The Ramones

The Ramones presentation last week I felt was excellent for me as they are one of the bands I just never got around to listening to them, getting into one of those phases where you go through each album over and over again. For me, I think it comes down to, like mentioned in the presentation, is that they have a very fast playing style (with limited musical ability) so while they may have rocked hard, there songs sound similar to me (or rather their sound is monotonous). Personally, to make a small comparison, I think the Clash were the best first wave punk sound.

For me, the Ramones are the Beach Boys of the urban east coast (that is probably heresy to real fans; I'm sorry) their "pop" songs like Sheena is a Punk Rocker give out a vibe that is what Brian Wilson would play if he was from Queens (maybe with added piano). This comparison probably comes from my favorite song being "Rockaway Beach", my hometown so that is the song I immediately associate the Ramones with.

Aside from the occasional "Ruby Soho" and a basically having The Gaslight Anthem's albums on repeat (which is borderline punk) I'm completely ignorant on the topic of punk yet I was still surprised that the Ramones never really broke out given their relatively commercialized success of their songs. I felt certainly that "My Sharona" or "I Wanna Be Sedated" would be a major hit.