The Ramones - Rocket To Russia (Punk Rock, 1977)

"We really enjoy what we do, we enjoy playin’ live and goin’ out and playin’ for our fans because they are a unique bunch; they’re real rock n’ roll purists and loyalist diehards..."

When four geeky boys from Queens stepped onstage for the first time in March 1974, they detonated a barrage of two-minute, three-chord fireballs from which we are still feeling the fallout. The revolution Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy started by combining '60s girl group melodies with the primal propulsion of bare-bones rock'n'roll decimated bloated prog rock, and the image they created proved as indelible as their "One-two-three-four - Hey, ho, let's go!" rallying cry. Without the Ramones, there would be no punk rock.
1977’s Rocket to Russia, their third album, is perhaps their most critically acclaimed, mixing an obvious yearning for rock‘n’roll’s past with a minimalist punk attack which made them sound fresh, even if they were an old idea repackaged with new clothes. (The Ramones uniform of tight jeans ripped at the knees was a risqué joke – ‘punk’ was originally slang for a homosexual or rent boy, and the ‘brothers’ were suggesting that they weren’t beyond prostrating themselves to perform ‘favours’. As they sing on Needles and Pins: "I get down on my knees and pray...") But it’s true that here they get the balance absolutely right.
This album is positive, exciting and fun, like a razor taken to modern American rock music, slashing a groove between surf guitar fare and punk. Rocket to Russia is a classy album in ragged, oil-stained jeans.



Let's Go Get It!