walking upstream…
Ramones
The Ramones formed in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens in 1974, four misfits who adopted a shared surname and stripped rock and roll down to leather jackets, buzzing barre chords, and two-minute blasts about sniffing glue, teenage crushes, and Saturday nights. Playing a residency at CBGB, they became the loud, fast engine of New York's mid-1970s punk scene, and their 1976 self-titled debut is still the founding document for nearly every three-chord band that followed. Beneath the cartoon menace and the shouted counts of 'One-two-three-four,' they married the raw aggression of proto-punk to a deep love of 1960s girl-group melody, bubblegum pop, and surf music, hiding hummable songs inside a wall of downstroked noise.
the sound in question
1976
Blitzkrieg BopRamones
walk the tributaries ↓
The Stooges1970s · Proto-punk / Garage rock / Hard rock
The Stooges are routinely named as one of the handful of proto-punk bands the Ramones were built on, their pared-down, primitive, high-volume attack a direct model for the Ramones' own minimalism; even the Ramones' habit of titling songs 'I Wanna...' echoes the Stooges' repertoire.
listen: upstream & here
1969
I Wanna Be Your DogThe Stooges
1976
Now I Wanna Sniff Some GlueRamones
listen forPlay the Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' before the Ramones' 'Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue' — both ride a blunt two- or three-chord riff hammered without let-up, a flat, deadpan vocal chanting a single bratty idea over a churning, distorted rhythm that refuses to develop or resolve.
The Shangri-Las1960s · Girl group / Pop / Rock and roll
The Ramones, and Joey Ramone especially, were open devotees of 1960s girl-group pop, and the Shangri-Las' teenage melodrama is the melodic and emotional template beneath the band's lovelorn ballads; the two acts' New York connection was close enough that the Shangri-Las reunited to appear on bills with the Ramones in the late 1970s.
listen: upstream & here
1964
Leader of the PackThe Shangri-Las
1976
I Wanna Be Your BoyfriendRamones
listen forSet the Shangri-Las' 'Leader of the Pack' beside the Ramones' 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend' — under the leather and distortion, both hang on a swooning, innocent teen-romance melody and a plainly sung yearning, the kind of doo-wop-descended tune the Ramones smuggled inside their buzzsaw arrangements.
The Beach Boys1960s · Rock / Pop / Psychedelic pop
The Ramones loved surf and bubblegum pop and folded the Beach Boys' bright, sun-and-sand Americana into their sound; the surf-anthem tribute 'Rockaway Beach' is an explicit nod to that lineage, and the band's affection for the idiom also led them to cover surf-era standards.
listen: upstream & here
1963
Surfin' U.S.A.The Beach Boys
1977
Rockaway BeachRamones
listen forPlay the Beach Boys' 'Surfin' U.S.A.' before the Ramones' 'Rockaway Beach' — both are giddy, upbeat odes to going to the beach built on a driving Chuck Berry-style rhythm, a rush of 'oohs' behind the lead, and a chorus that just wants to get in the water; the Ramones simply speed it up and roughen the edges.