Let Me Calmly Explain Why The Ramones are Overrated

I was scrolling through Facebook a few days ago, and ugh is that site becoming more and more absurd and insane by the minute it seems, but I saw a cool thing on a Run the Jewels fan page that I am a part of. In fact, all I have on my front page on Facebook is a few music things, a small amount of friends and sports news, so I was glad to see what I saw.

There was a question asked on the page. The question was simple, but it ended up getting well over 100 comments, in about an hour. The question, or statement was, "unpopular music opinion, Go". And man did people respond. The Beatles. Bob Dylan, Eminem, Bob Marley, EDM, these seemed to be the bands or musicians with the most mentions, and everyone hated them. I saw some other stuff that made my head crane. Someone called Prince overrated, that is wrong. Someone said Tool is better than Pink Floyd. On what planet is this true? People also said Lynrd Skynrd was better than Led Zeppelin. Not now, not ever.

I thought about these remarks, considered my instant reaction, but then thought about the question in place. The person who started this clearly said these are "unpopular opinions". So, after sitting, and thinking about it, I commented too. I mentioned my distaste for The Doors, Jim Morrison and The Beach Boys. I got some angry comments, but I definitely got more people that agreed with my stance. But today I want to put out what I deem to be my "most controversial music opinion". And before I get into it, no I don't have Drake on here, he is already widely considered trash by real hip hop fans. I don't have any of the younger, mumblecore rappers. That is trash too. I don't have the Grateful Dead because I have made my thoughts on them well known, much to the chagrin of two of my older brothers. I feel those are as simple as the people who trashed the Beatles, or gave a group like Limp Bizkit credit.

No, my unpopular opinion on music is, you all ready for this, I think The Ramones are the most overrated, least talented band that has ever existed.

BOOM!

There, I have finally said it. I know that I wrote about them as one of America's greatest bands, but I always felt dirty about it. I felt like I needed to take multiple showers after writing that, or just throw in the towel as a writer. I felt like a goddamn sell out. But now that I am in quarantine, and have been listening to a ton of music, I feel like I can go in hard on The Ramones. I even gave them a chance fairly recently to see if it was just me, if I was the problem. After about three songs, I knew that my initial thought was correct. They are, for me, not good at all. In fact, I think they are more well known as a band that sells t-shirts than a band that played music. I guarantee the myriad of teens and young 20 year olds that wear a Ramones shirt have zero idea who they are, but the shirt is now considered "fashionable". Getting to the music though, it is the most simplistic thing I have ever listened to. Yes, I play guitar, and I was in a few very crappy bands, but I am a mediocre at best rhythm guitar player. But, after listening to some Ramones, I feel like I could've easily been their lead guitar player. The music is so easy and so simple and so entry level. Chords, like major chords, are pretty easy after you figure out how to play them. The old saying goes, "if you know three chords, you can play most songs". Well, The Ramones made it even easier. Instead of playing major or even minor chords, they played power chords. For those that may not know, power chords only encompass 3 of the six strings, they are all on top of the guitar, the easiest strings to reach, and all you have to do is just hammer away with your fingers or a pick. The first time I was taught a power chord, I remarked to my teacher how much easier this was, and asked why more bands don't do this. He told me that it was too simplistic, and that I wouldn't learn if I just stuck with power chords. The Ramones made their living on these. That is insane. It is so easy and so minor and takes the least amount of effort. The same thing with their drummer. He was more brain dead than Meg White, another unpopular opinion from me I suppose. I don't think he even needed a full kit. He could have been fine with just one drum, maybe with a pedal, sticks and a snare. They didn't need anything else. It was just a simple three or four count on drums, and guitar for that matter, and I cannot recall any type of true solos from their music. And then we get to singing. I believe Joey Ramone was the singer(hell, I don't know, and to be quite frank, don't care), and man is he horrible. And this isn't a Dylan or Tom Waits thing, where it is an "acquired taste" This Ramone was just a bad singer. He more talk sang, a la Lou Reed, who I adore by the way, but it was worse. It is so hard to understand. I only know in "I Wanna Be Sedated" that those are the words because that is what the song is called. The same thing can be said with "Rock and Roll High School". I simply don't understand, don't get, any other words he is saying. I think he is one of the worst "singers" in history.

