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The Ramones’ third album, Rocket to Russia, boasts a cleaner production than its predecessors, which only gives the Ramones’ music more force. Their most critically acclaimed, mixing an obvious yearning for rock ‘n’ roll’s past with a minimalist punk attack which made them sound fresh. It is widely considered one of the definitive cornerstones of the punk rock genre, perfectly balancing their signature raw, high-velocity minimalist attack with surf-rock melodies and bubblegum pop sensibilities It helps that the group wrote its finest set of songs for the album. From the mindless, bopping opening of “Cretin Hop” and “Rockaway Beach” to the urban surf rock of “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” and the ridiculous anthem “Teenage Lobotomy,” the songs are teeming with irresistibly catchy hooks; even their choice of covers, “Do You Want to Dance?” and “Surfin’ Bird,” provide more hooks than usual. The Ramones also branch out slightly, adding ballads to the mix. Even with these (relatively) slower songs, the speed of the album never decreases. However, the abundance of hooks and slight variety in tempos makes Rocket to Russia the Ramones’ most listenable and enjoyable album — it doesn’t have the revolutionary impact of The Ramones, but it’s a better album and one of the finest records of the late ’70s.

The original members of the band met in and around the middle-class neighbourhood of Forest Hills in the New York City borough of Queens. John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi had both been in a high-school garage band from 1965 to 1967. They became friends with Douglas Colvin, who had recently moved to the area from Germany, and Jeff Hyman, who was the singer for a glam rock band. Erdelyi was set to become their manager. Soon after the band was formed, Dee Dee realized that he could not sing and play his bass guitar simultaneously; with Erdelyi’s encouragement, Joey became the band’s new lead singer. Dee Dee would continue, however, to count off each song’s tempo with his signature rapid-fire shout of “1-2-3-4!” Joey soon similarly realized that he could not sing and play drums simultaneously and left the position of drummer. While auditioning prospective replacements, Erdelyi would often take to the drums and demonstrate how to play the songs. It became apparent that he was able to perform the group’s music better than anyone else, and he joined the band as Tommy Ramone. The band swiftly became regulars at CBGB a New York City music club. After garnering considerable attention for their performances, the Ramones became recognized as leaders of the new scene that was increasingly being referred to as “punk”. The Ramones recorded their debut album, Ramones, in February 1976. Of the fourteen songs on the album, the longest, “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement”, barely surpassed two and a half minutes. While the songwriting credits were shared by the entire band, and each member did contribute some writing, much of the writing was done by Dee Dee. The Ramones’ debut album was greeted by rock critics with glowing reviews although it was not a commercial success. Their next two albums, Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, were both released in 1977.

Tommy, tired of touring, left the band in early 1978. He continued as the Ramones’ record producer under his birth name of Erdelyi. His position as drummer was filled by Marc Bell and adopted the name Marky Ramone. Later that year, the band released their fourth studio album, and first with Marky, Road to Ruin. The album, included some new sounds such as acoustic guitar, several ballads, and the band’s first two recorded songs longer than three minutes. Phil Spector became interested in the Ramones and produced their fifth album End of the Century (1980). Although it was to be the highest-charting album in the band’s history Johnny made clear that he favoured the band’s more aggressive punk material. Pleasant Dreams, the band’s sixth album, was released in 1981. Produced by Graham Gouldman of UK pop act 10cc it continued Taking the band further from the raw punk sound of its early records, moving the Ramones “away from their pioneering minimalism into heavy metal territory.” Subterranean Jungle, was released in 1983. Johnny stated that he was “kinda disappointed” with Subterranean Jungle because he felt it was “too melodic, too “pop”, and too commercial” like End of the Century and Pleasant Dreams. Subterranean Jungle would be the last album by the band to crack the Billboard Top 100. After the release of Subterranean Jungle, Marky was fired from the band due to his alcoholism. He was replaced by Richard Reinhardt, who adopted the name Richie Ramone. The first album the Ramones recorded with Richie was Too Tough to Die in 1984. The album marked a shift to something like the band’s original sound. In the description of Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the “rhythms are back up to jackhammer speed and the songs are down to short, terse statements.” The band’s ninth studio album, Animal Boy (1986) was characterized by a Rolling Stone reviewer as “nonstop primal fuzz pop.” The following year the band recorded their last album with Richie, Halfway to Sanity. Richie left in August 1987 after financial conflicts with Johnny that centred around him being refused a small percentage of the merchandising money. Richie was replaced by Clem Burke from Blondie, which was disbanded at the time. According to Johnny, the performances with Burke—who adopted the name Elvis Ramone—were a disaster. He was fired after two because his drumming could not keep up with the rest of the band. In September, Marky, now clean and sober, returned to the band. In December 1988, the Ramones recorded material for their eleventh studio album, Brain Drain. Dee Dee Ramone would only record the additional vocals on the album citing that members of the band (including himself) were going through personal troubles and changes to the point where he did not want to be in the band anymore. Although it received mixed reviews upon its release in May 1989, the album included the band’s highest-charting hit in the US, “Pet Sematary”. Despite not wanting to be in the band anymore, Dee Dee (who was sober by this point) was present for the world tour for Brain Drain and played his last show with the Ramones on July 5, 1989. By Johnny’s decision, the group ended up signing a new contract with Radioactive Records at the end of that year, the Ramones were soon able to start on sessions for what would become Mondo Bizarro anticipated as a “comeback” for the band after years of decline in popularity. In 1995, the Ramones released their fourteenth and final studio album ¡Adios Amigos! and announced that they would be disbanding the following year. The album sales were unremarkable. The band spent late 1995 on what was promoted as a farewell tour. The Ramones played their final show on August 6, 1996, at the Palace in Hollywood.