Punk 1:30
4.I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend 2:24
5.Chainsaw 1:55
6.Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue 1:34
7.I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement 2:35
Side B
8.Loudmouth 2:00
9.Havana Affair 2:00
10.Listen to My Heart 1:56
10.53rd & 3rd 2:19
11.Let's Dance 1:51
12.I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You 1:43
13.Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World 2:09
Ramones is the eponymously-titled debut album by the American punk rock band Ramones. It was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. Prior to the band signing to Sire they were seen by Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader, during an early 1975 performance. Robinson began popularizing the band by writing about them in the magazines she edited. Robinson contacted Danny Fields and asked him to manage the band, which he agreed to in November 1975. A Marty Thau produced demo album was recorded at 914 Sound Studios and included "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". Soon after the demos were presented to Sire A&R co-ordinator Craig Leon the band was signed to Sire Records.
The band started recording the album in February 1976 and spent an estimated US $6,400. Many recording techniques used for the album were similar to techniques used by The Beatles and orchestral recordings. The album was produced by Craig Leon. The front cover depicts the band members standing in a line leaning against a brick wall. The photograph was taken by Roberta Bayley. The cover art was ranked number 58 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Album Covers.
The album features a number of themes including Nazism, violence, male prostitution and drug use. The band covered the song "Let's Dance" by Chris Montez. A number of the tracks have backing vocals which were sung by Mickey Leigh, Tommy Ramone, and engineer Rob Freeman. The album received high ratings by reviewers; with Allmusic and Rolling Stone, both rewarding it with a maximum rating of five out of five stars. Robert Christgau gave the album an A, writing "For me, it blows everything else off the radio."
The album reached number 111 in the United States on the Billboard 200 chart and was ranked number 33 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Ramones was said by Nicholas Rombes, author of the 33⅓ book Ramones, and the Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine to be the first album labeled as punk rock. When the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one of the website's writers wrote a summary of the band's biography, specifically paying attention to its influence on punk rock. The album started the Ramones' career and would eventually go on to influence artists in the heavy metal, thrash metal, indie pop, grunge, and post-punk genres.
Conception
In early 1975 Lisa Robinson, an editor of Hit Parader and Rock Scene, saw the Ramones performing at the New York-based club CBGB. Robinson wrote about the band in several issues of the magazines she edited. Joey Ramone related: "Lisa came down to see us, she was blown away by us. She said that we changed her life, She started writing about us in Rock Scene, and then Lenny Kaye would write about us and we started getting more press like The Village Voice, word was getting out, and people starting coming down." Robinson contacted Danny Fields, former manager of The Stooges, and convinced him to consider managing the Ramones as well. In November 1975 Fields decided to manage the band, remarking that the band "had everything [he] ever liked."
On September 19, 1975, the band recorded a demo album at 914 Sound Studios, produced by Marty Thau. It included "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and was used to promote the band to prospective labels. Producer Craig Leon, who had seen them perform in the summer of 1975, brought the demo album to the attention of Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records. Tommy Ramone recalled: "Craig Leon is the one who got us signed. Singlehanded. He brought down the vice president and all these people—he's the only hip one in the company. He risked his career to get us on the label." Linda Stein, ex-wife of Seymour Stein, also brought attention to the group, particularly praising the song "53rd & 3rd". After much persuasion from Linda Sten and Craig Leon the Ramones auditioned for Stein, Craig Leon, and other employees at Sire Records in an attempt to get signed.
At the time Sire Records was a small record label based in New York City and led by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer. The label was originally strictly for "progressive" force bands from Europe under contract. The band was offered a contract to publish a single with their piece "You're Gonna Kill That Girl". The group and Fields rejected the offer because they wanted to record an album, but Sire adapted to their request and said that they would produce an album instead.Unsatisfied with the small sized deal that Sire offered them the band auditioned for other record companies, like Blue Sky and Arista Records, in order to get a record deal. They would eventually sign to Sire Records after the other record companies denied them a recording deal. After signing they organized several local shows.
Recording and production
In January 1976 the band took a temporary break from their performances to prepare for recording at Plaza Sound studio.They began recording in early February 1976. The album took $6,400 and seven days to record, the instruments taking three days and vocals taking four days. Joey related: "Some albums were costing a half-million dollars to make and taking two or three years to record." The band recorded using the same microphone placement techniques as many orchestras used to record pieces. In 2004 Craig Leon admitted that they recorded the album quickly due to budget restrictions, but later said that it was all the time they needed.
The album was produced by Craig Leon, drummer Tommy Ramone being credited as "Associate Producer". The studio recording for the album was expanded by Mickey Leigh and Craig Leon with percussion effects, which went unmentioned in the liner notes to the album's release. Nicholas Rombes said that the production's quality sounded like "the ultimate do-it-yourself, amateur, reckless ethic that is associated with punk," but concluded that they approached the recording process with a "high degree of preparedness and professionalism."
The recording process was a deliberate exaggeration of the techniques used on the recording sessions of The Beatles from the early 1960s, with a four-track recording representation of the devices. The guitars can be heard separately on the stereo channels — electric bass on the left, rhythm guitar on the right channel — drums and vocals are mixed in the middle of the stereo mix.
The mixing of the recordings also used more modern techniques: overdubbing, a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to previously recorded material; and doubling, where the vocal line used is sung twice.
Photography and cover art
The Ramones originally wanted an album cover similar to the 1964 Beatles album, Meet The Beatles!. They subsequently took pictures for $2,000 but Sire was dissatisfied with the results. According to John Holmstrom the original idea "came out horribly". The band later met up with Roberta Bayley, at the time a photographer for Punk magazine. Holmstrom noted that "getting the Ramones to pose was like pulling teeth", and also said it turned out to be "the classic Ramones album cover". The black and white photograph on the front of the album cover was originally featured in an issue of Punk. Sire offered to buy the rights to any of the pictures for the album cover.
The cover photo features (from left to right) Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, standing upright against a brick wall, staring at the camera with blank faces. The stance of the Ramones on the front cover would influence the design of several of their album covers, as well as many other photos of the band.Legs McNeil states that "Tommy [is] standing on his tip-toes and Joey [is] hunched over a bit." The back cover art, which depicts a belt buckle with an American Eagle and the band's logo, was designed by artist Arturo Vega and both pictures were made in a passport photo machine. The Ramones cover was ranked number fifty-eight on Rolling Stone's 1991 list of 100 Greatest Album Covers.
Promotion
In 1974 the band played thirty performances, nearly all at the New York-based club CBGB. All but one of the band's performances in 1975 were booked for New York City, with Waterbury, Connecticut being the only concert outside of New York. In 1976 over seventy concerts were performed, each to support the release of Ramones. There were over a hundred concerts performed in 1977 by the band.
There were two singles released from Ramones: "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". "Blitzkrieg Bop" was released in July 1976, originally as a seven inch split single with "Havana Affair" as its B-side. On January 6, 2004, Rhino Entertainment released "Blitzkrieg Bop" with "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker". "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was released in October 1976 as a seven inch single. The single included "California Sun" and "I Dont Wanna Walk Around with You" as b-sides.
Composition
Ramones features several themes including Nazism, violence, male prostitution and drug use. Johnny said that the when writing the lyrics they weren't "trying to be offensive." "Blitzkrieg Bop", the album's opening track, was written by Tommy Ramone. Tommy originally named the track "Animal Hop" but, after Dee Dee reviewed the lyrics, they changed the lyrics as well as the name. As put by Tommy the song's original concept was "about kids going to a show and having a good time". The piece begins with an instrumental which lasts about twenty seconds. At the twentieth second the guitar and bass stop, marking Joey's first line: "Hey Ho, Let's Go!". The bass and guitar gradually rebuilds and according to Nicholas Rombes it is "in full–force again." The piece is resolves by replaying what is played at seconds twenty-two to thirty–three. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic described it as a "three-chord assault".
"Beat on the Brat" was said by Joey to have origins relating to the upper class of New York City.
When I lived in Birchwood Towers in Forest Hills with my mom and brother. It was a middle-class neighborhood, with a lot of rich, snotty women who had horrible spoiled brat kids. There was a playground with women sitting around and a kid screaming, a spoiled, horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever. The kind of kid you just want to kill. You know, 'beat on the brat with a baseball bat' just came out. I just wanted to kill him.—Joey Ramone,
Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how "Joey saw some mother going after a kid with a bat in his lobby and wrote a song about it."
"Judy Is a Punk" was written around the same time as "Beat on the Brat". Joey had explained that the first line came about after he walked by Thorny Croft, an apartment building that Joey said was "where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out on the rooftop and drank." The second line came about after walking down a different street.The lyrics refer to two juvenile offenders in Berlin and San Francisco and their possible deaths at the conclusion of the song. The song is fictional, as announced Nicholas Rombes who describes this meta-perspective in his analysis of the album as "both line in a song and song line across a line in a song." "Judy Is a Punk" is the original album's shortest song, being one minute and 32 seconds.
"Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" consists of four lines of minimalist lyrics which are about youthful boredom and inhaling the solvent vapors contained in glue. On the question of the authenticity of the text, Dee Dee said in an interview: "I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue. I stopped when I was eight [years old]."Dee Dee also explained that its concept comes from adolescent trauma. After several pieces by the Ramones, whose song's titles begin with "I Don't Want to ...", Tommy said that "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" is known as the first positive song from the album. The song was the inspiration for the name of one of the first, and most famous, punk fanzines Mark Perry's Sniffin' Glue first published in 1976.
"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", the slowest and the only romantically colored piece on the album, was solely written by Tommy. The text has themes of irony, humor and the depiction of violence. The piece pays homage to love songs in pop music acts of the 1960s. Guitarist Johnny Ramone used a Fender Stratocaster instead of his usual guitar, the electric Mosrite Ventures II. "Chainsaw" opens with the sound of a running circular saw and was influenced by the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper. At nearly 180 beats per minute "Chainsaw" has the fastest tempo among the album's songs and, according to Nicholas Rombes, is the most "home-made" sounding.
"I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" was inspired by horror movies. It is a minimalist piece, the entire text containing only three lines, and is based on only three major chords. With a playing time of two minutes and 35 seconds it is the longest piece on the album. "Loudmouth" has six major chords and is a harmonically complex piece. The song's text is — depending on the reading and punctuation — just a single row or four very brief lines."Havana Affair"'s concept deals with the comic strip Spy vs. Spy of the Cuban-born illustrator Antonio Prohias. At about 170 beats per minute "Loudmouth" and "Havana Affair" proceed at nearly the same tempo.
"Let's Dance" is a cover version of the Chris Montez composition. "I Don't Want to Walk Around With You" consists of only two lines of text and three major chords. It is one of the earliest common compositions of the Ramones, and, according to Johnny Ramone, the song was originally named "I Do not Want to Get Involved With You", and is the very first sample of their first tape written at the beginning of 1974.
"Listen to My Heart" is the first of many, in the repertoire of the Ramones, made up of an ironic and pessimistic perspective with failing or already failed relationships. The song "53rd and 3rd" is about "Dee Dee turning tricks" said Johnny. The song's text was written solely by Dee Dee and is about a male prostitute ("rent boy") who is vainly waiting on the street in Midtown Manhattan, at the corner of Fifty-third Street (53rd Street) and Third Avenue. When the prostitute gets a customer he kills him with a razor to prove he is not a homosexual. The authenticity and autobiographical coloring of lyrics exist contradictory statements by both the author and by his contemporaries. In some interviews with Dee Dee the piece is described as autobiographical. "The song speaks for itself," Dee Dee commented in an interview, "everything I write is autobiographical and written in a very real way, I can't even write."
