![]() They may have sang about being a happy family in the early days, but the Ramones had a notoriously fractious relationship. The KKK Took My Baby Away (Pleasant Dreams, 1981) The overdubbed, intricate and detailed arrangement perfectly serves his terrific vocals, making this song the choice cut on the band’s first album of the ‘80s. But whilst working with his hero might not have been the enjoyable experience he was hoping for, the producer certainly got the best out of the Ramones frontman, if not the rest of the band.Īs the first notable ballad in their back catalogue, Danny Says ranks as one of the Ramones’ finest compositions and Joey’s personal favourite. Gun-waving knob-twiddler Phil Spector allegedly pulled a weapon on the band at one point, when arguments over their musical direction reached boiling point. The stories from the Ramones’ fifth album recording sessions have become the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. You might not be able to pogo to it, but we challenge even the hardcore punks to not sing along. The sarcasm and affectation in his voice was replaced by a sincerity and beauty best exemplified on the tender, single-worthy Don’t Come Close. The band was evolving, and no-one more so than Joey Ramone. They did this without losing any of their impact or appeal. Having perfected catchy punk rock with buzzsaw guitars on their first three albums, they decided to slow things down with album number four. To say the Ramones had an ear for a memorable hook would be an understatement. With Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, he took their ‘less is more’ lyrical approach (verse, chorus, repeat) and gave alternative culture an anthem for the ages. It’s all thanks to that infectious chorus, inspired by Joey’s deep love for ‘60s surf rock and bubblegum pop. It was also one of the first songs to reference ‘punk rock’, and the title has become so inextricably engrained in popular culture you could sing it almost anywhere in the world and people around you would join in. It’s been covered by Rancid, Sonic Youth and Hüsker Dü, to name but a few, and referenced in countless other songs. This essential contribution to the Ramones’ canon came from their frontman Joey Ramone. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Rocket To Russia, 1977) The words are lifted from Tod Browning’s cult 1932 movie Freaks, thus proving Joey Ramone truly was the champion of the beaten down and disaffected: “We accept you, one of us.” Quite the contrary, he made them sound cool. And it took someone special like him to sing the Ramones’ trademark rallying cry, “Gabba! Gabba! Hey!” – as first heard on P inhead – and not sound utterly ridiculous.
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