The Ramones Punk Rock Band
The Ramones may or may not have invented punk rock, but they were inarguably the most important band in punk history, creating the stylistic prototype that would be followed by countless bands who emerged in their wake. They were informed by the thunder and flash of the Who and the MC5, the speed and primitivism of Iggy and the Stooges, and the alternately sullen and goofy musings of '60s garage rock, but the Ramones synthesized their influences into something raw and revolutionary, a fury of pounding rhythms and downstroked guitars married to rudimentary melodies and comically absurd lyrics that both mocked and celebrated popular culture and teenage life. The Ramones were tuneful, aggressive, and challenging in their embrace of minimalist fury, and while bands from the Clash and the Sex Pistols to Rancid and Green Day would build on their formula, it's essentially impossible to imagine any of those bands, or punk as we know it, without the Ramones' guiding example. Th...
