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138-489: Steven Frank Albini ( / æ l ˈ b iː n i / ; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer . He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (1992–2024), and engineered acclaimed albums like the Pixies ' Surfer Rosa (1988), PJ Harvey 's Rid of Me and Nirvana 's In Utero (both 1993). Albini

276-478: A "fantastic development", which allowed previously ignored music and bands to find an audience; the use of the internet as a distribution channel for music to be heard worldwide; and the increasing affordability of recording equipment, all of which allow bands to circumvent the traditional recording industry. Albini also argued that the increased availability of recorded music stimulates demand for live music, boosting artists' income. From 1983 to 1986, Albini wrote for

414-462: A "psycho hose-beast". Wyman wrote that Albini's fanzine contributions "display a remarkably clear expository style and a vituperative flair that I wish more mainstream writers possessed". Albini's friend Kim Deal , who worked with Albini when recording with the Pixies and the Breeders, said she was shocked by Albini's past statements. Albini later expressed regret about his behavior. In 2021, he wrote in

552-416: A $ 1,500 stud event for $ 105,629; and won a $ 1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event in 2022 for $ 196,089. He described his relationship to the game in a 2022 PokerNews article: "Poker is one part of my life. So when I'm playing poker, I try to commit to it. I try to take it seriously. I try to make sure I devote the attention to it that it deserves as an occupation. But it's only part of my year. I only play tournaments at

690-458: A Punk," "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," and in the bridge of "Blitzkrieg Bop." Tommy sang backing vocals on "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You," "Judy Is a Punk," and during the bridge of "Chain Saw." The album's engineer, Rob Freeman, sang backing vocals for the final refrain of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." Leon wrote in the booklet for the album's 2016 reissue that when layered background vocals appear on

828-481: A beer commercial" and said words such as "punchy" and "warm" were meaningless. He wrote that producers and engineers who raise the vocals in the mix to make the music "sound more like the Beatles " were pandering to commercial interests. According to The Guardian , Albini was "especially good at capturing the raw sound of a band, as though they were playing right in front of you". Pitchfork wrote that Albini "captured

966-539: A brilliant educator and "one of the only people in college who actually taught me anything". In the Chicago area, Albini was active as a writer in local zines including Matter , and later Boston's Forced Exposure , covering the then-nascent punk rock scene, and gained a reputation for the iconoclastic nature of his articles. About the same time, he began recording musicians and engineered his first album in 1981. He co-managed Ruthless Records (Chicago) with John Kezdy of

1104-444: A day, less than a quarter of the rate a producer of his experience would typically charge. He would occasionally work unpaid if an act ran out of money, preferring not to leave work unfinished. Albini was a vocal critic of major labels and artists, but would work with anyone who requested his service regardless of their style or ability. He required no audition, only an expectation that the act would take their work seriously. He said he

1242-412: A four-track representation of the devices. The guitars can be heard separately on the stereo channels—electric bass on the left channel, rhythm guitar on the right—drums and vocals are mixed in the middle of the stereo mix. The mixing of the production also used more modern techniques such as overdubbing , a technique used by studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to the material. The band also used

1380-484: A general dislike for pop music , which he said was "for children and idiots". He disliked electronic dance music (EDM) and the club scene . Albini was noted for his abrasive views throughout his career, especially during the 1980s, when his bluntness was regarded in the alternative rock scene as a sign of authenticity. In 1986, the music critic Robert Christgau praised his early albums but described Albini and his band as "hateful little twerps". During performances of

1518-696: A good sound within a room. For audio engineers, architectural acoustics can be about achieving good speech intelligibility in a stadium or enhancing the quality of music in a theatre. Architectural Acoustic design is usually done by acoustic consultants. Electroacoustics is concerned with the design of headphones, microphones, loudspeakers, sound reproduction systems and recording technologies. Examples of electroacoustic design include portable electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones , portable media players , and tablet computers ), sound systems in architectural acoustics, surround sound and wave field synthesis in movie theater and vehicle audio . Musical acoustics

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1656-664: A guitar at all. The point here is stretching the boundaries." He praised guitarists including Andy Gill of Gang of Four , Rowland S. Howard of the Birthday Party , John McKay of Siouxsie and the Banshees , Keith Levene of Public Image Ltd , Steve Diggle and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks , Ron Asheton of the Stooges , Paul Fox of the Ruts , Greg Ginn of Black Flag , Lyle Preslar of Minor Threat , John McGeoch of Magazine and