If I'm going to go full scorched Earth on The Ramones, KISS is a better version of what they were trying to do. I don't think they started the punk movement. I'm sure some band, or bands from Europe were doing punk before The Ramones. I don't care about the whole CBGB vibe. Way better bands played at this club that, by all accounts, was a dirty and disgusting place. For me The Ramones are an image. Their fame has nothing to do with their ability or their music. People liked them because they looked different. People liked them because they gave off the vibe that anyone could do what they did. Yet somehow they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and looked at as a band that started a movement. I call BS on all of that. If I'm going to listen to punk rock give me Iggy and the Stooges or The Dirtbombs or, hell, that's it for me.

The Ramones stink, and I will go to my grave with this opinion. I do want people to tell me why I am wrong, right and put in the comments your unpopular music opinions. This is a very interesting thought exercise, and I want to hear from the readers. But, just know, The Ramones stink. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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SeedSing's Advent Calendar of Awesome Holiday Music: Day 17 - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)

ed note: This article was originally published on December 17th, 2015

The pre-Christmas Day season of Advent is upon us. Here at SeedSing we love the chocolaty goodness of getting a piece of candy once a day until we get to open our presents. As our gift to you we will present a new awesome holiday song for every day of Advent. This is the greatest music of the season. Enjoy.

Day 17: Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones

Opened doors: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen

Every Christmas I drive my wife and son to St. Louis so we can visit our family. In some ways I am lucky because my parents and in-laws live in the same metro area. It does seem very convenient that we can spend the holidays at both parents households. In reality it has been stressful at times running between two households. My wife and I have many discussions leading up to our journey about who we will see and on what days. Sometimes these discussions become tense and we give up negotiating with each other. During the joys of the holiday season my wife and I will get into arguments about our plans. We rarely fight, but Christmas has a special power over many loving couples.

"Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" was the final track on The Ramones 1989 album Brain Drain. The song has the typical Ramones sound. Joey Ramones iconic voice, the driving repetitive guitar, the brevity. Like many other holiday songs, "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" uses iconic Christmas imagery. Rudolph, Santa, snow, sugar plum fairies, and sleeping children all pop up in the tune. Christmas is supposed to be about these ideals, it is not a time to fight.

Society tells us that loving couples never fight. That is incredibly naive. "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" recognizes that people who love one another will fight. Joey just wants us to remember that it is Christmas, we should not be attacking each other. The Ramones believe the best way to not fight is to think of everything great about the holidays. When the fighting starts, think of Christmas, and we can all calm down.

I am an idiot for having silly arguments with my wife around the holidays, or anytime of the year. We are very lucky to have our parents in the same city. We are very lucky to have loving people around us during the holidays. When I start to get anxious discussing our Christmas schedule with my wife I will hum the catchy tune from the Ramones and think of everything great about the holiday. I will remember to tell my wife Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight tonight.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He and his wife rarely argue around Christmas anymore. They save their disagreements about which "Star" franchise is the best. The correct answer is Star Wars. Come tell RD why his view is correct by writing for SeedSing.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Iggy and the Stooges

For the greatest American band debate today, I'm going to nominate the one, and only, punk rock group that I have legitimately liked. The problem with punk rock music, at least in America, it becomes too watered down and begins to sound emo when a decent punk group gets some fame. There are too many to list, but I bet the readers know exactly what I'm talking about. In all fairness, the best punk groups come from the UK. There is no denying this, it is a statement of fact. But, Iggy and the Stooges made American punk music cool for their run as a band.

Iggy and the Stooges were the only punk group I heard and was immediately in to. I know some people will try to tell me that the Ramones were punk, they were not, they were rock and pop. The Stooges were punk. Even when they first formed and did some psychedelic stuff, it still sounded punk rockish, at least to me. And, it was mainly because of their phenomenal front man, Iggy Pop. I knew that I was going to be into Iggy and the Stooges before I listened to them, because they are from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Not only were they from the greatest state in the US, but they were from the greatest college town of all time. I was destined to like them.

I do have to say, the way I first heard of the Stooges was from a Black Keys EP where they covered their song, "No Fun". I loved the Black Keys version, so, combined with the fact that they were from Ann Arbor and my all time favorite band was covering their songs, I had to check them out. They did not disappoint. Their self titled debut record, while not commercially successful, is a very, very good album. they have some of the psychedelic stuff going on, but it is mostly straight up punk guitar and bass riffs, fast paced drums and Iggy Pop performing these songs with his signature gruff style. I think the record is very good. They may have come off as weird when they released it in the early 70's, but it still holds up today. I'd much rather listen to this album than anything the Ramones have ever released.

