RAMONES discography

End of the Century is probably my favorite Ramones album.

"Do you remember rock n' roll radio?" is definitely in my top 5 Ramones songs.

Not my favorite album by them, and IMO the album would have been alot better if Phil Spector was not involved.

The most overrated producer in rock history and IMO his wall of sound, is a steaming pile wall of sh!t, having 1000 musicians on one track does not make it better!!


A complete utter tool, who also helped ruin the Beatles 'Let it Be', the man is a sh!t head

I only got End of the Century a coupla weeks ago, so I can't guage were it's ultimately gonna sit in line with their other albums. I can see how it would divide fans and how they tried to get more radio-friendly. I love it right now, because it's new to me, but that could change over time. Or not.

Coincendently, I'm right at this portion of their history in Mickey Leigh's "I Slept W/ Joey Ramone" book. He confirms that management and Joey in particular were paring with Phil Spector in hopes of breaking into commercial radio. They were 4 albums deep at this point and still had little-to-no radio airplay or mainstream attention. Joey was 29 years old and living with his dad. The band still wasn't making a dime and playing dingy clubs and dive bars. Getting a big name producer and a radio hit was the priority.

From what it sounds like, the British punks and their more politically-charged anthems scared off American radio programmers. So anything with the "punk" label was verboten. Which was really unfortunate for a band like the Ramones, who had no political agenda. They just played rock n' roll stripped down to it's core.

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The most overrated producer in rock history and IMO his wall of sound, is a steaming pile wall of sh!t, having 1000 musicians on one track does not make it better!!

A complete utter tool, who also helped ruin the Beatles 'Let it Be', the man is a sh!t head

I wouldn't go that far. The man innovated some brilliant recording techniques in the early days of rock n roll that are still used today. He just got too far up his own ass later in his career. He's the Rick Rubin of the 60's.

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The most overrated producer in rock history and IMO his wall of sound, is a steaming pile wall of sh!t, having 1000 musicians on one track does not make it better!!

A complete utter tool, who also helped ruin the Beatles 'Let it Be', the man is a sh!t head

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I wouldn't go that far. The man innovated some brilliant recording techniques in the early days of rock n roll that are still used today. He just got too far up his own ass later in his career. He's the Rick Rubin of the 60's.

I would and did, everyone talks about his wonderful production of Ike and Tina Turner's 'Green Grass and Mountain High' but to me it sounds like an unholy mess.

What saves 'End of the Century' is because it has good songs. The production of Spector added nothing to their sound and more importantly did nothing to the band's bottom line but put them in more debt.

Yeah, I would never put Spector or Rubin down across the board. The spearheaded some of my favorite releases and bands. On a personal level, they could be douches, I don't really know.

Spector's Christmas album gets play from me every year too.

But Joey Ramone really wanted that 60's pop thing. That was always evident. And he clearly wanted radio play. as the opening track on their next album would proclaim loudly. The entire band wasn't in agreement, but it's easy to see where Joey wantd to go.

I like the artist Rick Rubin has worked with, but major artist such as Mick Jagger , AC/DC, and Black Crowes have nothing nice to say about him, Jagger was not some new kid on the block when he worked with Rubin, and he got so incensed, he finished the album on his own!!!

Other artists such as Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Metallica, all loved working with Rubin, so I guess it depends on the artist, on the other hand, never heard one single postive thing ever said about Phil Spector.

The problem as I see it with Phil's "Wall of Sound" technique is that it only works on particular songs if they're put together that way from the beginning. He tried to use it on everything he did and that's where it falls apart. When it works, it's brilliant. When it doesn't, it's a mess.

Broad paint strokes work well when painting a barn. The same broad strokes don't work on decorating a Faberge egg.

Maybe because I grew up listening to it, but I was never bothered by his work on the Let It Be album. I have the Let It Be...Naked album now for comparrision, but I don't know that it's any better or worse. Just different.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Maybe because I grew up listening to it, but I was never bothered by his work on the Let It Be album. I have the Let It Be...Naked album now for comparrision, but I don't know that it's any better or worse. Just different.

I was never bothered by the original Let it Be, but I did like the Naked version better when I got it.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I only got End of the Century

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The most overrated producer in rock history and IMO his wall of sound, is a steaming pile wall of sh!t, having 1000 musicians on one track does not make it better!!

He's the Rick Rubin of the 60's.

Quotes of the day!!!!!!!!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

The problem as I see it with Phil's "Wall of Sound" technique is that it only works on particular songs if their put together that way from the beginning. He tried to use it on everything he did and that's were it falls apart. When it works, it's brilliant. When it doesn't, it's a mess.

