#385 Ramones, 'Rocket to Russia' (1977)

Previously #106

Released at the height of punk rock, ‘Rocket To Russia’ is Ramones’ third record, and final with the original line up. On the first day of recording, guitarist, Johnny Ramone showed up with a copy of Sex Pistol’s ‘God Save The Queen.’ He complained that the band had robbed them of their sound and insisted that this record needed to sound better than theirs.

This sounds just like a Ramones record sans the “Hey Ho, Let’s Go’s.” Throughout the record, I couldn’t help but think that it sounded very much like a punk version of early Beach Boys. My thoughts were validated on track 9 with their cover of Beach Boys’ ‘Do You Wanna Dance.’ It felt like the entire album was building up to that track. Main single from this record was the iconic ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.’ Very clean and well produced punk rock. Almost too clean. Almost.

#rs500albums