A couple of years later, they released their second record, "Fun House". After the release of "Fun House", that was when the Stooges got the critical acclaim. It was a straight forward punk record with classic song after classic song. During the tour after the release of "Fun House" was also when the band got into heroin and their live shows became a thing of legend. Heroin is so nasty, I assume, and it seems like every band from the 70's tried it at one time or another, but it wasn't the drugs that made them great. The live shows was were it was at, and yes, I'm sure heroin had something to do with what made these shows so epic. They used to tour with another great American band, that will surely get their due on the site soon, MC5, and the shows are still talked about today. This was when Iggy Pop would do crazy stuff like cut himself with broken glass, rub food stuffs and other things all over his shirtless body, the band was always playing incredible stuff and, during these live shows, that was when Iggy Pop supposedly created stage diving. I don't know if it is true or not, but the fact that a lot of people credit him with creating this, I mean, how cool is that. Stage diving has become commonplace now, but imagine being there when it first happened. You have to have a crowd that is really into your music, so much so that they are willing to hold you up when you dive into a sea of fans. I love that Iggy Pop is the supposed creator, because who else could it really be. Iggy Pop is so believable as the man that invented stage diving.

After many epic live shows and many problems with hard drugs, the band all got sober and released their third, and final record as the traditional Stooges, "Rough Power". They recorded this album with David Bowie, who had become good friends with Pop, as the producer. The album is hit or miss, with most of the criticism being thrown Bowie's way for over producing, but it is still an okay record. You can definitely hear Bowie's fingerprints all over this record.

The band broke up for the final time after "Rough Power". Pop has gone on to do wonderful things as a solo artist. He has worked with many great musicians and producers, guys like Brian Burton and Josh Homme, and has had a lot of success. Pop is the undeniable star of this great group, but I cannot end this blog without mentioning how great the Asheton Brothers, Ron and Scott were. They were both just as important to the Stooges sound and uprising as one of the greatest punk rock groups ever. They have since passed, as has everyone else that was first involved with the Stooges, but Iggy Pop is still plugging along.

I also cannot end until I name some of the great bands that the Stooges influenced. I already mentioned the Black Keys, but other bands like Sonic Youth, Rage Against the Machine, REM, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and the late great Kurt Cobain have all said that the Stooges were big influences, and they have all covered them, one way or another. The Stooges were finally, after 7 tries, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. It was a longtime coming.

Look, I will be forever grateful to the Stooges for showing me that punk rock can be good. It doesn't have to be simplistic and the singer doesn't have to scream into a mic or be emo. You can be yourself and make great music, which the Stooges did. They are more than worthy to be called one of America's greatest bands.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Who do you think the Greatest American Band is? Come tell us all about it. Also, follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Ramones

For the greatest American band debate on Seed Sing, I'm going to nominate another band that I'm not really a fan of, but to be reputable, we have to acknowledge these bands that most of the music listening population recognizes as an all time great. The band I'm going to talk about today, I actually dislike almost as much as I dislike the Beach Boys. That band is The Ramones.

The Ramones are widely considered the founders of punk rock music, a genre of music I'm not that into, but I recognize how important and influential it is and has been. For my punk rock, I go to Iggy and the Stooges, who I will write about at another date, or more prog type punk rock like King Crimson or Mars Volta, I'll also be writing about Mars Volta at a later date. King Crimson is from England, so they don't make the cut in our debate. Those three bands, in my opinion, are way, way better than The Ramones, but they aren't recognized like The Ramones. The Ramones are credited with starting punk rock because every single one of their songs is a tight 2 minutes and they only play three chords and the lyrics are sung muffled. That, for all intents and purposes, is the definition of punk rock. When it comes to my personal definition, punk rock is anarchy and disestablishment and great, complicated guitar work, especially solos.

When it comes to front men, Iggy Pop is a much better punk rock singer than Joey Ramone. You can understand most of what Iggy Pop is saying and as far as on stage theatrics, there is no one that comes close to Iggy Pop, especially not Joey Ramone. But, Joey Ramone is widely looked at as the essential punk rock front man, much to my shock. He just kind of stood on stage and garbled his way through each song. People will call that punk rock, I say, he was hiding the fact that he was not that good of a singer and he had some form of stage fright.

