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According to If You Like The Ramones…, the band from New York launched the punk rock movement. Certainly, they were major influences on the bands who inhabited the punk genre in the 1970s along with them and punk and other musicians who came after as well. So the question is, if you already own everything The Ramones ever put out, what do you do now?
Well, there’s no need to fear. Peter Aaron is here to tell you about over 200 bands and CDs, cartoons and TV shows, films and books that Ramones lovers should love. Many of the groups and media entries influenced various Ramones and among the bands, many have publicly acknowledged their debt to the boys from Queens.
But this is not just an interesting list. The book is full of information about music and media, beginning with early rock and roll and continuing to the present day. It covers not only punk but classic rock, bubblegum, heavy metal, surf rock, thrash metal, college rock, hardcore punk, and British Invasion music and more. The TV shows include Top Cat and The Flintstones, I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners, as well as the music shows of the 60’s and 70’s Movies mainly explore some of the classic horror films from Frankenstein to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho.
Aaron obviously loves The Ramones and many of the groups and much of the media he includes. As a punk rocker himself as the front man of New York punk group The Chrome Cranks and a respected music journalist and former promoter of groups like Nirvana and White Zombie, he is certainly qualified and has a breezy, conversational writing style. His enthusiasm is infectious. Music is, of course, the main focus of the book and while many of the groups were known to me, many were not. It is a tribute to Aaron that I am motivated to look many of the ones I don’t know on YouTube and to seek out the “Best Of” compilations he recommends for many I do know.
This book is recommended not only for fans of The Ramones but for anyone interested in the history of punk music or those who are interested in popular music in general.