The album's final track, "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", refers to a Hitler Youth member. Seymour Stein complained about the song and insisted that the track was offensive, contending that the lyrics "I'm a Nazi baby, I'm a Nazi yes I am," could not be published on a record. Before they released the album they came up with alternate lyrics for the line that read "I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am." They went with the alternate lyrics and released the album, and the song has since been the group's closer at live shows.
Several songs from the album feature backing vocals from several different guests. Mickey Leigh, Joey Ramone's brother, sang backing vocals on "Judy Is a Punk", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", and in the bridge of "Blitzkrieg Bop".Drummer Tommy Ramone sang backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You", "Judy Is a Punk", and during the bridge of "Chainsaw". The album's engineer, Rob Freeman, sang lead vocals for the final refrain of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". The album's length is twenty-nine minutes and four seconds and features fourteen tracks.
Reception
Ramones was released on April 23, 1976, through Sire Records. The album was well-received by critics. Reviewing for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album five out of five stars saying the album "begins at a blinding speed and never once over the course of its 14 songs does it let up." Erlewine also noted that the album "is all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity." Douglas Wolk of Rolling Stone gave the album five out of five stars as well and noted that the album "is one of the happiest albums ever made." Robert Christgau gave the album an A and continued with a positive review, specifically writing about the album's themes and quality.
Charles M. Young, an employee for the Rolling Stone, praised the album saying that the album is "one of the funniest rock records ever made and, if punk continues to gain momentum, a historic turning point." Jeff Tamarkin ofAllmusic said that the album began the punk rock era and also proclaimed "rock's mainstream didn't know what hit it." In 1999 Collins Gem Classic Albums wrote that "They stared from the cover of this magnificent debut album with dumb defiance written all over them. The songs within were a short, sharp exercise in vicious speed-thrash, driven by ferocious guitars and yet halting in an instant. It was the simple pop dream taken to its minimalist extreme. There just couldn't be anything faster or harder than this. The Ramones was the starting gun for English punk." Joe S. Harrington declared that the album "split the history of rock 'n' roll in half". Theunis Bates, a music writer for Time magazine and an editor at worldpop.com, composed that "Ramones stripped rock back to its basic elements," and noted that its "lyrics are very simple, boiled-down declarations of teen lust and need." Bates later went on to say that it "is the ultimate punk statement".
Ramones reached number 111 on the Billboard 200. The album was included in Spin's List of Top Ten College Cult Classics, noting that "everything good that's happened to music in the last fourteen years can be directly traced to the Ramones." The band's debut album was ranked 33 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2003 Ramones was considered by Spin magazine's Chuck Klosterman, Greg Milner, and Alex Pappademas to be the sixth most influential album of all time. They noted that the album "saved rock from itself and punk rock from art-gallery pretension, bless their pointy little heads," and also said that the their songs had, "one lightning-bolt riff." In Spin's 1995 Alternative Record Guide the album is listed in the top spot of their Top 100 Alternative Albums.
Legacy
Ramones is considered to have established the musical genre punk rock, as well as popularizing it years afterward. Nicholas Rombes, author of the 33⅓ book Ramones wrote that it offered "alienated future rock," and that it, "disconnected from tradition." Since it is their debut album it began the Ramones' influence onpopular music, with examples being genres such as heavy metal, thrash metal, indie pop, grunge, and post-punk.
The album received little commercial success, reaching only number 111 on the Billboard album chart. Neither of the album's singles, "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", charted. Despite the lack of popularity in its era, some 25 years after its release the importance of the album for the development of punk rock music was recognized by the music press and music industry. Since then Ramones has won several awards. In 2001 Spin included it in its special issue 25 Years of Punk with a list of The 50 Most Essential Punk Records, where it was number 1 in the list. Tony James said that "Everybody went up three gears the day they got that first Ramones album. Punk rock—that rama-lama super fast stuff—is totally down to the Ramones. Bands were just playing in an MC5 groove until then." The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at The 2002 Induction Ceremony. The web-site said that "When the [Ramones] hit the street in 1976 with their self-titled first album, the rock scene in general had become somewhat bloated and narcissistic. The Ramones got back to basics: simple, speedy, stripped-down rock and roll songs. Voice, guitar, bass, drums. No makeup, no egos, no light shows, no nonsense. And though the subject matter was sometimes dark, emanating from a sullen adolescent basement of the mind, the group also brought cartoonish fun and high-energy excitement back to rock and roll."
LEAVE HOME
Released January 10, 1977, Length 30:49, Label Sire/ Philips
1.Glad to See You Go 2:10
2.Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment 1:38
2.Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment 1:38
3.I Remember You 2:15
4.Oh, Oh, I Love Her So 2:03
5.Carbona Not Glue 1:56
6.Suzy Is a Headbanger 2:08
7.Pinhead 2:42
8.Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy 2:10
9.Swallow My Pride 2:03
10.What's Your Game 2:33
11.California Sun 1:58
12.Commando 1:51
13.You're Gonna Kill That Girl 2:36
14.You Should Never Have Opened That Door 1:54
Leave Home is the second studio album by American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977 through Sire Records. The album features the classic Ramones songs "Pinhead" and "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment".
It is the only Ramones album to go through different incarnations on its original release, due to label controversy over the song "Carbona Not Glue".
It is the only Ramones album to go through different incarnations on its original release, due to label controversy over the song "Carbona Not Glue".
History
The band had written most of the songs appearing on their first two albums by the time they were signed to Sire (as evidenced by the song listing of the 1976 live tracks appearing on the CD rerelease). They were placed roughly in chronological order on the first two albums; as explained by Johnny Ramone: "We recorded them in the order they were written; we wanted to show a slight progression in song structure."
Many fans and critics point to the more polished pop sensibilities of the second album as evidence of the band's evolving musical skill and style. The second album was recorded at the relatively upscale Sundragon Studios in Manhattan, New York.
