The Ramones – Ramones

Old School Punk! Classic album from 1976 filled with angry punk songs (Bonus, they were from my hometown of Queens NY!) 

Just an album full of angry punk rock – simple chords, screaming lyrics, and a standard drumbeat but each song slaps – the most iconic probably is the Blitzkrieg bop just a fun bouncy song that really encapsulates what the album is about.  Each song is under 3 minutes and while there’s only 14 song on the album they go by pretty quick. 

Some songs don’t age well (beat the brat, about well.. Beating kids who are bad is one example) but the songs all have distinct melodies that elevate the punk genre and like most good Punk they don’t take themselves too seriously with songs like ‘Now I want to sniff some glue’

Then there’s the mosh pit classic ‘lets dance’ – blast this in a punk club and watch everyone just go a bit crazy. The few times I dared the most pit (decked out in my black NIN shirt and bolstered with a few drinks) it was exhilarating even if I woke up with various bruises the next morning.

What this song reminds me of: Listening to punk rock with my cyber/chat friends who really introduced me to the genre.  Before I met up with them, I was mostly hip hop, metal, and pop.. But they introduced me to Punk, Industrial and Grunge and changed my musical tastes forever.

4/5 – Just a great album to crank when you’ve had a bad day at work and want to vent the anger by scream singing in the car on the way home!