I'm not too familiar with their music apart from the "hits". Like "I wanna be sedated" which is a classic track. What can you guys tell me about them and what album should one start with?

I can tell you that they were amazing and made quite a few essential albums.
Best place to start, however, is any of the magical first three albums:

RAMONES
LEAVE HOME
ROCKET TO RUSSIA

They are all best punkrock in the world ever.
My personal favourite is Rocket To Russia.

prinssi said:

Thanks for the info. This may seem like a silly question but are their songs really fast? I hate really fast punk songs. I'd love to hear more stuff from them in the "i wanna be sedated" vein.

dancerella said:

most of their stuff is a little faster than "sedated"...it ain't blindingly fast, though.

dancerella said:

They have many. Their music is unfairly categorized as 'fast and angry' . .and though they did have a lot of fast songs, they were more fun-spirited than anything. And mixed in with the fast there was also a quite a handful of moderate tempo'd numbers and even out-and-out romantic ballads. Joey had quite a knack for writing an old-fashioned hand-holding teenage love song . .check out 'I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend' and 'I Want You Around' for fine samples. There's some sweetness to be had.

[Edited 4/14/05 13:56pm]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Ok cool, I can deal with that! Now this is going to seem like an even sillier question but here goes.....gasp.....how do they compare to.....gasp again.....Green Day? Or maybe it should be the other way around?

i think it's interesting...the bands that have a really obvious ramones influence and are able to pull it off most successfully seem to be girl bands - i'm thinking shonen knife and the donnas, specifically.

dancerella said:

they wax and buff the floor with green day.

Cool thing is those albums have been remastered for CD too and they're easy to get.

hi clapz!

CinisterCee said:

Cool, I might have to pick me up a copy!

CinisterCee said:

hi cee! (hehe, i said hi-c...)

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

prinssi said:

agreed ,.... these albums are re-mastered and cheap i'd add "end of the century" the album , dont get confused with end of the century the movie !!.

they were the beach boy's of punk rock catchy tunes and brill attitude !

once you are into them , try joey's solo album dont worry bout me , i loved it !

I love the Ramones! Their music makes me wanna get all crazy and jump around like a five year old!!

I
LIVE FOR THE RAMONES!!!!


(there is a wicked comp called all the stuff and more that is just that:
a chronological re-release of all the material...you should investigate...)

0V3RF13ND said:

the 'hey ho let's go' rhino anthology is pretty good too. though i think my faaaavorite ramones best-of album was 'ramonesmania' - it was just the stuff that was REALLY essential, and it was the perfect primer.

0V3RF13ND said:

That comp sounds like it could be a good place to start. Thanks for the tip!

Rock n' roll!

dancerella said:

gabba gabba semper fi...

dancerella said:

Start with:

Ramones
Rocket To Russia
Leave Home
It's Alive

Then ...

Road To Ruin
Too Tough To Die
Pleasant Deams


Then ...

End of the Century
Subterranean Jungle


If you get beyond that you're a drooling fan who'll want to own the rest - speaking from experience.

excellent selections
but i also suggest
acid eaters
from the nineties:
the ramones give psychedelia a try
covering:
the who
jefferson airplane
rolling stones
others...