These songs have the innocent beat of early rock, but coarse, edgy and fun lyrics that were shocking for 1976. My personal favorite come from "Havana Affair," "PT Boat On the Way To Havana/I Used to make my living, man,pickin' the bananas!" with a close 2nd place favorite being from "Judy Is a Punk:" "They both went down to Frisco/Joined the SLA/ Ohh I don't know why/Ohh I don't know why/Perhaps they'll die!" Any group who can take a tagline from the folk novelty "There Was an Old Lady" and modernize it into something all their own is A-OK by me! Dig into these songs, this album is solid from beginning to end.

The bonus tracks are plenty of fun for avid Ramones fans like me, but I'm not certain they 'll offer much for those who are just getting familiar with the group.

What do studied and accomplished musicians think of The Ramones? It doesn't matter; really, it doesn't. The Ramones made music that was fun, and you'd catch it in your head faster than a winter cold. Their music is the ultimate audio-adrenaline rush, and no matter your age or status,I highly recommend this particular CD in the morning along with a serious cup of coffee.....BLAST OFF! HEY-HO! LET'S GO!


A great first album, that is pure Punk Rock.   July 17, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Punk is not neccessarily politics, or a fashion statement. It's a state of mind, and the Ramones show this in their original release. All of the album is great, fast Punk, or Rock, whatever you want to call it,(just not Metal!!)it has all of the favourites. This is an absolute must have for Ramones fans, or people who want to get into real Punk, not that Blink 182 and Good Charlotte crap.


Ramones   April 19, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is an absolutely amazing album. Originally clocking in at under thirty minutes with fourteen tracks, it started an era that still holds true today. "Blitzkrieg Bop" truely was the shot heard 'round the world. And "Beat On The Brat", their ode to rich mothers' children, keeps the album rocking all the way through. "Judy Is A Punk" is based off of two Ramones fans, Jackie and Judy, who were always seeming to get into trouble. The Ramones would later do a less successful sequel to the song on the Phil Spector-produced "End Of The Century". Speaking of Spector, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" sounds something right out of the early sixties. It's excellent. The entire album is fantastic, and defines true punk.

Okay, to clear something up. Some people are saying that the Ramones are more pop-punk, and that they did not actually start the era, but artists like The Stooges, New York Dolls, the Velvet Underground, T. Rex, and MC5 did. This is both true and false. Those five artists may have helped start an all-new sound, but the Ramones were more influenced by the likes of the Beach Boys and The Beatles than any of those three. They wanted to play music that was unlike anything else at the time, becasue like many others they were dissatisfied with the current pompous and exaggerated music. When this album was released in 1976, it sparked hundreds of other bands, calling themselves "Punk". The Ramones were the first band to truely be a punk-rock band. Once that was established, The Stooges and those bands becames known as Pre-Punk.

Buy this album.


The shot heard 'round the world   June 19, 2001
Jon T. Fassnacht (Reading, PA United States)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

In retrospect, it's easy to overlook how revolutionary and different this album was when it hit the streets in the second half of the '70s. Just play a Yes album, a Styx album, or an Emerson, Lake & Palmer album beside it to try to get an understanding.

Recorded for barely over $6,000, The Ramones' debut album broke all the rules of pompous '70s rock and a new type of music was "invented" in the process: punk rock. Not very different from '50s and '60s rock, just a lot louder and faster. No solos, just a bunch of power chords and catchy melodies.

Not counting the bonus songs, there are 14 songs on this album. None of them are longer than 2:32, and many of them come in at under two minutes. It's all over in less than half an hour. But there's more packed into those 30 minutes than many bands pack into an entire career.

The sound quality is very raw. However, the remastering has made the lows a bit lower and everything a bit crisper, making everything seem even more powerful than before. Dee Dee's bass is shoved into the left speaker, Johnny's guitar screams from the right, and Tommy's drums thud relentlessly in the background. On top of this, Joey spits out his lyrics with his unique accent and equally unique delivery.

And even though this album would have been a landmark just for the aforementioned qualities, the songwriting is strong as well. Everyone knows "Blitzkrieg Bop (Hey Ho Let's Go)," but every one of these tracks is fantastic. "Judy is a Punk" is my personal favorite, with three verses, three choruses and an instrumental break all packed into 90 seconds.