Craig Leon, the producer of the first album, Ramones, had left Sire Records by fall 1976 and was replaced by Tony Bongiovi. Bongiovi had mentored drummer Tommy Ramone while the two were working together at the Record Plant producing Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys album. Tommy also assisted with production on the album, a role he would repeat for many later albums.
Carbona controversy
The original release included "Carbona Not Glue" as the fifth track on the album. However, the song was deleted from the album to avoid a potential lawsuit, as Carbona was a corporate trademark. The album was re-released with the single B-side "Babysitter" in its place. The British version with "Babysitter" does not list the name of this song on the back cover and on the inner sleeve. It's just referred on the vinyl itself. Most collectors believe that the "Babysitter" version is rarer than the "Carbona" version.
When Sire Records suddenly switched distributors from ABC Records to Warner Bros. Records (who had bought the label), yet another version of the album was released, with "Babysitter" being replaced by "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", then a non-LP single already planned to be on the next Ramones album in a different mix.
Rhino expanded rerelease
Rhino Records re-released the album in a remastered format on June 19, 2001. The bonus tracks on this release are live tracks that encompass a full concert. They were recorded live at their first show at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, California on August 12, 1976.
This release included both "Carbona Not Glue" and one of its replacements, "Babysitter." The former was put back in its original place in the track sequence, and the latter was included at the end of the album, preceding the live bonus tracks. While the single mix of "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was not included here, it can be found on Rhino's expanded reissue of Rocket to Russia, as well as on multiple Ramones compilations, including the anthologies Ramones Mania and Hey Ho! Let's Go.
Songs
"Carbona Not Glue" is a follow-up to the song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" appearing on their first album. The band sarcastically suggested that the high obtained from sniffing Carbona cleaning solvent was more pleasurable than that of airplane glue. In the hardcover book included in some versions of Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology, Tommy Ramone says, "Something like Carbona Not Glue has to be tongue-in-cheek. It's absurd, like saying that you should try somethingmore poisonous." It was featured prominently in the graphic novel Ghost World by Dan Clowes.
New York Radio station WNEW refused to play the song "Glad to See You Go" due to its off-the-cuff reference to Charles Manson. The song was actually written by Dee Dee about his volatile ex-girlfriend, Connie.
"Pinhead" was inspired after the band attended a screening of the 1932 film Freaks when a show in Ohio was canceled. The song became, along with "Blitzkrieg Bop", something of an anthem for the band, as the chorus of "Gabba gabba hey," based on the line from the film "gooble gobble, gooble gobble, one of us, one of us" (uttered in the song as "gabba gabba/we accept you/we accept you/one of us") became a rallying cry for the band. At many shows a roadie named Bubbles in a pinhead mask would take to the stage at the end of the show, carrying a large sign with the phrase written on it.
"California Sun" is a cover song originally recorded by The Rivieras in 1964 and also covered by The Dictators.
Rocket to Russia
Released November 4, 1977, Length 31:46, Label Sire/ Philips
1.Cretin Hop 1:55
2.Rockaway Beach 2:06
2.Rockaway Beach 2:06
3.Here Today, Gone Tomorrow 2:47
4.Locket Love 2:09
5.I Don't Care 1:38
6.Sheena Is a Punk Rocker 2:49
7.We're a Happy Family 2:47
8.Teenage Lobotomy 2:00
9.Do You Wanna Dance? 1:52
10.I Wanna Be Well 2:28
11.I Can't Give You Anything 1:57
12.Ramona 2:35
13.Surfin' Bird 2:37
14.Why Is It Always This Way 2:32
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on November 4, 1977 through Sire Records. It was their last with original drummer Tommy Ramone. The album incorporates surf rock and other influences. It includes some of the Ramones' best-known songs, including "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Teenage Lobotomy". In 2003, the album was ranked number 105 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
History
The album was recorded in late August 1977 at Media Sound studios in Midtown Manhattan. The cost of recordingRocket to Russia was roughly $25,000, which was significantly higher than that of the band's two previous records. At the request of guitarist Johnny Ramone, Punk Magazine editor and illustrator John Holmstrom produced the sleeve art, a cartoonish view of the world from a rocketship with a pinhead, emblematic of the band, grabbing onto it. In 1978, the album peaked at #49 on the Billboard pop albums chart, making it one of the band's most popular releases.
On June 19, 2001, Rhino Records re-released the album. In addition to remastering the tracks from the original album, it included alternate versions of album tracks as well as a B-side.
Song information
"Rockaway Beach", written by bassist Dee Dee Ramone in the style of the Beach Boys and other early rock 'n' rollbands, was written about Rockaway Beach, Queens, where Dee Dee liked to spend time. Johnny Ramone claimed that Dee Dee was "the only real beachgoer" in the group. Released in 1977, it was the Ramones' highest-charting single in their career, peaking at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Rockaway Beach" has been covered by the punk rock cover band The 77's, Finnish punk rock band Ne Luumäet (in Finnish, "Hiekkaa Hietarannan"), Swedish rock band Sahara Hotnights, American punk rock band The Queers (who covered the entireRocket to Russia album in 1994 on Rocket to Russia), American punk rock band The Huntingtons (who covered a number of other Ramones songs on Rocket to Ramonia), Morrissey collaborator and former Polecat, Boz Boorer, Canadian rock band Deja Voodoo (also in Finnish), German punk band Die Toten Hosen on its "Alles wird vorübergehen" single, and Spanish rock band Siniestro Total (in Spanish, under the title "Rock en Samil", a popular beach near the group's hometown Vigo in Galicia). The Argentinian band Superuva did the same with its cover "Rock en Tandil", a city in the middle of the Tandilia hills."I Don't Care", one of the first songs the band ever wrote, was originally recorded as a demo for their first album, Ramones.
"Surfin' Bird" is a cover of the original song by The Trashmen. "Do You Wanna Dance?" was written by Bobby Freemanin 1958, but is probably best-known for a 1965 cover by the Beach Boys.
