Wall Of Sound meets Wall Of Noise
74. Ramones "Do You Remember Rock 'N' Roll Radio?"
Midway through a career that, commercially at least, was going nowhere fast, the Ramones hooked up with production genius, known nutball (and now alleged murderer) Phil Spector. Spector had been the man behind a lot of the pop masterpieces that inspired Joey Ramone, so it would seem to be a match made in heaven. Not so. Spector's notorious perfectionism clashed with Johnny Ramone's all business DIY approach, especially when Spector made Johnny play the same guitar chord upwards of one hundred times to get the perfect take on 'Rock & Roll High School' (this is to say nothing of how nervous Phil's fondness for carrying a gun in the studio made them) and sadly the resulting album was spotty at best.
It did however produce one incredible moment right here. After a nifty DJ voice over, Marky launches things with some piledriving drumbeats and the guitars (perfectly complemented by sax flourishes, whod'a thunk it?) avalanche along as Joey namechecks a ton of the Ramones inspirations (everybody from John Lennon and T-Rex to DJ's Alan Freed & Murray The K and TV show Hullaballoo)* . Joey's classic punk mumble has never sounded more impassioned as he delivers the verse: we need change and we need it fast/before rock's just part of the past/cause lately it all sounds the same to me..." which rings as true today as ever. This is the truest statement of purpose the Ramones ever made (and fittingly it's rocks hard as ever and it tuneful as hell) and easily the best 'save rock and roll' song of all time.
*It also produced one of the great early rock videos, making great use of old stock footage.
Midway through a career that, commercially at least, was going nowhere fast, the Ramones hooked up with production genius, known nutball (and now alleged murderer) Phil Spector. Spector had been the man behind a lot of the pop masterpieces that inspired Joey Ramone, so it would seem to be a match made in heaven. Not so. Spector's notorious perfectionism clashed with Johnny Ramone's all business DIY approach, especially when Spector made Johnny play the same guitar chord upwards of one hundred times to get the perfect take on 'Rock & Roll High School' (this is to say nothing of how nervous Phil's fondness for carrying a gun in the studio made them) and sadly the resulting album was spotty at best.
It did however produce one incredible moment right here. After a nifty DJ voice over, Marky launches things with some piledriving drumbeats and the guitars (perfectly complemented by sax flourishes, whod'a thunk it?) avalanche along as Joey namechecks a ton of the Ramones inspirations (everybody from John Lennon and T-Rex to DJ's Alan Freed & Murray The K and TV show Hullaballoo)* . Joey's classic punk mumble has never sounded more impassioned as he delivers the verse: we need change and we need it fast/before rock's just part of the past/cause lately it all sounds the same to me..." which rings as true today as ever. This is the truest statement of purpose the Ramones ever made (and fittingly it's rocks hard as ever and it tuneful as hell) and easily the best 'save rock and roll' song of all time.
*It also produced one of the great early rock videos, making great use of old stock footage.
