Ramones Mania: Pt. 2 (Leave Home)

Leave Home Sire January 10, 1977 148 45

Yes, the dreaded sophomore album. Although it may not be as wildly catchy or original as "Ramones," this album still packs a strong Ramones punch. Despite featuring one of the most artistic and progressive looking album covers of their oeuvre, most of this album's inability to trump "Ramones" lies in the fact that some time in 1975- 1976, the Ramones wrote about 30 songs all at once. It's easy to figure that, being the lunk-head NYC pragmatists that they were, the Ramones would put the best songs on the first record since it was their first offering to the scene, and put the rest, the not as amazing songs, onto "Leave Home." Johnny Ramone however, disputes this saying, "We recorded them in the order they were written; we wanted to show a slight progression in song structure." Still, be this as it may, "Leave Home" has some exciting and even personal moments. "Glad to See You Go" is about Connie Ramone, Dee Dee's late girlfriend who used to beat the shit out of any poor female who had the ill fortune of even talking to Dee Dee. "Gimme Shock Treatment," another classic, archetypal Ramones riff on mental health, features amazing, unexpected laser noises in the chorus, a post-production addition that is rarely on any Ramones album from their golden period. "I Remember You" is a banal, throwaway Ramones ballad, a style that they would improve on and perfect fully and sincerely on their next album with one of my all-time favorite Ramones ballads, "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow."

"Oh Oh I Love Her So" while albeit a brainless Ramones love song, was an early indication of the power-pop stylings the Ramones would latch onto on later albums like "Road to Ruin" and "Subterranean Jungle." While safe, it is a markedly fun, poppy, catchy and well-produced style that would go on to be one their most reliable in the studio. "Oh Oh I Love Her So" also features the key line "I met her at the Burger King, fell in love by the soda machine." This is notable because further down the line on a song entitled "I'm Against It" on "Road to Ruin," another different attitude altogether towards Burger King is expressed, leaving these two songs to exist as a strange, unresolved dichotomy concerning the fast food establishment. Style wise, however, despite songs like "Oh Oh," "Leave Home," is not as power-poppy as their later work, but rather is very much raw like "Ramones" but more clean.

"Carbona Not Glue" is a great, hard hitting example of the Ramones bratty thought processes. After the song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" hit the market with the release of "Ramones," many parents became noticeably and predictably alarmed. So what do the genius Ramones do in the face of such controversy? Release a song entitled "Carbona Not Glue," with Carbona being a stain removal product. Naturally the song was left off most issues of the album, making "Leave Home," an otherwise innocuous album, the only Ramones album to ever appear differently from the one originally intended.

"Suzy is a Headbanger" the second Ramones song written in a long line of "Female is a Noun" songs, is a strong offering. It offers a nice, atypical lead guitar lick right before the verses that is a rarity to hear Johnny Ramone play (aside from a similar, well-known lead on their cover of "California Sun," a song also released on "Leave Home"). I've never really liked "Pinhead." It has a singnature Ramones swagger and rhythm to it, but the message is just banal. It's too "d-u-m-b." Plus it makes me think of that ugly costumed fellow that came on stage and carried the "GABBA GABBA" sign whenever they played the song. The same sound and aesthetic works much better on 1977's "Rocket to Russia" in the song "We're a Happy Family." It even uses the same post-song voices at the end.

As much as I dislike "Pinhead" however, the song is very important ideologically for the Ramones. The Ramones here assert their empty minds against the aesthetics and politics that were a part of the English punk scene that was building up steam at the time. The Ramones just cared about getting loaded and getting girls; they could care less about the Queen, "labour" parties, or looking dark like the Damned or "punk" like the Sex Pistols, two bands which were formed in '76 and '75 respectively, and who competed heavily with the Ramones late 70's audiences. Strangely however, in the Sex Pistols' case, the Pistols would not go on to really be a thorn in the side of the Ramones until 1977.

I've always loved "Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy." One of the few "I Wanna" songs with a positive as a opposed to a negative or anti-social message, the song has very few words. But what it does have in spades is a razor sharp rhythm. "Swallow My Pride" sounds a lot like a slightly more sped up version of "I Remember You," but is still quite boring. "Swallow My Pride" however is much worse than either of those tracks, as it features extremely cheesy, high-in-the mix background vocals from I think Dee Dee (or some shitty woman) and that just really kills the song. "What's Your Game" suffers more of the same faults, although Dee Dee has much better back ground vocals when he says "Same" and "Sane" and "Oooo, Oooo." The background vocals are terribly high-in-the mix and terrible during the "Oh yeahs" however.

