Joey Ramone surely must have been voted least likely to succeed at anything during high-school. The outcast, loner, diagnosed with obsessive–compulsive disorder and the legend goes that he had to count his steps to cross the street, and once in London, he lost count halfway across, turned back to start again and was hit by a car. Joey died from lymphoma on April 15, 2001, a month before he would have turned 50. Johnny Ramone was a juvenile delinquent and a bit of a far-right douche. When Joey was in the hospital dying, Johnny refused to visit or telephone him as he proclaimed: "He's not my friend". Johnny died from prostate cancer on September 15, 2004. Dee-Dee was basically a mess and overall sad person with a history of prostitution and obvious drugs problems. He came up with naming the band after reading that Paul McCartney signed into hotels under the alias Paul Ramon. Dee Dee died from a heroin overdose on June 5, 2002. Tommy left the band already back in 1978 after being physically threatened by Johnny? He continued as producer and died in 2014. RIP The Ramones.

"Beat on the brat with a baseball bat" Oh yeah!! The live album "Loco Live" from 1991 or if you prefer: "1,2,3,4 - everything's faster in reality", meaning they played all songs at a different tempo from its original recording. The best or rather worst example of what The Ramones were all about. They could barely keep up with the 1,2,3,4 introduction. I guess they needed to get off stage quickly in order to get hold of their dealer :) But seriously. It's a bit too much of the pedal to the metal. Every song sounds exactly the same? Nah. But, there's many similar tunes and no more than three chords. It's just a fun mix of Punk, Power-Pop, and Bubblegum Rock. Simply join the musical misfits movement - Ramones - The Big Ten:

10. Bonzo Goes To Bitburg
9. Pinhead
8. I Wanna Live
7. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
6. Somebody Put Something In My Drink

5. Teenage Lobotomy
"DDT did a job on me. Now I am a real sickie. Guess I'll have to break the news. That I got no mind to lose. All the girls are in love with me. I'm a teenage lobotomy". The beat, the chant, the lyrics. It's the official theme song for the musical misfits movement in the year of 1977. It's mental. It's dumb. It's catchy. It's fun. What else can you ask for? From the Rocket To Russia album where their live sound was captured in the studio by drummer-Tommy and none other than Tony Bongiovi (his daft cousin is John from Bon Jovi).

4. Pet Sematary
Oh the horror, the horror!! I don't want to be buried in a pet cematery? Well, duh! Fan-boy Stephen King asked if they'd write a tune for the upcoming soundtrack to his bestseller and the result speak of anicent goblins and warlords? It's the first ever Ramones song that I can recall listening to as I watched a dodgy second hand copy of the movie. Released in 1989 and from the album Brain Drain, Dee Dee left the Ramones shortly after the album's release, citing the toxic work environment within the band. "Come out the ground, not making a sound. The smell of death is all around". Creepy and fun.

3. The KKK Took My Baby Away
The story behind the 1981 song from the Pleasant Dreams album is something out of the ordinary. Johnny stole and later married Joey's girlfriend, Linda. Joey never forgave Johnny and they stopped talking to each other but continued to tour and record as a band. Oh the drama. It's worse than day-time TV. Listening to this after spending weeks with Motley Crue's Too Fast For Love, it's a long deja vu experience. Commerical radio did not play this due to its title and the "nazi" thing. It's basically the same story as with KISS. Both acts feature two jewish blokes and believe me, they never wanted to be friendly with the Hitler crowd. Not sure about Johnny and Ace though. In the words of Dead Kennedys - Nazi Punks Fuck Off!

2. I Wanna Be Sedated
Ba ba baba, baba ba baba?? Originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in 1978. Joey wrote this while spending Christmas on the road in London, where everything's shut down and there's nothing to do than drugs? television and coming up with classy lines such as I Wanna Be Sedated. It's deadly catchy and it treats us to the transition of punk into power-pop through Joey's slightly derranged and toxicated musical lens. "Just put me in a wheelchair, get me on a plane. Hurry hurry hurry, before I go insane. I can't control my fingers, I can't control my brain". One of the best shout-a-long songs when you're feeling down or any other time really

1. Blitzkrieg Bop
"Hey Ho Let's Go". Basically THE song that started a musical revolution and merely a year later people would think of Punk-Rock as a UK thing??? From the 1976 debut which they recorded in seven days and to the hefty sum of $6,400! Unsuccessful commercially and they only ever received one gold record throughout their career. The immortal catchphrase and simple arrangement forced the snotty youth to start playing in a band as they also wanted to be punk rocker... with flowers in the hair? WTF? It goes straight for the heart and solely focusing on tempo and chant, with lyrics about kids that are losing their minds. "Hey Ho Let's Go".

This list by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,

The list as a YouTube playlist

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