In honor of this truly revolutionary day, I burn at the alter of the Holy Ghosts of the tipping point, the Yahwehs of the paradigm shift, the Shivas of social upheaval, the Allahs of the sea change, this revolutionary piece of music.
I'm surprised to find that there really aren't as many as you'd think that have listened to this record, have studied it, have consumed it but have only sampled at its buffet taking away favorite nugs.
Viva!
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The crucial cut is "Chain Saw", 'cause that's exactly what Johnny Ramone's guitar sounds like - underscored by the sound of a real chainsaw. This album defies rational analysis or criticism. I mean, how can you argue with lyrics like "Beat on the brat/With a baseball bat?" "Now I wanna sniff some glue/Now I wanna have something to do"? Amazing stuff that sails straight past your cerebrum - don't think, just dance. It's only rock'n'roll, which is the most important message the Ramones imparted to the masses - it's supposed to be loud, fast, and trashy. And fun! You see, the Ramones only wanted to be the Beach Boys before Pet Sounds made them art wussies. How such a highly commercial band that should've by all rights taken over the world didn't is only explicable by the bad taste of the Saturday Night Fever public that existed in the '70s. At first listen all the songs sound the same, and I suppose on some level the Ramones have only written one song in their entire career, but that's not really true - all of the songs are different, it's just that the Ramones treat'em all exactly the same - louder, faster, and with that monolithic guitar buzz. I'm not even going to bother with the song-by-song analysis, 'cause every song on here is a classic except for two or three. This album changed the world, or at least rock'n'roll, so go out and find it.
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