Ramones - Ramones [50th Anniversary Mono]

Fourteen songs, under half an hour, no guitar solos. When four leather-jacketed kids from Forest Hills, Queens released their debut in the spring of 1976, rock and roll was drowning in excess. Ramones cut it all away and, in doing so, lit the fuse for punk on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Blitzkrieg Bop" opens with a chant that has echoed through stadiums ever since, and from there the album never lets up: "Beat on the Brat," "Judy Is a Punk," "53rd & 3rd" and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" crash by in buzzsaw bursts, while "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" reveals the bubblegum heart beating under all that noise. Johnny's down-strummed barre chords, Dee Dee's count-offs and Joey's lovelorn croon add up to one of the most influential sounds ever committed to tape.

It sold modestly at first, but the bands it inspired could fill a record store, and it is now routinely ranked among the greatest debut albums of all time.

This 50th anniversary edition, a brick and mortar exclusive, features the 2016 mono remix by original producer Craig Leon, presenting the album as a single punchy blast. Pressed on 140-gram black vinyl in the original packaging.