Then, when you look at the musicians in King Crimson or Mars Volta, they are so much better and so much more proficient than Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone. Robert Fripp, of King Crimson, is ten thousand times the guitar player that Johnny Ramone ever wished he could be. And oh my god, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez is one of the greatest, most innovative and weirdest guitar players I've ever listened to in my entire life. I think he's an alien that was put on Earth to show us humans what a real guitar god looks and plays like. He is the Millenial's Jimmy Page. He's a guitar wizard that people will call legendary in about 20 years. I guarantee I will be telling my son about him when he's in his twenties and asks me about music from my generation. He's the man. Do people really say the same thing about Johnny Ramone? Is he a legendary, all time great guitar player? I don't think so. He doesn't have any memorable solos and he basically plays three chords on every song. Anyone that takes one guitar lesson can pretty much learn the entire Ramones song book. It is literally that easy. Just learn a G chord, a C chord and an F chord and you are good to go.

Let's get back to why some believe they are so influential. I will bend and say that without The Ramones, we would have never gotten The Sex Pistols, another band I'm not so fond of, but people love, Jello Biafra, who is a genius musician, there'd be no Black Flag, who is a much better band and Bad Brains, who are a great, great punk rock/reggae band. They did influence these bands and musicians and countless others, but the people I just mentioned took that influence, ran with it and made much, much better music than The Ramones. I know that people love the "simplicity" of their songs. Critics love the fact that they got their message out in 2 minutes or less. In my opinion, they could only handle that small amount of music because they were not that skilled. They needed to get everything done in a short amount of time because, if their songs lasted longer, they would be seen as subpar musicians and songwriters. They wouldn't be as highly regarded as they are now. Big time magazines and publications like "Billboard" or "Rolling Stone" even went as far to name them the second greatest rock group of all time, behind only The Beatles. That's down right insane. No way are they better than The Rolling Stones, Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Kinks, Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Janis Joplin and the Holding Company, the Flying Burrito Brothers, I could literally go on and on with bands that are far superior to The Ramones.

I also acknowledge that the Ramones had a big stake and were very influential in making the cult classic movie "Rock and Roll High School" that many people adore. Have any of these people that claim to love that movie seen it lately? It does not hold up well. The movie is a lot like The Ramones music. It's kind of a muffled, garbled look at a Detroit high school in the 70's. It's boring and pointless too. I don't get the love for that movie. It's very overrated.

Look, I understand that a lot of people think The Ramones are one of the greatest American bands, I'm not one of those people. But, I also realize that we at SeedSing have to recognize and write about things we don't like or disagree with if we want to be taken seriously. So, I made the best case that a non fan of The Ramones can make. I believe that there are thousands of bands and musicians that are much, much better than The Ramones, but not everyone sees it that way. Much to my chagrin, these are the "reasons" that The Ramones belong in our greatest American band debate. Please tell me why I'm wrong in the comment section, but also check out some of the people I mentioned above and go listen to the people that The Ramones influenced instead of listening to The Ramones.

That's the best advice I can give you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once adored the Ramones, then learned their entire catalog in one afternoon and moved on. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Introduction

Time to get the records out.

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I'm a lover of all music.

All music except for jazz and new age country that is. People often pose the question to me, "Who's the best band"? There is any number of answers to give. Some may say The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etcetera. The one thing you may have noticed in those answers is, those are all bands from overseas. Mainly the United Kingdom. Why no American bands? Is it because most great American musicians are solo artists? We have Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, BB King, Miles Davis and Woody Guthrie just to name a few. And before I get yelled at online, I don't count Janis Joplin's backing band, The Holding Company, or Bob Dylan playing with The Band(who are all Canadian except for Levon Helm) as great American bands. They're very good, but not great.

So, let's break it down. Who is the greatest American band? Do they come from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or 2000's? Is there even an American band that can hold a card to the great bands from overseas? I don't know that for sure, but I'm going to throw out a lot of great American bands today and we can all decide together.

Let's take the 50's. One band that comes to mind for me is The Crickets. You may know them as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The Crickets played on some of the greatest songs in the history of music and were just as important to Buddy Holly's music as Buddy Holly was. Some people may put The Crickets into The Holding Company category, but go back and listen to some of their stuff and you will see how influential they were on modern day rock and roll.

