Rocket to Russia

I am a brand-new, diehard Ramones fan. And, guess what--this was the first of their CDs I listened to! It's ABSOULOUTELY AMAZING. All I can say--BUY IT!!

Next to their debut album, this is my pick of The Ramones' best work ever. With the losses of Joey, Dee Dee, and Johnny, it's sad to think The Ramones are a band of the past, but when you listen to works like "Rocket To Russia," you can say "they left an enduring legacy" without sounding contrived and melodramatic.

I love the opening songs on Rocket to Russia because you hear such energetic merriment packed with lyrics of the celebrated misfists: the proud declaration that "cretins wanna hop," followed by the seemingly innocent enthusiasm over hitching a ride to Rockaway Beach on a sunny day---without mentioning that Rockaway Beach is actually one of the grittiest, toughest, meanest beach towns in the country!

I love that we get a solid dose of unmistakable Ramones' lyrics in songs like "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "Teenage Lobotomy," and then receive the greatest cover of "Do You Want To Dance" ever recorded. No revamped punk lyrics, just the most powerful homage to oldies rock & roll you will ever hear, done in that high-octane Ramones' spirit. This song is the prime example of punk rock & classic rock meeting, morphing, and totally emerging into one another. Sounds corny, hmm? True, though.

In my opinion, there are no bad Ramones albums out there, but this is one of their greatest works. If you have never listened to The Ramones before, this is a good place to start. If you are one of those folks who are just now discovering The Ramones, get happy, because you've got a lot of great music to listen to up the road. These cats were the greatest!

This cd might change your life. All the tunes are upbeat, catchy, and classic.

In a small town in Pennsylvania was a little Mom and Pop record store. About 1978 or so, that Palmyra record store began to get a lot of "promo only" albums, the majority of which were by artists in the underground punk scene. Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Dead Boys, Saints and a whole bunch of others. At a buck a pop, I was feeding my curiosity on a regular basis, going into the store literally every couple of days to see if any new albums had appeared.

One of those trips had two fresh items in the front of the bin... "Rocket To Russia" and "Road To Ruin" by The Ramones. I grabbed them both and went over to my friend Chuck's. He had been playing guitar for a year or so, and I'd been writing for as long as I could remember. We went into his basement and put "Rocket To Russia" on the turntable. As soon as "Rockaway Beach" was over, our world had changed. Chuck had his guitar in his hands before the end of side one, because we knew that we could do this, too. By the end of the week, we'd recruited a bassist and a drummer and formed a band.

Two songs. That was all it took to literally make our lives change course. "Rocket To Russia" is literally that powerful an album, and remains a watershed moment in punk rock. You get the seminal "Cretin Hop," "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" "Teenage Lobotomy" and what may be one of the most important Top 100 singles of the decade, "Rockaway Beach." You discover that all sorts of classics could be hammered into rock, as "Do You Wanna Dance" blasted surf music into smithereens.

So I write this, all but blubbering into my computer screen. Johnny's gone now, along with Joey and Dee Dee. Three quarters of the "brothers" that not only kicked complacent music in the kiester, but rallied four high school guys in 1978 to get on stage and make a glorious racket with three minute ditties we wrote ourselves. "Rocket To Russia" reconfigured my world. Turned up to 10, it still makes my head bob. Anyone who ever cared about rock and roll should have this album.

Sad to say, my world reconfigured again today. RIP, Johnny.

This was the Ramones third album, and the last with Tommy behind the drum kit. It also happens to be their best album. The album features one classic song after another. As a side note, this album features all three of the group's singles that actually made the pop charts ("Sheena is a Punk Rocker", "Rockaway Beach" and "Do You Wanna Dance"). Besides those three songs, the album also has fan favorites like "Cretin Hop", "We're a Happy Family", "Teenage Lobotomy" and "Surfin' Bird". This is the greatest punk album of all time. Highly recommended.