How I Like The Ramones: The Playlist

While I think it should be a gas for any listener, the primary audience for the playlist below is the benighted few who think they're fine just owning Ramones Mania, Hey! Ho! Let's Go!: The Anthology, or some other bargain compilation from the Forest Hills Four. I've yet to see a track listing that doesn't either have too many songs from the later years, too few, or too many stinkers. The implication is always that digging further would be less than rewarding. As someone with eight Ramones full-lengths on the shelf (as detailed in my Ramones' album guide), I am not cool with that.

So here's a song each from twelve of the fourteen Ramones studio albums, "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" the sole number from the '84-'87 Richie era I find so frustrating. Why? Because "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" is a tremendous song everyone should know, and the album tracks are pretty P.U. around it. "Bitburg" is also my only inclusion featured on Mania or Hey! Ho! Let's Go!, though another three songs on my playlist can be found on the Weird Tales Of The Ramones box set. The goal was to suggest a rip-roaring good time can be had with the deep cuts, and that you shouldn't assume the labels that made The Ramones use members of 10cc and Dig as producers know how to cherry pick the catalog.

How I Like The Ramones
(Spotify link above, YouTube links below)

1. "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" (The Ramones, 1976)
2. "Oh, Oh, I Love Her So" (Leave Home, 1977)
3. "Why Is It Always This Way" (Rocket To Russia, 1977)
4. "Bad Brain" (Road To Ruin, 1978)
5. "The Return Of Jackie And Judy" (End Of The Century, 1980)
6. "You Look Like You're Sick" (Pleasant Dreams, 1981)
7. "Somebody Like Me" (Subterranean Jungle, 1983)
8. "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" (Animal Boy, 1986)
9. "Palisades Park" (Brain Drain, 1989)
10. "The Job That Ate My Brain" (Mondo Bizarro, 1992)
11. "Out Of Time" (Acid Eaters, 1993)
12. "Life's A Gas" (Adios Amigos!, 1995)

Rather than attempt a "video" playlist, I'll just say you should see The Ramones' 50-minute, 25-song concert for Germany's Rockarchiv in 1978 (which YouTube won't let me post), if you haven't already. There's no way to curate segues like that.

All questions, comments and complaints can go to anthonyisright at gmail dot com.