The song "Cretin Hop" was inspired by Cretin Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is named after former Bishop Joseph Crétin, the Ramones noticed the name while on tour. "Cretin Hop" was played in the onstage fight scene in the punk movie SLC Punk!.
"Rockaway Beach" and "Teenage Lobotomy" were released as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.
Green Day covered this and Blitzkrieg Bop at the Ramones' 2002 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Road to Ruin
Released September 22, 1978, Length 31:02, Label Sire
Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on September 22, 1978 through Sire Records. It was the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Marky Ramone, replacing founding member Tommy Ramone.
End of the Century
Released February 4, 1980, Length 34:14, Label Sire
Pleasant Dreams
Released July 20, 1981, Length 33:53, Label Sire
Songs
¡Adiós Amigos!
Released September 22, 1978, Length 31:02, Label Sire
1.I Just Want to Have Something to Do 2:42
2.I Wanted Everything 3:18
2.I Wanted Everything 3:18
3.Don't Come Close 2:44
4.I Don't Want You 2:26
5.Needles & Pins 2:21
6.I'm Against It 2:07
7.I Wanna Be Sedated 2:29
8.Go Mental 2:42
9.Questioningly 3:22
10.She's the One 2:13
11.Bad Brain 2:25
12.It's a Long Way Back 2:20
Album information
Road to Ruin shows a more "classic" pop sound as well as a shift to a more serious personality to the music, a theme that would remain in later albums, most notably the band's fifth album End of the Century (1980). The influence of 1960s girl groups is evident, as well as the influence of The Byrds on tracks including "Don't Come Close" and the cover of "Needles and Pins," originally by Jackie DeShannon and later a hit for The Searchers.
The album also contains the track "I Wanna Be Sedated", one of the band's most famous songs.
Road to Ruin was the Ramones' first album with Marky Ramone on drums, after original drummer Tommy Ramone left due to fatigue from touring. However, Tommy (credited as his birth name, Tommy Erdelyi) stayed to produce Road to Ruin, as well as a brief comeback for 1984's Too Tough to Die.
The album was remastered and released by Rhino Records on June 19, 2001. It also featured bonus tracks, which included alternate versions and demos. Two of the bonus tracks, "Rock 'n' Roll High School (Ed Stasium version)" and "Blitzkrieg Bop/Teenage Lobotomy/California Sun/Pinhead/She’s the One (Live)," are from the soundtrack for Rock 'n' Roll High School.
American hardcore punk band Bad Brains took their name from the album song "Bad Brain".
"I'm Against It" was covered by American heavy metal band Overkill on their album Coverkill.
The original US version of the album was pressed on traditional black vinyl, while the original UK version was pressed on transparent yellow vinyl.
The album was repressed on coloured vinyl in 2008.
The album cover design was done by Punk Magazine artist, John Holmstrom.
End of the Century
Released February 4, 1980, Length 34:14, Label Sire
1.Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? 3:50
2.I'm Affected 2:51
3.Danny Says 3:06
4.Chinese Rock 2:28
5.The Return of Jackie and Judy 3:12
6.Let's Go 2:31
7.Baby, I Love You 3:47
8.I Can't Make It on Time 2:32
9.This Ain't Havana 2:18
10.Rock 'n' Roll High School 2:38
11.All the Way 2:29
12.High Risk Insurance 2:08
End of the Century is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on February 4, 1980 and was produced by Phil Spector. After Spector became interested in the band, he offered to produce their next record. Vocalist Joey Ramone was an avid fan of Spector's early work, including albums by many girl groups and Let It Be by The Beatles. As an attempt at a Top 40 record and mainstream acceptance, the songs are more "produced" and longer in duration, averaging around three minutes.
End of the Century reached number 44 on the US Billboard 200 chart, and reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart, making it the band's highest-charting album in both countries. Even though its best-charting single was "Baby, I Love You", the better known songs are "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" and Spector's version of "Rock 'n' Roll High School".
Recording
Recording the album was said to be very frustrating for both the Ramones and Phil Spector. In an "Autodiscography" feature article in the Trouser Press magazine, the band members recalled that while five different studios were credited on the album's liner notes, all of the recording took place at Gold Star Studios, the same facility Spector had used for his classic "Wall of Sound" productions of the 1960s.
Bassist Dee Dee Ramone wrote of Spector's obsessive recording techniques: "Phil would sit in the control room and would listen through the headphones to Marky hit one note on the drum, hour after hour, after hour, after hour." At another time, Spector forced guitarist Johnny Ramone to play the opening chord to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" hundreds of times.
Early in the sessions, Spector reportedly held the Ramones hostage at gunpoint. According to Dee Dee, when Spector took Joey away for a three-hour private meeting somewhere in his mansion where the album was to be recorded, Dee Dee went looking for them. "The next thing I knew Phil appeared at the top of the staircase, shouting and waving a pistol," Dee Dee later wrote:
| “ | "Phil," I challenged him, "I don't know what your fucking problem is, waving that pistol around and all that stuff.... I've had it. I'm going back to the Tropicana."... "You're not going anywhere, Dee Dee," Phil said. He leveled his gun at my heart and then motioned for me and the rest of the band to get back in the piano room.... He only holstered his pistol when he felt secure that his bodyguards could take over. Then he sat down at his black concert piano and made us listen to him play and sing "Baby, I Love You" until well after 4:30 in the morning. | ” |
Dee Dee claimed to have left the recording sessions without recording anything. "We had been working for at least fourteen or fifteen hours a day for thirteen days straight and we still hadn't recorded one note of music," he wrote in his autobiography. After supposedly hearing that Johnny had returned to New York, Dee Dee wrote that he and drummer Marky Ramone booked a flight and returned home as well. "To this day, I still have no idea how they made the album End of the Century, or who actually played bass on it."