1794-484: A heart attack in 2024. [O]ne thing that I discovered that I think is unusual is that I had no stage anxiety. Coincidentally, around the same time I also realised that other people's opinions of me had no power over me. As long as what I was doing was honourable in my own mind, then I could do it comfortably, and if other people didn't get it or didn't agree with it, that was okay—that didn't have any effect on me. That's carried through to this day, because I still don't give

1932-433: A natural performance in a room." Albini would spend about a week on average recording an album, including mixing . Albini disputed his reputation for working with "hard-hitting grunge bands" and for imposing an "uncompromising sound", saying he had recorded hundreds of acoustic albums and that he did not impose his taste on his clients. He said most artists wanted him to create an "organic" sound. Albini said his opinion on

2070-468: A picture of the band on the front cover. Music historian Legs McNeil states that "Tommy [is] standing on his tip-toes and Joey [is] hunched over a bit." The back cover art, which depicts a belt buckle with a bald eagle and the band's logo, was designed by Arturo Vega . Liner notes on the back cover fail to acknowledge backing vocalists and additional instrument players. Leigh, who performed backing vocals on several tracks, asked guitarist Johnny why he

2208-660: A positive development, as it allowed bands greater freedom to record without studios. In 1993, he published a widely shared essay "The Problem with Music" in The Baffler . Albini argued that record companies exploit artists and illustrated how bands can remain in debt even after selling hundreds of thousands of albums. In November 2014, Albini delivered the keynote speech at the Face the Music conference in Melbourne, Australia, in which he discussed

2346-400: A recording studio, in 1995. Due to a lack of privacy for Albini and his wife he moved to the studio. Albini's former studio was in their house, eventually taking over almost all the rooms, with the exception of the bedroom. Before Electrical Audio, Albini had a studio in the basement of another personal residence. Musician Robbie Fulks recalls the hassle of "running up two flights of stairs all

2484-416: A resurgence of these ideas. Albini was married to the film director Heather Whinna. They lived in Chicago. He avoided drugs and alcohol; his father was an alcoholic which made him aware of his "own vulnerability to addiction". Albini maintained a food blog, documenting meals he had cooked for Whinna. The Los Angeles Times described him as a "good food writer" with a "laconic, dry wit". Albini appeared on

2622-493: A sharp live sound at a cheap price. Noted for his outspoken and blunt opinions, Albini was critical of local punk scenes and the music industry, which he viewed as exploitative of artists. He was an adherent to analog recording , and praised the increasing independence in music resulted by the internet. He was also infamous for authoring transgressive art as a reaction to people taking artistic compromises; Albini expressed regret for this past mindset in his final years. He died of

2760-450: A shit if I get judged. Albini on his early performing experiences Steven Frank Albini was born in Pasadena, California , to Gina (née Martinelli) and Frank Addison Albini. His father was a wildfire researcher. He had two siblings. In his youth, Albini's family moved often as a result of their father's profession, before settling in the college town of Missoula, Montana , in 1974. Albini

2898-499: A sound reinforcement system for music concerts, theatre, sports games and corporate events. Alternatively, audio engineer can refer to a scientist or professional engineer who holds an engineering degree and who designs, develops and builds audio or musical technology working under terms such as electronic/electrical engineering or (musical) signal processing . Research and development audio engineers invent new technologies, audio software, equipment and techniques, to enhance

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3036-440: A technique known as doubling , where the vocal line used is sung twice. Recording for the album was expanded by Mickey Leigh (Joey's brother) and Leon with percussion effects, which went unmentioned in the liner notes to the album's release. Author Nicholas Rombes said that the production's quality sounded like "the ultimate do-it-yourself, amateur, reckless ethic that is associated with punk," but concluded that they approached

3174-495: A university. Some positions, such as faculty (academic staff) require a Doctor of Philosophy . In Germany a Toningenieur is an audio engineer who designs, builds and repairs audio systems. The listed subdisciplines are based on PACS ( Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme ) coding used by the Acoustical Society of America with some revision. Audio engineers develop audio signal processing algorithms to allow

3312-419: A week and bringing it in for $ 6,400 was unheard of, especially since it was an album that really changed the world. It kicked off punk rock and started the whole thing—as well as us. —Joey Ramone The band applied microphone placement techniques similar to those which many orchestras used. The recording process was a deliberate exaggeration of the techniques used by the Beatles in the early 1960s, with

