So why is Ramones’ Rocket to Russia on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
DurinDuring the research phase for this here best 1,000 albums ever project, I jotted this down about Rocket to Russia:
32 minutes blow by in a haze of glorious old school punked out bliss. Rocket to Russia is so melodic and beautiful and even buoyant while also being raucous and loud and “basic” in its song constructions. All that translates to: it’s fucking great.
My review of that short review, made during a nine-month haze of researching thousands of albums… not bad!
“Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” is an all-time punk rock classic, and it still sounds fresh as hell to this day. Like so much of the Ramones’ music, it’s an incredible fusion of 1950s and 1960s bubblegum pop with a groundbreaking style of punk rock that is somehow both melodic and aggressive and is delivered at a blistering pace.
And as a native New Yorker who has lived in New York City, I’m particularly taken with lines like:
Well New York City really has it all
Oh yeah, oh yeah
“Teenage Lobotomy” is very on brand for the band best known by many for “I Wanna Be Sedated,” off of the Road to Ruin album from 1978 (#738 of best 1,000 albums ever), and has a killer hook. Just at this moment I prefer “Teenage Lobotomy” of the two tracks: it just sounds incredibly fresh and explosive.
“We’re A Happy Family” paints a rather harrowing tale of life in the city, but the music is so driving and infectious that you just want to head bob along.
Sitting here in Queens
Eating re-fried beans
We’re in all the magazines
Gulpin’ down thorazines
“Rockaway Beach” (also located in Queens – more about this below) plays off the beach’s name craftily, creating one of the catchiest songs in the band’s entire catalog.
Personal stuff that has something to do with Ramones’ Rocket to Russia
Rockaway Beach is located in Queens, New York. It’s on the south side of the landmass of Long Island, so it faces the Atlantic Ocean.
I grew up on Long Island Long Island, meaning the counties (Nassau and Suffolk) east of Queens. Specifically, I grew up in East Northport, in Suffolk County, close-ish to the north shore.
I only had the opportunity to visit Rockaway Beach after I moved to Astoria, Queens after college. And specifically, I went there a few summers in a row for the Irish Fest.
What most people don’t fully understand (even for many New York City residents who grew up elsewhere) is that NYC is not only pretty huge and expansive geographically – especially Queens and Brooklyn – but that it holds neighborhoods and pockets that are super unique and even like time capsules in some respects.
My connection to the Irish Fest was through some of my friends who I played rugby with at college up in Binghamton, New York. For a number of my friends, they grew up in far flung areas of Queens to Irish American families teeming with cops and firefighters.
The Irish Fest was always really fun – lots of food, lots of beer, and lots of music on the beach, plus the occasional speech by some local luminary. I saw Black 47 play there once, a band I was already well familiar with from seeing them around the city.
During the second Irish Fest I attended, I met a girl named Rosemarie through a friend. She intrigued me as she seemed to come from a New York City and a Queens that felt connected to a much deeper history than I was familiar with at the time. Our brief relationship of sorts never advanced past handholding, as I recall, and very shortly thereafter I made the decision to move to California.
Which changed my life forever.
Some stats & info about Ramones – Rocket to Russia
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Punk Rock, New York Bands, New Wave, Old School Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #385
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Rocket to Russia released? 1977
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #289 out of 1,000
Ramones’ Rocket to Russia on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Ramones’ Rocket to Russia that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Well the kids are all hopped up and ready to go – they’re ready to go now.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.