"California Sun" and "Commando" are two of the best Ramones songs ever recorded. Local punks "The Teeners" still cover "Commando"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaQsZv-vavM&feature=related side note: it's amazing how FAST and HARD the Ramones played live) to this day during their Austin shows. It's one of those rare non-"Too Tough to Die" Ramones song that arguably could be construed as being "hardcore" if it were necessary to do so. It also shows the Ramones silly side, as the chorus is a Ramones dum dum classic: "First rule is: The laws of Germany. Second rule is: Be nice to mommy. Third rule is: Don't talk to commies. Fourth rule is: Eat kosher salamis."

The album end with two unexpectedly, dark Ramones songs, both about murder, "You're Gonna Kill that Girl" and "You Should Have Never Opened that Door." Both sound very bubblegum and poppy, and seeing as they deal with dark themes, follow faithfully the path made by such oldie songs as "Leader of the Pack" and that shitty Pearl Jam song. Both songs are great, and again, are about murder. They are interesting in specific content too, as the former is a lament about someone killing someone else, but the latter is about personally chopping someone's head off. These Ramones: they're big thinkers. You think they are going one way and bam, they are off in another direction.

The deluxe package of "Leave Home" is a little disappointing in that it only features one b-side (Ramones b-sides are usual reliable bread and butter; I guess they ran out of songs!) titled "Babysitter," the song that replaced "Carbona Not Glue," and, if played a little slower and drugged out, would sound exactly like any number of Jesus and Mary Chain songs. Instead of b-sides, we are treated to a live album from August 1976 featuring songs off the first two albums, which is cool if you like live albums. I don't really like live albums.

If after listening to "Leave Home," you feel a little disappointed, that's perfectly natural. Although it really is not such much a "slump" as it is a testament to how fucking awesome "Ramones" is, this album is something you will come back to faithfully later on for it's authentic late-70s loud crunch and style (doesn't at lot of '70s punk sound so much more loud, real and awesome than stuff made in the early 80s? Late 80s do not count; that's when metal ruled the world). Ok fine, those 30 songs written back then were put on the first two records in the order they were recorded, but even still I think it is patently obvious that songs on "Leave Home" just aren't as good as a whole compared to the first record. Ultimately this isn't a big deal seeing as how the year after this record came out, the Ramones would release arguably the best record of their entire career.

Grade: 8.5 out of 10.
Best For: sitting in traffic, being nerdy, hiding in a cubicle.

Ramones Mania: Pt. 1 (Ramones)

RAMONES - April 23, 1976 - U.S. Rank : 111

First a quote: "Most of the members had been in various bands since the late 1960s. Johnny and Tommy had both been in a high school garage band circa 1966-67 known as the Tangerine Puppets, and Joey was in the short-lived early 1970s glam rock band Sniper." Nice.

This is the one that started it all. Let me say this: I like this record. A lot. I listen to "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement," among others all the time even today. The thing about this record though, is that it's a paradox lesson in appreciation. Everyone should hear this record. But NOT everyone should love it. It's so good, you want to keep it for yourself, and yourself alone. You don't want to hear "Blitzkrieg Bop" at basketball games or on cell-phone commercials. You don't want to hear U2's tribute cover of "Beat on the Brat" (trust me you don't). So in a way, these songs grow sour by proxy of how they have been appropriated by the media and our pop culture. This has mainly come into play in the past, I don't know, 20 years, when people all of a sudden, as a whole, realized that the Ramones were REALLY good. So they just stick to the hits, the ones they can sink their claws in most easily. And they make cellphone commercials and all sorts of non-sense with these poor songs. The tragically ironic thing about all of this accolade is the fact that this "success" never came to the Ramones when they were really hungry for it. Within less than 10 years of breaking up in 1996, when the Ramones would finally get loads of praise for their past efforts, three of the four original Ramones were dead. Sure, the success came to them eventually, but not when they were young. It came when they were old, sick, and nearly forgotten. But whether we forget the Ramones or not, in the future, our grand children will know "Blitzkrieg Bop." Whether that's a good thing, or not, I don't know.