3450-404: A wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film , live sound reinforcement, advertising , multimedia , and broadcasting. In larger productions, an audio engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of a sound recording or other audio production, and works together with a record producer or director, although the engineer's role may also be integrated with that of

3588-589: A widely shared thread on Twitter that he was "overdue for a conversation about my role in inspiring ' edgelord ' shit", saying "a lot of things I said and did from an ignorant position of comfort and privilege are clearly awful and I regret them". He added he had falsely assumed that many social problems, such as misogyny and homophobia , were already solved, especially as the underground musical communities he moved in were "broadly inclusive". He often treated fascism and authoritarianism as jokes in his younger years, and regretted that he did not foresee what he saw as

3726-541: A woman" and she was told women in the city were "still barefoot, pregnant and [singing] in the vocal booth." When Jonell Polansky arrived in Nashville in 1994, with a degree in electrical engineering and recording experience in the Bay Area, she was told "You're a woman, and we already had one"—a reference to Wendy Waldman . KK Proffitt, a studio "owner and chief engineer", states that men in Nashville do not want to have women in

3864-443: Is absurd." However, his bandmates made him change the title. After Big Black's disbandment, Albini played in the shortlived band Run Nigger Run, the name taken from the tagline of a 1970s blaxploitation film, whose song titles included "Pray I Don't Kill You Faggot". Writing for local zines in the 1980s, Albini wrote fiercely critical reviews of other local bands and feuded with local venues. In 1994, after albums by Urge Overkill ,

4002-423: Is concerned with researching and describing the science of music. In audio engineering, this includes the design of electronic instruments such as synthesizers ; the human voice (the physics and neurophysiology of singing ); physical modeling of musical instruments; room acoustics of concert venues; music information retrieval ; music therapy , and the perception and cognition of music . Psychoacoustics

4140-429: Is described by author Cyrus Patell as what "breaks the deliberate aural monotony of the song and emphasizes the violence of the lyric." " Let's Dance " is a cover version of the hit song by Chris Montez , featuring Leon playing Radio City's large Wurlitzer pipe organ . "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" consists of two lyric lines and three major chords. One of the group's earliest compositions, written at

4278-447: Is in crisis. Albini used the example of the media spotlight that he received after criticizing Amanda Palmer for not paying her musicians after receiving over $ 1 million on Kickstarter to release her 2012 album Theatre Is Evil , saying, "I don't think I was wrong but I also don't think that it was that big of a deal." He described the music media as "superficial" and composed of "copy-paste bullshit". Albini frequently expressed

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4416-492: Is offered by colleges and universities. Some audio engineers are autodidacts with no formal training, but who have attained professional skills in audio through extensive on-the-job experience. Audio engineers must have extensive knowledge of audio engineering principles and techniques. For instance, they must understand how audio signals travel, which equipment to use and when, how to mic different instruments and amplifiers, which microphones to use and how to position them to get

4554-560: Is performed by a sound engineer who specializes only in that part of the production. An audio engineer is proficient with different types of recording media, such as analog tape, digital multi-track recorders and workstations, plug-ins and computer knowledge. With the advent of the digital age, it is increasingly important for the audio engineer to understand software and hardware integration, from synchronization to analog to digital transfers. In their daily work, audio engineers use many tools, including: Ramones (album) Ramones

4692-582: Is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones , released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records . After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote several articles about the group and asked Danny Fields to be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones , and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to

4830-417: Is the one who got us signed, single handed. He brought down the vice president and all these people—he's the only hip one in the company. He risked his career to get us on the label." The label offered to release "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" as a single, but the band declined, insisting on recording an entire album. Sire accepted their request and agreed to release a studio album instead. In January 1976

4968-945: Is the scientific study of how humans respond to what they hear. At the heart of audio engineering are listeners who are the final arbitrator as to whether an audio design is successful, such as whether a binaural recording sounds immersive. The production, computer processing and perception of speech is an important part of audio engineering. Ensuring speech is transmitted intelligibly, efficiently and with high quality; in rooms, through public address systems and through mobile telephone systems are important areas of study. A variety of terms are used to describe audio engineers who install or operate sound recording , sound reinforcement , or sound broadcasting equipment, including large and small format consoles . Terms such as audio technician , sound technician , audio engineer , audio technologist , recording engineer , sound mixer , mixing engineer and sound engineer can be ambiguous; depending on

