Johnny Ramone Remembered Again
I was just looking through the most recent issue of Mojo, England's coolest periodical.
Its got a great piece called "Remembering Johnny"... meaning the only Johnny that matters - Johnny Ramone. It also has a list of the 50 Greatest US Punk tracks, of course, according to Mojo. Look for it - The Ramones are on the cover. Its the November issue.
Lists are the bane of everyone's existence and one man's Top Ten is another's bottom of the barrel. But without these pesky lists, where would magazines and VH1 get their fodder? Where would Nick Hornby have gotten a big break with his record geek character who is ALL OF US?
HOWEVER, given that this is MY space, let me indulge myself by giving you two different top ten lists.
First - my favorite back-in-the-day punk albums at this moment - just 10 of them:
Ramones - eponymous/Rocket to Russia
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
Jam - This is the Modern World
Blondie - Plastic Letters
Dead Boys - Young Loud & Snotty
Clash - London Calling
Damned - Damned Damned Damned
Patti Smith - Horses
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
New York Dolls - eponymous
Sex Pistols
Dead Boy, Stiv Bators
New York Dolls
My favorite records released in 2005, not all of them are punk records, nor are all of them albums
Volebeats - Like Her
Dirtbombs - If You Don't Already Have a Look
Dutchmasters - 7" EP
Knaughty Knights - 7" EP
King Khan & BBQ Show
Reatards (Re-issue) - Teenage Hate
Heavy Trash - eponymous
Deadly Snakes - Porcella
Jack O & the Tearjerkers - Don't Throw Your Love Away
Bob Dylan - Soundtrack for No Direction Home - for the quintessential version of "Visions of Johanna," the greatest song ever written. Period. Don't fight me on this one! NO, not even "London Calling" comes close.
Volebeats' Matt Smith
If You Don't Already Have a Look - literally!
Finally, there are at least three Reigning Sound records floating around this year: Live at Maxwell's, Home for Orphans, Live at Goner and there's the Slovenly single...what's a completist to do? Yeah - I got em all.
And REALLY finally, if you are an LA punk completist, you must absolutely buy the 7" by Memphian, Alicja Trout's new band, River City Tanlines, not just because she's rock n roll's most valuable woman, but because they cover the Alley Cats "Nothin Means Nothin" -- HOW COOL IS THAT??
Alley Cats
ps...if you can't find some of these records in your local indie store or your favorite online purveyor, I guarantee you that Goner Records mail order can hook you up with King Khan/BBQ, Dutch Masters, Knaughty Knights, Reatards, Tearjerkers, River City Tanlines, and probably most of the rest. The names in bold are Goner releases.
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