Dee Dee's account contradicts much of the band's collective account from the 1982 Trouser Press interview, where the band stated that the only track that Johnny, Dee Dee and Marky did not play on was the cover version of "Baby, I Love You", as the band, save for Joey, had gone home after cutting basic tracks for the rest of the album.His only consistent recollection in both accounts is his dissatisfaction with his songwriting contributions to the album; he specifically cited the anti-war songs "High Risk Insurance" and "Let's Go" in the Trouser Press interview.
It was ultimately Joey Ramone who held his band mates in line. He explained his rationale for wanting to work with Phil Spector:
| “ | I mean, I was excited about it, because Phil Spector was a major inspiration to me and because we were both pioneers. When the Spector sound came around there was a void, there was Pat Boone and then there was Phil Spector. He was a reaction to all that superficial whitebread crap. When we came out there was a gap too; it was the beginning of disco, of the corporate sound, Journey, Foreigner. There was no exciting rock as we knew it, the music that we grew up on. I think Phil liked that aspect of us and I think it was important to him in a lot of ways to get involved with us. | ” |
"In the end the album cost like $700,000 to make because Phil just kept remixing and remixing," Joey Ramone recalled. "Finally Seymour [Stein] just told him, 'Look, Phil...' you know, that he wanted it as it was, because Phil, he was just never satisfied. He wanted to remix the whole record all over again.... It was crazy."
Reception
T. Donald Guarisco of Allmusic notes that the "entire album is pretty controversial in the world of Ramones fandom".
Dee Dee recalled hearing a song from the album on the radio, perhaps "I'm Affected": "I couldn't believe how awful it sounded. It was horrible. I hated "Baby, I Love You". I think that some of the worst crap I ever wrote went on that album."
On the other hand, Kurt Loder, reviewing the album for Rolling Stone, called it "Phil Spector's finest and most mature effort in years":
- He's created a setting that's rich and vibrant and surging with power, but it's the Ramones who are spotlighted, not their producer.... Throughout the album, Spector has set off Joey's deceptively skillful singing in a clear and often moving manner that may have even the Ramones' most ardent admirers shaking their heads in awe.
Songs
"Danny Says" was written by singer Joey Ramone about the emptiness of life on the road touring, and is one of their better known and more delicate ballads.The "Danny" alluded to in the title is the Ramones' manager, Danny Fields. "The Return of Jackie and Judy" is a follow-up to their well-known early song, "Judy Is a Punk", appearing on Ramones, the band's debut album. The song elaborates on the two characters' lives. "Baby, I Love You" is a cover of a song originally recorded by The Ronettes in 1963, produced by Spector. "This Ain't Havana" is a follow-up to the song "Havana Affair", also on their debut album.
Remaster
The album was remastered and re-released by Rhino Records on August 20, 2002. This release included bonus tracks in the way of unreleased demos as well as "I Want You Around" from the Rock 'n' Roll High School soundtrack.
Pleasant Dreams
Released July 20, 1981, Length 33:53, Label Sire
1.We Want the Airwaves 3:22
2.All's Quiet on the Eastern Front 2:14
3.The KKK Took My Baby Away 2:32
4.Don't Go 2:48
5.You Sound Like You're Sick 2:42
6.It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World) 3:24
7.She's a Sensation 3:29
8.7-11 3:38
9.You Didn't Mean Anything to Me 3:00
10.Come On Now 2:33
11.This Business Is Killing Me 2:41
12.Sitting in My Room 2:30
Pleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 20, 1981 through Sire Records. Pleasant Dreams reached #58 on the US Billboard album charts. It was frowned upon by guitarist Johnny Ramone because to him it sounded "too slick" and is generally viewed as part of the Ramones' pop experimentation. The album's lyrics also closely follow the fallout between Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone due to Johnny "stealing" Joey's girl.
The cover art of Pleasant Dreams was the first Ramones album cover to not feature an image of the band. Pleasant Dreams is also Ramones' first album to not feature any cover song. Songwriting is credited entirely either to vocalist Joey Ramone or bassist Dee Dee Ramone, as such, this is the only album not to feature an "outside" songwriter.
The album was certified gold in Argentina in 1993 (sales over 30.000 copies). The album was re-released by Rhino Records on August 20, 2002. The re-issue CD booklet included original album cover concept art which incorporated a photograph of the band. The reason this concept was discarded in favor of the final cover art is unknown.
Subterranean Jungle
Released February 1983, Length 33:21, Label Sire
1.Little Bit o' Soul 2:43
2.I Need Your Love 3:03
3.Outsider 2:10
4.What'd Ya Do? 2:24
5.Highest Trails Above 2:09
6.Somebody Like Me 2:34
7.Psycho Therapy 2:35
8.Time Has Come Today 4:25
9.My-My Kind of a Girl 3:31
10.In the Park 2:34
11.Time Bomb 2:09
12.Everytime I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me Think of You 3:04
Subterranean Jungle is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released in February 1983 and peaked at position eighty-three on the Billboard album music chart. It was re-released on August 20th, 2002 on CD by Rhino Records.
"Time Bomb" featured Dee Dee's first lead vocal on a Ramones album. "Little Bit o' Soul" was a cover of a song originally recorded by The Music Explosion in 1967. "I Need Your Love" was also a cover song, originally recorded by The Boyfriends, as was "Time Has Come Today", originally recorded by The Chambers Brothers in 1968.
Marky Ramone was dismissed from the band during the production of the album. He can be seen lurking almost invisibly behind the window on the front album cover. Heartbreaker Billy Rogers filled in for him on "Time Has Come Today", and the album also features Heartbreaker Walter Lure on guitar. In the music videos for "Psycho Therapy" and "Time Has Come Today," Richie Ramone plays the drums.
"Outsider" was later covered by the American punk rock band Green Day on We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones and also released on their album Shenanigans. "Psycho Therapy" was recorded by Skid Row as part of their album, B-Side Ourselves. Swedish rock-band the Hellacopters later covered "What'd Ya Do?" for the tribute-album "The Song Ramones The Same".