Broad paint strokes work well when painting a barn. The same broad strokes don't work on decorating a Faberge egg.

Maybe because I grew up listening to it, but I was never bothered by his work on the Let It Be album. I have the Let It Be...Naked album now for comparrision, but I don't know that it's any better or worse. Just different.

I guess I concede your point because those Ronette singles still sound ok, but I think that is also becaue Ronnie Spector has such an incredible voice that cut thru all of that "wall of sound"

manny wrote:

I like the artist Rick Rubin has worked with, but major artist such as Mick Jagger , AC/DC, and Black Crowes have nothing nice to say about him, Jagger was not some new kid on the block when he worked with Rubin, and he got so incensed, he finished the album on his own!!!

Other artists such as Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Metallica, all loved working with Rubin, so I guess it depends on the artist, on the other hand, never heard one single postive thing ever said about Phil Spector.

Yep, overall most artists that worked with Rubin don't have nice things to say about him. For Cash, it was a great opportunity to end his career on a high note - I can see someone like Cash enjoying the freedom to write what he wanted and then go record it without a producer interfering too much. RHCP and Metallica were looking for the name to help sell albums and their egos probably liked not having someone working closely with them while they wrote an album. Of course, it does take Metallica over a year to write an album's worth of music these days.

Even Slayer have made passing comments about Rubin.

Didn't someone recently post the video of the singer from Slipknot talking about working with Rubin? Classic stuff

Rubin also wrote and directed, and had a part in, one of my favorite movies of all time, the Run DMC flick Tougher than Leather.

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For Cash, it was a great opportunity to end his career on a high note - I can see someone like Cash enjoying the freedom to write what he wanted and then go record it without a producer interfering too much.

I can't speak for brickwalling or other production issues that get's S.D.'s undies in knot, but I thought Rubin's production of those Cash albums was brilliant. He stripped away all the bullsh*t production of the 70's and 80's and just let the Man and his guitar do the talking, pure and simple.

What he did with Metallica and other artists was a different animal and I'm not gonna make excuses for those train wrecks.

Getting back on track, I could see how the Ramones working with Phil Spector at the time would have ruffled quite a few feathers, but in hindsight, it makes sense, both from a financial standpoint and artistcally. They needed a hit and Joey loved his work. Did it work? Eh, I guess it's all a matter of opinion.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

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For Cash, it was a great opportunity to end his career on a high note - I can see someone like Cash enjoying the freedom to write what he wanted and then go record it without a producer interfering too much.

I can't speak for brickwalling or other production issues that get's S.D.'s undies in knot, but I thought Rubin's production of those Cash albums was brilliant. He stripped away all the bullsh*t production of the 70's and 80's and just let the Man and his guitar do the talking, pure and simple.

What he did with Metallica and other artists was a different animal and I'm not gonna make excuses for those train wrecks.

Getting back on track, I could see how the Ramones working with Phil Spector at the time would have ruffled quite a few feathers, but in hindsight, it makes sense, both from a financial standpoint and artistcally. They needed a hit and Joey loved his work. Did it work? Eh, I guess it's all a matter of opinion.

Since I don't have much of a Ramones collections, I had no idea that Spector produced one of their albums. He seems like an odd choice for their style of music.

Phil Spector producing a Ramones album isn't any stranger than Bill Laswell producing a Motorhead album (Orgasmatron).

I totally forgot about Phil Spector killing someone. Definitely concede he is a douche.

I still like some of the records he was involved in though, with this Ramones record being my favorite.

S.D. wrote:

Phil Spector producing a Ramones album isn't any stranger than Bill Laswell producing a Motorhead album (Orgasmatron).

Bill Laswell did one of the later Ramones albums too (1989's Brain Drain).

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I totally forgot about Phil Spector killing someone. Definitely concede he is a douche.

I still like some of the records he was involved in though, with this Ramones record being my favorite.

Yea, that whole "murder thing" does tend to taint (taint! he-he!!) his past accomplishments. Isn't that right, O.J.?

On a somewhat related note, I recently got hold of a B-Movie from the '80s called "Barbarian Queen" and the leading lady is an actress named Lana Clarkson. Her name sounded familiar but I couldn't remember where I knew it from. Looked her up on IMDb and she's the woman that Phil Spector shot to death in his house. Yikes!! Now I'm gonna feel like a necrophile when I ogle her ample bosom when I watch the film.