In the 60's, we got some more psychedelic rock bands from America, but I'm not too crazy about some of these bands. First, we have The Doors. I am not a fan of the Doors, but they were hugely popular and definitely put their stamp on rock music. Jim Morrison was fine as a poet and songwriter, albeit super overrated in my opinion, but his band was really pretty good. They just had an unfortunate choice in picking their lead singer and were stuck with Jim Morrison. Then there's the Beach Boys. I CANNOT stand the Beach Boys. They made crappy pop music and are an abomination to rock and roll. That being said, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a lot of people not only like the Beach Boys, they love them. Their fans will also defend Brian Wilson to the heavens, no matter how difficult of a person he is to work and deal with. My favorite American bad from the sixties, by far, is Creedance Clearwater Revival. Their brand of rock music, mixed with blues and soul is undeniably great. They've had a ton of hits and a ton of fans, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Fogerty is still making pretty good music as a solo artist.

The 70's brought along a lot of great talent to American rock and roll. We got the Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Each one is great in their own right, and in the case of Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they are still making music. In Tom Petty's case, he is still making great music. Many people might even say that The Eagles are the greatest American rock band of all time. I disagree. The 70's did put out some great music from all corners. We also got KISS, the Ramones and Sly and the Family Stone. Another band from the 70's that people love is Grateful Dead. Not me though. In my opinion, they are a jam band that has no structure to their jams. I don't want to hear one song that's usually three and a half minutes long turn into a 30 minute song. no thanks. My older brothers will be pretty upset at me for trashing the Grateful Dead, but I just don't like them. When it comes to 70's American bands, it gets no better than the Allman Brothers Band. They played great songs with a beautiful mixture of rock and blues. Robert Johnson introduced me to the blues and Son House introduced me to slide guitar, but the Allman Brothers made slide guitar and rock/blues music cool. They are not just one of the best American bands, they're one of the greatest bands of all time period.

The 80's changed what rock music could be in America. Bands like Heart and The Runaways showed that girls can rock just as hard as guys. Blondie blended all different types of music, and did it very well. And yes, Blondie is the band name, Debbie Harry is their lead singer's name. But, when it comes to 80's rock bands in America, the Talking Heads are the greatest. David Byrne is a genius and still making fantastic music. The Talking Heads were innovators and way ahead of their time. They tried so many different things with their music and, more times than not, hit it out of the park.

The 90's brought on the grunge era in American rock music. We got great bands like Green Day, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Each band is great in it's own way. Green Day brought back punk/pop music. Soundgarden brought back the psychedelic rock from the 60's and 70's and Pearl Jam was dark a brooding. A very cool version of emo. Then came Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a musical genius. Especially as a lyricist. His lyrics are profound and prolific. He died way too young and became way too famous too fast. His two band mates, Kris Novaselic and Dave Grohl were excellent. Most people know Dave Grohl and all the work he's doing right now and Kris Novaselic has played bass for many different bands. When it comes to 90's American rock for me, it gets no better than Weezer. I love Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is a great writer and very excellent, very underrated guitar player. Their first album, "The Blue Album" is a work of art. Then, they released "Pinkerton" which is just as good and maybe even a bit better than "The Blue Album" Weezer is awesome.

Which brings me to the 2000's. Time will have to tell with this era. It's only been 15 years and these bands still need a bit more seasoning. That being said, there are some bands on their way to greatness for sure. The White Stripes could've been on their way if they were still making music. Jack White has also become an unfavorable character and a shell of his former self as a musician. He's also a well known asshole too. Bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio still need time, but in the Black Keys case, they are well on their way. There are other bands such as, Alabama Shakes and The Shins, but like I said earlier. Time will tell.

See, in this long piece I couldn't single out just one American band. There's a lot to choose from and if I was told that I had to name one right now, I'd pick the Black Keys, strictly because they're my favorite band. I didn't even touch on rap groups and yes, rap groups can be considered great American bands. I'll leave that for a future piece. So people out there reading this, let me know which American bands are great in your eyes. Who did I leave out or who did I bash that you like. Or, do you agree with me. Leave a comment and until later, keep listening to good rock and roll music.

Be it American rock or otherwise.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is eager to write another 1000 words on music. Follow him on twitter @tykulik