Too Tough to Die
Released October 1, 1984, Length 36:13, Label Sire
1.Mama's Boy 2:09
2.I'm Not Afraid of Life 3:12
3.Too Tough to Die 2:35
4.Durango 95 0:55
5.Wart Hog 1:54
6.Danger Zone 2:03
7.Chasing the Night 4:25
8.Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) 4:06
9.Daytime Dilemma 4:31
10.Planet Earth 1988 2:54
11.Humankind 2:41
12.Endless Vacation 1:45
13.No Go 3:03
Too Tough to Die is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on October 1,1984. It is the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Richie Ramone. It is regarded as a particular triumph for Dee Dee Ramone, who wrote or co-wrote nine of the album's 13 tracks.
The album cover is a cultural reference to the movie A Clockwork Orange; the band backlit at the mouth of a tunnel echoes the scene in the film where Alex and his droogs attack a derelict. The song title "Durango 95" is also the name of the car driven by Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
The album includes the two Ramones songs "Wart Hog" and "Endless Vacation" sung by Dee Dee Ramone. The lyrics to "Wart Hog" were not allowed to be shown because the record company felt they were too offensive. This was the last critically acclaimed album by the Ramones, which ended their string of universally acclaimed albums that had started in 1976.
Animal Boy
Released May 19, 1986, Length 31:44, Label Sire
1.Somebody Put Something in My Drink 3:23
2.Animal Boy 1:50
3.Love Kills 2:19
4.Apeman Hop 2:02
5.She Belongs to Me 3:54
6.Crummy Stuff 2:06
7.My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down 3:55
8.Mental Hell 2:38
9.Eat That Rat 1:37
10.Freak of Nature 1:32
11.Hair of the Dog 2:19
12.Something to Believe In 4:09
Animal Boy is the ninth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones. It featured the songs "My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg)", written as a protest of President Ronald Reagan's visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany; "Somebody Put Something in My Drink", written by Richie Ramone, the band's drummer from 1983–1987; and "Love Kills", Dee Dee Ramone's ode to deceased friend Sid Vicious.
Three songs on the album were co-written by Jean Beauvoir, formerly of the Plasmatics.
The music video for the song "Something to Believe In" featured a mock charitable event entitled "Hands Across Your Face", a parody of Hands Across America.
Halfway to Sanity
Released September 15, 1987, Length 29:53, Label Sire
1.I Wanna Live 2:36
2.Bop 'Til You Drop 2:09
3.Garden of Serenity 2:35
4.Weasel Face 1:49
5.Go Li'l Camaro Go 2:00
6.I Know Better Now 2:37
7.Death of Me 2:39
8.I Lost My Mind 1:33
9.A Real Cool Time 2:38
10.I'm Not Jesus 2:52
11.Bye Bye Baby 4:33
12.Worm Man 1:52Halfway to Sanity is the tenth studio album by American punk band the Ramones. It was released on September 15, 1987, and the last album to feature Richie Ramone. Halfway to Sanity features the songs "I Wanna Live" and "Garden of Serenity", which were later remastered on the Ramones compilation Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits.
Debbie Harry of Blondie provides backing vocals on "Go Lil' Camaro Go", and Dee Dee Ramone sings lead vocals on "I Lost My Mind".
"A Real Cool Time" almost certainly features a melodic homage to Cheap Trick's "So Good to See You" from their 1977 In Color album. Joey and Cheap Trick shared a mutual admiration and they played Joey's posthumous birthday party show in 2001.
"I Wanna Live", the album's opening track, was on the soundtrack to the 2006 video game Tony Hawk's Project 8.
Brain Drain
Released May 23, 1989, Length 35:02, Label Sire/ Chrysalis
1.I Believe in Miracles 3:19
2.Zero Zero UFO 2:25
3.Don't Bust My Chops 2:28
4.Punishment Fits the Crime 3:05
5.All Screwed Up 3:59
6.Palisades Park 2:22
7.Pet Sematary 3:30
8.Learn to Listen 1:50
9.Can't Get You Outta My Mind 3:21
10.Ignorance Is Bliss 2:38
11.Come Back, Baby 4:01
12.Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) 2:04
Brain Drain is the eleventh studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on May 23, 1989 through Sire Records. it is the last release to feature bass player Dee Dee Ramone, the first release to feature Marky Ramone since his departure after Subterranean Jungle, and the last studio album on Sire Records.
About the making of the album, Dee Dee wrote in his autobiography, Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones:
- It was tough recording the Brain Drain album because everyone took their shit out on me. I dreaded being around them. It drove me away — I didn't even end up playing on the album. Everybody in the band had problems; girlfriend problems, money problems, mental problems.
"Palisades Park" is a cover song, originally recorded by Freddy Cannon in 1962.
"I Believe in Miracles" was covered by Eddie Vedder and Zeke for the We're a Happy Family—A Tribute to the Ramones album and is frequently covered by Pearl Jam at their shows.
Mondo Bizarro
Released September 1, 1992, Length 37:25, Label Radioactive/ Chrysalis
1.Censorshit 3:13
2.The Job That Ate My Brain 2:17
3.Poison Heart 4:04
4.Anxiety 2:04
5.Strength to Endure 2:59
6.It's Gonna Be Alright 3:20
7.Take It As It Comes 2:07
8.Main Man 3:29
9.Tomorrow She Goes Away 2:41
10.I Won't Let It Happen 2:22
11.Cabbies on Crack 3:01
12.Heidi Is a Headcase 2:57
13.Touring 2:51
Mondo Bizarro (meaning "Weird World" in Italian) is the twelfth studio album by the American punk band the Ramones, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). It featured their new bassist, Christopher Joseph Ward (C.J. Ramone), who replaced departed member Dee Dee Ramone. Mondo Bizarro was the group’s first studio album in three years. The album was re-released by the record label Captain Oi! on August 10, 2004, with a bonus track, "Spider-Man".