After this album was released, a whole new batch of bands started up. Suddenly, it didn't matter if you couldn't play like Keith Emerson or Steve Howe, all that mattered was how much you believed in yourself and your music. The Ramones were probably the first somewhat popular band to use its limitations in a positive way, and many other soon followed: The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Blondie, Talking Heads, U2, etc. Had it not been for The Ramones, these bands might not have formed, let alone have been signed to a major record label.

Quite simply, one of the most important - and fun - albums ever made.


One, Two, Free, Four!   October 31, 2007
Otto Luck (Detroit)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Number of tracks: 14. Running time: 28:52. Recording time: 17 days. Total cost: $6,400. Endless hours of mindless enjoyment and life-affirming redemption: priceless.

Released at a time when most kids in my senior class were getting their college, military or auto plant applications in order, the first Ramones album - never mind their very existence - left many of them reared on the grand notion of The Epic Twiddly Guitar Solo, Motown, dumbed-down, lowest-common-denominator blues rock, and mini prog epics based on Tolkien, the legend of King Arthur, or Mussorgsky, slack jawed and very confused. Familiarity with proto-punk touchstones like The Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls, Dictators, and a legion of 60's garage rodents immortalized on countless 7-inch singles on countless fly-by-night indie labels may not have been mandatory for "getting" The Ramones, but it sure as hell didn't hurt.

And while it's become de rigueur to lament rock and roll of the mid-70's as overblown, detached, and elitist, even by those who weren't even born when it all went down, it really wasn't as dire as some may lead you to believe. Unless you were too lazy to overturn a stone or two (alright, maybe a few more), there was plenty of great music to be found. Just don't ask me to name any of it. OK, howzabout Mott the Hoople, Sparks, Kiss, Roxy Music, Sweet, Aerosmith, Slade, Blue Oyster Cult, Be Bop Deluxe, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, The Faces, David Bowie, and Skyhooks fer starters?

Although "Ramones'" lyric sheet often reads like something out of a stroke survivors' language recovery therapy group, it's nice not to have to wade through tried-and-true chaff like wizards, the cosmos, lovin' your baby, and the lonely life of a touring musician just to get to the meaty bits. Opening salvo "Blitzkrieg Bop" just may be the greatest first song on ANY album, the band absolutely nailing their attempt to write a chant song ala the Bay City Rollers' "Saturday Night." "Hey ho, let's go" - marching orders for an army of America's disaffected youth.

Whether the band was making a conscious effort to veer away from lyrical content trampled underfoot by those who came before them or simply writing about what they knew hardly matters. The songs, all of them credited to the gang er, band collectively, are masterful manipulations of monotony, melody, and momentum, mantra-like for the most part, making their mark through a lean, buzzing fusion of bubblegum and well, I'm not sure. I'd say punk, if not for the fact that punk didn't yet exist, at least not in name. The wall of noise here is in part thanks to Craig Leon and drummer Tommy's production decision to funnel guitar and drums into one channel and bass and vocals into another.

Despite their unsure footing as musos in both the studio and on stage, The Ramones certainly seemed to know what they DID want (to be your boyfriend, sniff some glue, your love, the world) and DIDN'T (to go down to the basement, to walk around with you) and how to articulate it in two-minute bursts of pent-up, downstroked fury. There was no hedging or beating around the bush with these guys. They got in, got out, and changed some lives along the way, offering up child care tips ("Beat on the Brat"), lamenting a lost love ("Chain Saw"), and talking shop ("Havana Affair" and "53rd & 3rd"). The closest they come to a ballad is "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" which really isn't much different from the rest of track list here, just played at a slightly slower tilt. And they start a grand Ramones tradition of great covers with Chris Montez's "Let's Dance" from 1962.

There are eight bonus tracks wedged into this expanded edition from Rhino, including three demos ("I Don't Care," "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," and "You Should Never Have Opened That Door") previously unavailable anywhere, two only available on "All The Stuff (And More), Volume One," two previously available on a Norton vinyl single, and the single version of "Blitzkrieg Bop." The overall sound of the original album is cleaned up a little, but is still raw enough to satisfy purists and should be required listening in junior high schools nation-wide.