It's so hard for me to contextualize this album. How do I view it? As it is, or through the lens of what pop culture has robbed from it, seeing it as sullied by culture's greedy fingers. It seems tramped upon. It doesn't feel like a part of me. Still, it isn't all bad: that scene in "Royal Tenenbaums" when they played "Judy is a Punk" and you see Gywneth Paltrow make out with some topless lady totally rocked my world in 2001. It took the Ramones aesthetic and appreciated it; it didn't parade it. Sadly this is not the case with "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat on the Brat," as I don't listen to the first two songs hardly ever on purpose. They're just too used. "Judy is a Punk" I still enjoy but not as much as I should. I was never a gigantic fan of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (a band I was in in high school, we tried to cover it, but never got around to it; "fools!" I say) but it's good enough and is also notable for setting up the Ramones absurd fascination with 60s pop. It also is the direct sonic template of "My My Kind of Girl," a song that's on their seventh record "Subterranean Jungle." It's amazing how much the Ramones ripped off their older material over the years. But at-least they stole from themselves!

"Chainsaw" is amazing by virtue of, if nothing else, how Joey Ramones pronounces "massacre." Now comes the best of the best: I am totally batshit obsessed with "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" all the way to "Havana Affair." Mine own ears have never heard such great flow of moments in modern music. Sure "Loudmouth" is mysogynistic and repetitive, and the least glamorous of the four, but the others? The best mini EP section of a record that had no EPs. It's such strong material. It's punk. It's fun. You can hear the basslines. You can hear the rock. It's catchy. This is amazing music. I will forever remember these songs.

Things come to a screeching halt on "Listen to My Heart." Yes, it's on the first album, so it sounds great, but this is probably one of my least favorite Ramones songs. Dare I say the first boring Ramones song? It's a precursor for something that went on to mar their career with an unabated zeal: generic love songs.

"53rd and 3rd" is amazing, especially how Dee Dee really did turn tricks to score drugs. Art imitating life and all that. And this was in the early days! You get bad drug problems later in life, not from the get go. But that was the Ramones for you. This track also features cool background vox and Dee Dee's first vocal line ever (which is best kept to a short phrase about pulling out a knife). "Let's Dance" is great, and I always wonder what this version would have been like in "Animal House" despite it's unforgivable lack of cool keyboards. They come in at the end, but they sound lame and forced. "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" has never really grabbed me in any particular way (although it is good) but, and tell me if I am reaching here, maybe that's the point? Total indifference. Man, I need to try that on a girl sometime. "What's wrong dear? Wanna go to Waterloo?" ---- "I don't wanna walk around with you."

I am a super lover of the last track "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World." This is a total lame memory but when I first got this record in 2001 I played this song on my bass for like 2 hours. It's so absurdly easy to play, like all Ramones songs, but something about this song really gets me. The bassline is so punchy -- it almost has a post-punk feel to it. It's very fluid, dark, and bouncy --- ahead of its time for sure. This coupled with the line "Nazi Schnazi" (a phrase I used as my own in 2005 when I first called my roommate's cat "Betsey Schmetsey") makes this song one of the Ramones most overlooked gems. The Ramones never topped anything this massively on target in terms of both punk and art , but at-least we have this song to admire.

B-Sides: Demos of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and "Judy is a Punk" are nothing special. The "I Don't Care" demo is bizarre, as it just boggles me that the Ramones would sit on a song like this for three years! It appears later on "Rocket to Russia" and is one of my favorites. Next, and this is very important for the Ramones aesthetic, "I Can't Be," an unused demo, is one of my favorite Ramones songs ever. Seriously. The demo, and especially the B side demo, was a weird realm for the Ramones. Unlike every one else who has every made music, the Ramones' demoed B sides and A sides actually often ended up sounding BETTER than their A sides. This is true for their first few records mainly. For some reason, the grungyness of the it all being thrown together only helps the Ramones get their point across that much better. Sure Dee Dee's bass sounds like shit, but that's good! That's the point! It also has the pentultimate couplet, "Now you say you wanna live with me/1-2-3 you wanna have a family." I used to think only Jackson 5 could write such hits through the incorporation of numbers in their song lyrics, but I was wrong. Demos of "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" and "I Don't Wanna be Learned/Tamed" are both really great and really fast. Like "I Can't Be" they prosper from the bad sound quality. The demo for "You Should Never Have Opened that Door" is good but nothing special, thus proving that the "demos always rule" rule for the Ramones is not made of iron ore. This song actually sounds better polished, as that form suits the songs mode, late 60s power-pop, much better. As will be seen, once the Ramones got away from writing songs that are better suited to be rough both sonically and thematically, the demo becomes lesson vital to their craft.

Grade: 10 (if "Blitzkrieg Bop" wasn't everywhere)/9 (with the actual media saturation included)
Best for: sitting on the bus, with headphones, figuring out how the Ramones did audio for the first time; not wanting to go to work; at night; loud party, but only like three.

Join me next time for RAMONES MANIA: Pt. 2 (LEAVE HOME)!!!