In my recent Greatest Record Ever Made! piece about the Ramones' "Rockaway Beach," I waxed rhapsodic about the pioneering punk rock group's often-overlooked power pop bona fides. Understand: I came to the phrase "power pop" in 1978, when Bomp! magazine published its incredible power pop issue. Bomp! editors Greg Shaw and Gary Sperrazza! emphatically included the Ramones alongside forebears the Who, the Kinks, the Flamin' Groovies, and the Raspberries as essential parts of the power pop story. I agreed then, and I still endorse that viewpoint now. If "Rockaway Beach" ain't pure pop with pure power, I question the validity of anything being proclaimed as such.
This is...not a universal POV, not even among power pop aficionados I consider my friends and colleagues. I grant you the Ramones don't fit the visuals of any standard power pop image, their records are not particularly known for harmonies, and lyrical subject matter about sniffing Carbona Spot Remover is an eensy bit removed from power pop's prerequisite hormonal overdrive. But the Ramones' music is absolutely a fast 'n' loud flowering of its roots in the 1960s British Invasion and AM pop radio. This is what I wrote when I was given the honor of crafting the entry for the Ramones' induction into The Power Pop Hall Of Fame:
"The Ramones were one of the great power pop groups. They were also one of the great punk groups (of course), and one of the great bubblegum groups, and one of the great all-out rock 'n' roll groups. If these seem to be contradictory claims, I betcha Walt Whitman would have understood. The Ramones were large. The Ramones contained multitudes.
"But the 'power pop' part of that picture is dismissed far too often. Visually, the Ramones didn't match any recognized notion of how a power pop band should look; they bore not even a superficial resemblance to the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, or the Knack, nor to power pop progenitors like the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Who. Their sound was rougher, less overtly melodic, lacking in harmonies, nearly bereft of jangle, lyrically more concerned with sniffing glue and beating on the brat with a baseball bat than with going all the way, wanting you to want them, or what the little girls do. Sharona is not a punk rocker. The Ramones were dirty--not leering-dirty like the salaciously horny approach of much power pop, but grungy, filthy punks. This is pop?
"Well...yeah. Yeah, it's pop. And it's power pop.
"Like much of the other power pop music we love, the music of the Ramones was rooted in the British Invasion, in hit singles played loud 'n' proud on transistor radios across the USA in the mid '60s, in the Beatles and the Who and the Kinks and Herman's Hermits. The Ramones added the Stooges, the MC5, and the New York Dolls to their blend of influences, but retained the 16 magazine appeal of fave raves and high-energy pop 45s. For their first single, they didn't imitate Lou Reed or Bowie or Iggy; they tried to copy the Bay City Rollers, translating the 'S! A! T-U-R! D-A-Y! Night!' of the Rollers' first U.S. hit into the 'Hey-Ho, Let's Go!' chant of 'Blitzkrieg Bop.' This was not coincidence; this was design and intent. The Ramones thought they were a bubblegum band. With their volume and ferocity, their bubblegum became power pop almost incidentally...but gloriously...."
The other day, when the iPod shuffle for my morning commute served up the Ramones' incredible 1977 track "Swallow My Pride"--a track as power pop as anything ever--I hit on the idea of slapping together an imaginary Ramones power pop album. I decided to stick with material the Ramones recorded in the time frame of their first three albums, Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket To Russia. I occasionally regard the Ramones' fourth album, 1978's Road To Ruin, as their masterpiece, and certainly Road To Ruin tracks like "I Wanna Be Sedated," "Don't Come Close," and "I Just Want To Have Something To Do" (and later tracks like "Rock 'n' Roll High School" and more) would fit into this discussion of power pop Ramones. Hell, one could argue that Marky Ramone (who joined the group for Road To Ruin) was more of a power pop-style drummer than his predecessor Tommy Ramone. Nonetheless, the 1976-77 stuff fits the vibe we're after here. (I did make an exception for 1979's gorgeous ballad "I Want You Around," which fits perfectly.)
What doesn't fit is the sniffin' glue, the pinheads, the lobotomies, and other avatars of the Bowery underground. These are all essential parts of the Ramones' DNA, but for this one exercise (and only for this one exercise), we're gonna have to focus on more mundane pop stuff. This denies us the use of "Carbona Not Glue," an absolutely amazing power pop song that happens to be about alienation and substance abuse. Man, they can't all be about wanting to hold your hand, right?
And now, the Ramones' power pop album: 14 tracks to serve as soundtrack to the yearnin', burnin' heart safety-pinned to your sleeve.
THE RAMONES: THE POWER POP ALBUM
Side One
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
I Remember You
Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
Blitzkrieg Bop
Returning to my entry for the Ramones in The Power Pop Hall Of Fame:
"Listen to the Ramones' early singles. 'Blitzkrieg Bop.' 'Swallow My Pride.' A cover of the Rivieras' 'California Sun.' 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.' 'Rockaway Beach.' The perennial classic oldie 'Do You Wanna Dance' (with its incredible B-side 'Babysitter'). The supposedly country (but not hardly) 'Don't Come Close.' A cover of the Searchers' 'Needles And Pins.' If these aren't power pop, then power pop does not exist. This is the sound of an AM radio exuding sheer cool, radiating with both pimply hyperbole and rock 'n' roll swagger, its fist in the air, its heart on its sleeve, its volume set to MORE!! The kids are losing their minds. It may not seem so at first glance, but the kids are all right...
"...Like the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks, and Cheap Trick, the Ramones built a musical legacy that encompasses power pop but is not exclusive to it. It's easy to look at the leather jackets and leathery sneers, to read the twisted lyrics of 'Glad To See You Go' or 'Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,' or experience the breakneck 1-2-3-4! pace of a Ramones concert and conclude that a belief in the Ramones as a power pop band is just the fevered result of huffin' too much Carbona. But the evidence is there. It's in the grooves, where it should be: playing back at 45 or 33 1/3, on tape or compact disc or digital download, AM or FM, in your head, under your skin, and in that forever-young heart you'll listen to next time. The melody! My God, there is indeed melody--irresistible, undeniable melody--that no amount of bludgeoning can obscure. Melody that's faster. Louder. Immediate. Unforgettable. Melody with a sense of menace, a feeling that everything could careen out of control at any second, yet all in its perfect place within the familiar parameters of a 7" slab of vinyl. It's still a thrill. It's still worth swooning over. It's still worth turning up. And it's still power pop to me.
"Take it, Dee Dee!"
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