"Censorshit" was written by Joey Ramone about how rock and rap albums were being censored by the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), a group of Washington wives out to put warning labels on records, a practice which has become standard. It has a reference to Ozzy Osbourne and Frank Zappa. Quote: "Ask Ozzy, Zappa, or Me. We'll show you what it's like to be free." The song is addressed to Tipper Gore, former Tennessee senator, and Vice President Al Gore's wife.
"Take It as It Comes" is a cover song, originally recorded by The Doors in 1967. "Spider-Man," While having never appeared on the original release but later as a bonus track on the CD version, is a cover of the theme song from the original Spider-Man animated series. It was originally released as an unlisted Bonus track on the original release of "¡Adios Amigos!" (later editions omitted it) and then a completely different version was available on the Saturday Morning compilation in 1995.
Although Dee Dee Ramone had left the band, he provided the songs "Poison Heart", "Main Man", and "Strength To Endure", as payment for bailing him out of jail due to his long drug addiction. When Johnny Ramone was interviewed about the album for the End of the Century documentary, he states, "I don't like it. I don't like it at all.". This contradicts a statement from a 1992 interview in an Argentine newspaper, quote: "Generally I always find two or three songs that I hate. From Mondo Bizarro, I really like almost all the songs and I am very satisfied with the result."
Two singles from the album were released; "Poison Heart" was released in June 1992, and Strength to Endure was released that October.
The original "Mondo Bizarro" was the title of a 1966 film sequel to "Mondo Cane".
The album was certified gold in Brazil in 1995.
Acid Eaters
Released December 1983, Length 30:53, Label Radioactive
1.Journey to the Center of the Mind 2:52 (Original by Amboy Dukes)
2.Substitute 3:15 (Original by The Who)
3.Out of Time 2:41 (Original by The Rolling Stones)
4.The Shape of Things to Come 1:46 (Original by Max Frost and the Troopers)
5.Somebody to Love 2:31 (Original by The Great Society, popularized by Jefferson Airplane)
6.When I Was Young 3:16 (Original by The Animals)
7.7 and 7 Is 1:50 (Original by Love)
8.My Back Pages 2:27 (Original by Bob Dylan)
9.Can't Seem to Make You Mine 2:42 (Original by The Seeds)
10.Have You Ever Seen the Rain? 2:22 (Original by Creedence Clearwater Revival)
11.I Can't Control Myself 2:55 (Original by The Troggs)
12.Surf City 2:26 (Original by Jan and Dean)
Acid Eaters is the thirteenth studio album by the American punk band The Ramones.
Recorded in 1993 (see 1993 in music), towards the end of the Ramones' career, the album is often set apart from other Ramones releases in that it is entirely composed of covers. Acid Eaters forms a musical tribute to the Ramones' 60s favorites, and highlights the influence that garage rock bands like The Seeds or the Amboy Dukes, and better known bands such as the Beach Boys, The Who and The Rolling Stones, (all of whom are covered in this album) had on their music.
Overview
Acid Eaters was not the first time that the Ramones had played or recorded cover songs. In the past, the Ramones had placed cover songs in almost every album to translate their favorite songs to the punk rock sound. Covers had always formed a minor part of the Ramones' act, and a version of Chris Montez's hit "Let's Dance" (written by and credited to Jim Lee) even appeared on their debut album. Other notable covers previously performed by the group include The Searchers' "Needles and Pins" (written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche, originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon), "Baby, I Love You" by The Ronettes, "Take It As It Comes" by The Doors, "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen, "California Sun" by The Rivieras (originally recorded by Joe Jones) and Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?". Acid Eaters, however, was the first complete set of covers, and the songs it contains are much more significant than the seemingly randomly distributed covers on the Ramones' other works.Covers such as "Surf City" by Jan and Dean—which was performed live by the Ramones in the early 80's—can easily be related to the Ramones' previous surf-rock influenced songs such as Rocket to Russia 's "Rockaway Beach". Pete Townshend supplies backing vocals on The Who cover "Substitute", while Tracy Lords sings on "Somebody to Love".
Released July 18, 1995, Length 33:58, Label Radioactive/Chrysalis
1.I Don't Want to Grow Up 2:46
2.Makin Monsters for My Friends 2:35
3.It's Not for Me to Know 2:51
4.The Crusher 2:27
5.Life's a Gas 3:34
6.Take the Pain Away 2:42
7.I Love You 2:21
8.Cretin Family 2:09
9.Have a Nice Day 1:39
10.Scattergun 2:30
11.Got a Lot to Say 1:41
12.She Talks to Rainbows 3:14
13.Born to Die in Berlin 3:32¡Adiós Amigos! is the fourteenth and final studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 18, 1995 through Radioactive Records. It features "Making Monsters For My Friends" and "It's Not For Me to Know" originally recorded by Dee Dee Ramone on his album I Hate Freaks Like You which he did with I.C.L.C, and "The Crusher" from Dee Dee Ramone's short rap career as Dee Dee King, as well as a cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" and a cover of Johnny Thunders song "I Love You". The Japanese version of the album features the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", originally recorded by Motörhead as a tribute to the Ramones on their 1916 album. The American version of the album features a hidden track, "Spider-Man", slightly different from the same song the Ramones originally recorded for the Saturday Morning tribute album. C.J. Ramone, Dee Dee's replacement, sings lead vocals on tracks two, four, eight and ten, as well as the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." Dee Dee Ramone himself appeared on "Born to Die in Berlin", while singing in German and recorded by phone.
In a reverse decision, many tracks on this album are performed at a slower pace because of Joey's maturing, ailing vocals, a factor the band had acknowledged in previous years. In preceding tours the band had originally played faster with negative reviews of the shows being the result.
The album cover is a digitally altered version of a painting by artist Mark Kostabi, named Enasaurs. The backcover shows the band tied and before being executed by a firing squad. The Mexican man seated next to the band is their longtime road manager Monte Melnick, considered by many as "The fifth Ramone".
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