This summary of Ramones' later stages of their career kicks off with The KKK Took My Baby Away, a simple song very much in their early style. With tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a lot of great little hooks, it is catchy pop-punk bliss. She's a Sensation continues this trend, as a signature 1960s all-girl group tune but with distortion guitars and torn jeans. Four albums later, they returned to this style with Garden of Serenity, albeit with a heavier sound.
Their "new" style starts with We Want the Airwaves, which features nicely sophisticated composition (ok, relatively speaking!) and a much more polished sound. Fear not that they have sold out, because the lyrics are still wonderfully inane! Somebody Put Something in My Drink is quite similar, and a huge hit in my book. Sure, it's trashy (reminding me a bit of Twisted Sister), but it's the perfect drunken pub rock singalong.
Another style often visited later in their career was slower riff-driven cock-rock. Psycho Therapy (which has a terrible drum sound), Too Tough To Die and Mama's Boy are all examples of this. In my opinion, the choruses of these three songs are all a bit awkward. Mama's Boy is my pick of this style, featuring good recording quality (although the bass guitar is MIA) and a great swagger.
The tempo is further slowed for the great moody sound of I'm Not Afraid of Life and She Talks to Rainbows, the latter is a favourite for me. Poison Heart is somewhere between these two styles and is a solid "late Ramones" song.
They also had a few attempts at a style similar to The Cure for songs such as Howling at the Moon (again, a terrible drum sound), Something to Believe In (which feels contrived and has a really cheesy synth sound), I Wanna Live and Pet Semetary. The execution is generally passable, but if I want to listen to The Cure, then I'll listen to one of The Cure's CDs...
Now, back to the immature stuff! It's Not My Place is probably quite weak objectively, with cliched name-dropping in the lyrics and not much going on musically. But the lyrics still seem to appeal to the inner teenager in me! Endless Vacation is terrible, like a bunch of untalented and stoned teenagers throwing something together for a Battle of the Bands. Similar to It's Not My Place, Merry Christmas is a generic song that's made very enjoyable for me purely due to the lyrics.
My Brain is Hanging Upside Down is incredible. It is one of my all-time favourite songs. For many years, I thought the lyrics were a random collection of interesting phrases without any meaning. But then I learned that it was a political protest (about President Regan's visit to a Nazi cemetary) and my appreciation grew even further. The way the lyrics obscurely and poetically form a political protest about dancing with the devil for capitalist gains is incredible. The sophisticated songwriting deserves praise in its own right, it smoothly grows through the verses, pre-chorus, chorus etc. Like any good Ramones song, the good times are over before you know it, but the beauty of this song is that it makes 4 minutes disappear just as quickly and enjoyably as their early 90 second blasts.
Lastly, the tempo is cranked up for Tomorrow She Goes Away, I Don't Wanna Grow Up and R.A.M.O.N.E.S. All three are great songs. Tomorrow She Goes Away is simple, catch and fun punk-rock. The lyrics on I Don't Wanna Grow Up (originally by Tom Waits, by the way) are a highlight for me. On the surface, they're totally immature, but when you think about it, they actually are quite insightful:
I'm gonna put a whole in my TV set,
I don't wanna grow up.
Open up the medicine chest,
I don't wanna grow up.
Lastly, R.A.M.O.N.E.S. is a fantastic moshpit singalong. Just bouncing around like a lunatic for the hell of it- vintage Ramones!
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