Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXXI--The Ramones: Blitzkrieg Bop

"Hey! Ho! Let's go!"

And with those four words a legendary rock and roll band was born

It's hard to overestimate the legacy of the Ramones--despite their lack of commercial success (their highest charting album hit #49, their highest charting single hit #66--both, one presumes, with a bullet!) their influence on the punk movement and later the alternative scene (much like their non-selling kin The Velvet Underground) was astounding.  Formed in Queens, New York in 1974, the Ramones would spend the next 22 years making fourteen albums and touring over two hundred days a year.  They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, were listed as #26 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time," and in 2011 received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Grammy's.  Sadly, much of this glory was missed by the original band members, as three of the four (Joey in 2001, Dee Dee in 2002, and Johnny in 2004) had passed away less than eight years after their dissolution, and the last original Ramone (Tommy) died in 2014.

Fun Fact:  There have been 48 (yes, 48) full-length tribute albums devoted to the Ramones.  Not bad for four middle class kids from Queens....

Released on their oh so cleverly named debut album (which was certified gold--500,000 copies sold--thirty eight years later in 2014), The Ramones, in 1976. "Blitzkrieg Bop" was the world's vinyl introduction to the Ramones.  I'm not sure there's ever been another band whose first song on their first album transformed a generation of musicians the way "Blitzkrieg Bop" did--when you listen to the guitars it's not hard to guess where the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Green Day (among a multitude of others) borrowed their guitar sounds from.  In keeping with the Ramones disdain for long songs (their songs are generally three minutes or less in length), "Blitzkrieg Bop" is two minutes and nineteen seconds of pure adrenaline with Joey's shout singing vocals, Johnny's blistering guitar, and Tommy's no holds barred drumming.  Even at the age of fifty-eight, it's hard when listening to it to not jump around the house with arms and legs thrashing.  It's power pop at its finest...and as it often went in the Ramones' career, the song never even made the damn charts.

And it's a reminder that all too often, greatness is only seen in retrospect (Hello, Hillary Clinton!).

Liner Notes:  What else?  "Hey! Ho! Let's go! Hey! Ho! Let's go!"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee