April 23rd, 1976 was a very important day for punk rock.
The Ramones released their eponymous first album, and the world went crazy for punk rock music.
Well... it didn't, but the Ramones certainly made a big splash in the music industry.
(The album didn't do that well at first. Who would have thought?!)
Heard of Blitzkreig Bop? Even if you're not a fan of the Ramones or punk culture or music, you've probably heard this song.
The band's first album is widely regarded as the cornerstone of punk rock and everything that goes with it. It was stripped down, devoid of the OTT theatrics that so many rock fans had grown tired of. The fast paced, stripped down sound that members Johnny, Tommy, Dee Dee, and Joey Ramone played with on their very first album lit a fire that refused to die.
The album lasts a whopping 29 minutes and there are 14 songs. At barely 2 minutes a song, the band manages to pack themes of violence, love, and drugs with some Nazi references thrown in for good measure.
Even though the record aimed to bring rock music back to a time before it lost its way, Ramones was most successful in ushering new eras of punk, new wave, and hardcore. Among others, Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters fame, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, and the Jersey-based band Misfits all cite the Ramones as inspiration.
Simplicity, speed, and uniformity launched the original punk rock band to a platform way beyond what anyone could have expected. Still, thank the Ramones for some of your favorite tunes. They probably inspired them, somehow.
We have one very special Ramones shirt up on our website. Click here to check it out and read the history.
