Ramones Redux

When I first listened to the Ramones in high school (I think it was grade 10 or 11), I wrote them off almost immediately. I'm not entirely sure why I disliked the them. I think I mainly had a narrow view of what punk was, and the Ramones, while they fit my visual conception of punk, didn't fit my aural conception of punk; they didn't rock as hard as I thought punk did - as hard as I thought punk was supposed to have rocked. Punk to me was the Stooges and the Sex Pistols, even though I disliked the Sex Pistols for reasons I won't explain here. I didn't dislike the Ramones in a "they're not for me" way either: I flat out thought they sucked. Yet, I always liked the idea - the image - the legacy - of the Ramones. I guess partially, that is to say, I may have disliked their music, but I was always able to appreciate their historical importance.

So, what turned me around? A few things: having developed an even deeper appreciation for straightforward, poppy music than I already had; having delved deeper into punk this past year; having realized punk was more diverse than I'd thought in high school; and eventually having delved into many of those different forms of punk including pop punk and more technical punk. Lastly, I've also been watching "the punk rock chef" Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations pretty much since Christmas, and he frequently references bands like the Stooges, Television, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, New York Dolls and, you guessed it, the Ramones. Hell, Bourdain even had dinner with drummer Marky Ramone (who turned out to have been quite a food enthusiast) in the Cleveland episode.