Music / Ramones (album)

They're forming in a straight line. They're going through a tight wind. The kids are losing their minds. Blitzkrieg Bop!.

Ramones is the debut studio album by the Ramones, released in 1976. Although not very successful at the time, it's since become one of the most influential records in Punk Rock and considered one of the Ramones' finest outings. Fan favourites are "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Beat on the Brat", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" and "53rd & 3rd". The album was added to the National Recording Registry in 2012 for its cultural, historical and aesthetical value.

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Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Blitzkrieg Bop" (2:12)
2. "Beat on the Brat" (2:30)
3. "Judy Is a Punk" (1:30)
4. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (2:24)
5. "Chain Saw" (1:55)
6. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" (1:34)
7. "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" (2:35)

Side Two

1. "Loudmouth" (2:14)
2. "Havana Affair" (2:00)
3. "Listen to My Heart" (1:56)
4. "53rd & 3rd" (2:19)
5. "Let's Dance" (1:51)
6. "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" (1:43)
7. "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World" (2:09)

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Bonus Tracks (2001 Expanded Edition):

1. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Demo)"
2. "Judy Is a Punk (Demo)"
3. "I Don't Care"
4. "I Can't Be"
5. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue (Demo)"
6. "I Don't Wanna Be Learned / I Don't Wanna Be Tamed"
7. "You Should Never Have Opened That Door"
8. "Blitzkrieg Bop (Alternate Version)"

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Principal Members:

• Dee Dee Ramone - bass, backing and co-lead vocals
• Joey Ramone - lead vocals
• Johnny Ramone - guitar
• Tommy Ramone - drums

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Now I Wanna Sniff Some Tropes:

• Alliterative Title: "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Beat on the Brat".
• All of the Other Reindeer:
  53rd & 3rd
  You're the one they never pick
  53rd & 3rd
  Don't it make you feel sick?
• Angry Mob Song: "Blitzkrieg Bop." "HEY! HO! LET'S GO! HEY! HO! LET'S GO!"
• Badass Boast: "53nd & 3rd":
  Then I took out my razor blade
  Then I did what God forbade
  Now the cops are after me
  But I proved I'm no sissy.
• Batter Up!: "Beat on the Brat", where spanking a brat with a baseball bat is considered to be the only option left.
• Big Applesauce: "53rd and 3rd" takes place in New York City.
• Continuity Nod: Just like on this album cover the band would pose again against a wall on the album cover of Rocket to Russia. "Havana Affair" would later receive a Call-Back on End of the Century, with the track "This Ain't Havana".
• Cover Version: "Let's Dance" is a cover of the 1962 Chris Montez hit song.
• Dark and Troubled Past: "53rd and 3rd" is a thinly veiled song about Dee Dee Ramone's past as a male prostitute.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The cover was shot in black-and-white because it was cheaper.
• Department of Redundancy Department: The lyrics, but hey, it's the Ramones!
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Most of their songs have the content description pretty much described in their respective titles.
  • "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is about not wanting to go down to the basement.
  • "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" is about wanting to sniff glue.
• Face on the Cover: The band, posing against a wall.
• Fading into the Next Song: The feedback at the end of "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" segues (with help from Dee Dee's signature "ONETWOTHREEFOUR!") right into "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World."
• Gratuitous German: "Blitzkrieg Bop".
• Gratuitous Panning: The guitar and bass tracks were panned directly to the left and right speakers, respectively, mimicking their positions when they performed live.
• "I Want" Song: "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue".
  • Inverted with "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" and "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You".
• Lack of Empathy: "I Don't Care" is basically this trope's theme song.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Dee Dee outright refused to ever go into detail about the song "53rd and 3rd", which featured a passage in which Dee Dee sings about "taking a razor blade and doing what God forbade". It's heavily implied that Dee Dee actually did attack a man with a razor blade, so it's easy to see why he didn't really want to reveal the full story behind it.
• Miniscule Rocking: 14 songs in less than half an hour, averaging out to about 2 minutes per song. The longest track just barely clocks over 2:30. It's part of the idea of going against the grandiose status of rock music of the time.
• Murder Ballad: "53rd and 3rd".
  Then I took out my razor blade
  Then I did what God forbade
  Now the cops are after me
  But I proved I'm no sissy.
• Non-Appearing Title: The album title does not appear in the lyrics.
• One-Woman Song: "Judy Is a Punk" and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend".
• The Power of Love: "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Listen to My Heart", "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World".
• Punk Rock: Pretty much what launched punk rock in the United States and beyond.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • "Beat on the Brat" was written after Joey Ramone saw a mother going after a kid with a baseball bat in the lobby of his apartment.
  • "53rd & 3rd" was inspired by Dee Dee's past as a male prostitute, though the murder in the song was fiction.
• Self-Titled Album: Obviously.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Chain Saw" shouts out to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
  • The album cover itself has been copied by countless other punk and rock bands.
  • The song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" inspired the punk fanzine "Sniffin' Glue".
• Single Stanza Song: "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue".
• Stock Sound Effects: A real chainsaw is heard at the start of "Chain Saw".
• Subdued Section: "Blitzkrieg Bop".
• Teenage Death Songs: "53rd & 3rd" in which a male prostitute murders one of his clients "to prove he's no sissy".
• Those Wacky Nazis:
  • "Blitzkrieg Bop" which references the "Blitzkrieg" ("lightning war") tactic in which the Germans conquered Western Europe in 1940.
  • "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World", which uses the lyrics "I'm a Nazi schatze, y'know I fight for the fatherland." The lyrics were originally going to repeatedly state "I'm a Nazi, baby" until Sire Records president Seymour Stein told the band to change them.
• Three Chords and the Truth: All songs.
• Today, X. Tomorrow, the World!: "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World".

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