Ramones: Ramones (1976)

The Ramones debuted with the classic "Ramones" on April 23, 1976, and took three-chord rock to new heights!

By Martin Johannessen

Ramones were formed in Queens in 1974. The name Ramones originated from a pseudonym Paul McCartney used when checking into hotels; Paul Ramon. They made their CBGB debut in August of the same year. Eventually, they became regulars at the club. And in 1975, they signed a contract with Sire Records. Seymour Stein at Sire recalls: "I rented a rehearsal studio for an hour. In 20 minutes, they had gone through about 20 songs. I fell in love with them."

Watch Ramones live from CBGB in May 1976 below.

In the early days of the band when they played at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City in New York, the concerts could last only 20 minutes. And if there was a need for more, they played the songs again.

7 days 14 songs

The album was recorded at Plaza Sound, on the floor above Radio City Music Hall, in New York, with Craig Leon as the producer. Craig Leon also produced the debut album for Blondie later that same year and the debut for Suicide the following year.

The band was bursting with songs. Johnny Ramone said: "We had the songs for the first three albums when we did the first one." They didn't spend more than seven days on a fairly modest budget recording the 14 songs that made it onto the album. The producer said: "Until we made the record, they literally hadn’t rehearsed how to end songs."

Two songs were released as singles; "Blitzkrieg Bop" was released three months before the album hit the shelves. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was released in September. Neither of them did particularly well and didn't chart. But who needs charts when you have fans!

"These guys were not hippies. This was something completely new," wrote journalist Legs McNeil.

Read more: Ramones: See Rare Photos From Punks’ Seventies Peak

A Flop
"I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is just over two and a half minutes long and the longest song on the album. That's how it has to be when you need to fit seven songs on each side. In total, the album is 29 minutes and 4 seconds long/short.

I caught the Ramones concert in the basement of Chateau Neuf in Oslo in 1990 (I think it was called The Voice back then or just The Basement at Chateau Neuf). And since the songs were so short, I missed a few every time I went to the bathroom.

Sales-wise, the album was a flop. It only sold about 6,000 copies in the USA in the first year. In fact, it took 38 years before it went gold in the USA (500,000). But the critics loved them. The Village Voice wrote: "For me, it blows everything else off the radio."

...and a classic

In music history, the album is a landmark and clearly one of the best punk albums ever. And the cover is as iconic as the album itself. It wasn't just the name they borrowed from Paul McCartney. They wanted to capture the same energy that The Beatles had on their debut as well. After all, it was recorded during a long marathon session. The song order on the Ramones album was the same as their live setlists. It was meant to be fun and spontaneous.

"We recorded the songs in the same order that we played them in our live set at the time," said Johnny Ramone. The producer even suggested recording all the songs as one track.

Ramones' debut was the first punk album. And to many, the best. 14 songs that have all made a lasting impact on music history. When The Clash and Sex Pistols debuted the following year, Ramones were already on their second and third albums.

I recommend anyone visiting Berlin at some point to stop by the incredibly cool Ramones Museum at Oberbaumstr. 5.

Read more: Inside The Making Of The Ramones Debut Album: “It was a lo-fi work of art”