Fat Freddy wrote:

On a somewhat related note, I recently got hold of a B-Movie from the '80s called "Barbarian Queen" and the leading lady is an actress named Lana Clarkson. Her name sounded familiar but I couldn't remember where I knew it from. Looked her up on IMDb and she's the woman that Phil Spector shot to death in his house. Yikes!! Now I'm gonna feel like a necrophile when I ogle her ample bosom when I watch the film.

She also had a blink-and-you-miss-it appearance in Fast Times At Ridgemont High. She was the insanely hot wife of the creepy science teacher, Mr. Vargas(?) . He introduces her to some students at the big dance at the end of the film.

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Spector's Christmas album gets play from me every year too.

I love Spector's Christmas album!! It's my favorite holiday disc.

By 1981 the Ramones were in a state of disarray. Disappointed by the lukewarm reception to End of the Century, the band chose not to renew their management contract with Danny Fields and Linda Stein and signed a new deal with Gary Kurfirst, who would handle the band's affairs till the end of their career.

A feud between Johnny and Joey also increased tensions within the band. Around this time Johnny had begun a relationship with Linda, a former girlfriend of Joey's (most accounts say that Johnny out-and-out "stole" her from Joey), which understandably drove a wedge between the two men that lasted until the end of both of their lives. Even though the Ramones continued recording and performing for another fifteen years, the two men never settled the issue and in fact they rarely spoke to each other from this point on. (Johnny eventually married Linda and they remained together till Johnny's death in 2004.)

Amidst all this chaos, the Ramones released Pleasant Dreams in 1981, which found the band attempting to court pop radio acceptance once again ala End of the Century. The disc was produced by Graham Gouldman, a member of '60s British pop combo 10cc, who was not a popular choice among the band members (once again, the only one who was excited to work with him was Joey). Even Gouldman himself thought it was an odd combination, but Joey told him "We think our songs are like yours." Indeed, many of the songs on the album have a slick, British Invasion feel to them. Dee Dee once described Pleasant Dreams as their "pop-punk album."

While it's not as over-produced as End of the Century, the resulting album is still a mixed bag. The opening track "We Want The Airwaves" is a classic and there are a few other strong songs sprinkled throughout, like "Don't Go," "She's A Sensation" and "Come On Now." but overall Pleasant Dreams is even less "rock" sounding than End of the Century.



Joey's feud with Johnny supposedly inspired one of the album's most popular tracks, "The KKK Took My Baby Away." (The "KKK" allegedly refers to Johnny's hard-core, right-wing Republican political views. Joey was a staunch liberal.) The track was a live set staple for the rest of the band's career, and legend has it that Johnny never quite "got" that it was about him and Linda.



Pleasant Dreams' album cover was the first to break with tradition in that it does not feature an image of the band members. It's also notable that it is the first Ramones album with no cover songs on it, though Joey and Gouldman reportedly considered recording a cover of "For Your Love," a 60s single by Gouldman's band the Mockingbirds.

Once again, album reviews were mixed, sales were sluggish, and it was becoming pretty clear that the Ramones were never going to be big time jet-setting rock stars. In Johnny Ramone's book "Commando," he pinpoints this era as the point where he pretty much said to himself, "Okay, so this is it," and he began to focus his concentration less on recording and album sales and more on continuing to put on good live shows and earning enough money from touring to eventually retire. In other words, this was where the Ramones became a "job" for Johnny.

Though it's garnered a cult following over the years, most fans consider Pleasant Dreams to be one of the Ramones' lesser efforts. I enjoy certain tracks but it's not something I reach for very often.

"Come On Now" is, in my opinion, one of the top 5 tracks in their catalog.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

"Come On Now" is, in my opinion, one of the top 5 tracks in their catalog.

Yeah, that's a great track, and when the band is "on" they're really "on" here, but overall the album is about 50% cool and 50% filler.

Honestly my favorite song on this one isn't even an album track - it's the B-Side "Chop Suey," which is a bonus track on the remastered version from 2002. It's just a goofy 60s surf style song with the gals from the B-52s singing backup vox, simply a fun track that probably should've been on the record.

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Pleasant Dreams' album cover was the first to break with tradition in that it does not feature an image of the band members.

In the Rhino re-issue expanded edition, in the inner tray is the original album cover the band wanted to use but was rejected at the last minute by the record company.



This is another album that is new to me, having only got it about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so I can't fully judge how good or bad it is. I'm enjoying the hell out of it for now.

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Even though the Ramones continued recording and performing for another fifteen years, the two men never settled the issue between them and in fact they rarely spoke to each another from this point on.

It's insane that the 2 of them held onto that grudge for the rest of their lives, yet continued in the band together.