5106-468: Is typically learned from years of experience listening to and mixing music in recording or live sound contexts. For education and training, there are audio engineering schools all over the world. According to Women's Audio Mission (WAM), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts, less than 5% of the people working in

5244-582: The Spin Alternative Record Guide named it the No. 1 alternative rock album. In 2001, the magazine also included the album in its special issue 25 Years of Punk with a list of The 50 Most Essential Punk Records , where it resided at the top spot. That same year, it was named the fourth best punk album by Mojo , who called it the "coolest, dumbest, simplest, greatest rock'n'roll record ever to be cut by four sweet, dysfunctional screw-ups." The band

5382-468: The Atomizer track "Jordan, Minnesota", about a child sex ring scandal , Albini would sometimes pretend to be a child being raped. Albini also originally named Big Black's EP Bulldozer as Hey Nigger in 1983 because "anyone stupid enough to be offended by that title is part of the problem... It's better to be confrontational about things like this. Of course I think judging people by the color of their skin

5520-584: The Montana punk band Just Ducky, the Chicago band Small Irregular Pieces of Aluminum, and another band that record label Touch and Go Records explained "he is paying us not to mention". After graduating from Hellgate High School , Albini moved to Evanston, Illinois , to attend college at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he earned a degree in journalism. He said that he studied painting in college with Ed Paschke , someone he calls

5658-582: The Ramones 2001 Expanded Edition, featured "Blitzkrieg Bop" remixed as a single version, although it maintains a time of two minutes and twelve seconds. On January 6, 2004, Rhino Entertainment re-released "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a CD single, using " Sheena Is a Punk Rocker " as its B-side. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was released in September 1976 as a 7" single. It included live versions of "California Sun" and "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" as B-sides, recorded at

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5796-763: The Roxy Theater in West Hollywood in August 1976. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" was also released in the UK, giving the band a presence in the European marketplace. Even though the song saw some success in the UK and Europe, it failed to chart in the top 50. In 1974 the band played 30 performances, nearly all at the New York-based club CBGB. All but one of the band's 1975 gigs were booked for New York City, with Waterbury, Connecticut as

5934-589: The Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair brought new attention to the Chicago music scene, Albini wrote a letter to the Chicago Reader music critic Bill Wyman titled "Three Pandering Sluts and Their Music-Press Stooge". In the letter, Albini described Phair as "a fucking chore to listen to", the Smashing Pumpkins as "ultimately insignificant" and Urge Overkill as "weiners in suits playing frat party rock". In

6072-562: The Tri-state area , and they began playing frequently at gigs like CBGB and Max's Kansas City. After performing with Blondie in New Jersey, they continued their tour to Boston , Massachusetts for three shows. Leigh later said of the tour: Travelling was difficult. Most of the time, it was just Danny Fields, me, and the members of the band. We'd get two rooms in the hotel, three of us in each. They couldn't afford any more help at that point, so

6210-686: The 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . In 2010, it was ranked as the greatest debut album of the year in 1976. It was placed first in the Rolling Stone 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time list in 2022. The album went gold in the US just after its 38th anniversary, certified by the RIAA on April 30, 2014. In 2016, Rhino Records announced the July 29 release of a 40th-anniversary deluxe edition comprising three CDs and one LP, including stereo and mono mixes of

6348-572: The 20th second, the guitar and bass cease, marking Joey's first line, "Hey ho, let's go!" The bass and guitar gradually rebuild and become "full–force" once all the instruments play together in ensemble . The piece resolves by repeating what is played from 0:22–0:33. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic described "Blitzkrieg Bop" as a " three-chord assault." When I lived in Birchwood Towers in Forest Hills with my mom and brother. It

6486-533: The Academy Award-nominated soundtrack to "Dirty Wars", Van-Ahn Vo (NPR's top 50 albums of 2013), Grammy-nominated St. Lawrence Quartet , and world music artists Tanya Tagaq and Wu Man . There certainly are efforts to chronicle women's role and history in audio. Leslie Gaston-Bird wrote Women in Audio, which includes 100 profiles of women in audio through history. Sound Girls is an organization focused on

6624-714: The Auteurs . Albini was influenced by the English producer and engineer John Loder , who recorded numerous early punk records quickly and cheaply. Loder engineered a session with Big Black, and impressed Albini with his efficiency, knowledge of the equipment and "sensitivity to the band". He advocated analog recording , believing it would be irresponsible to give clients digital files as masters , as he feared emerging digital formats risked become unusable in later formats. In 2005, Albini said he disliked recording with computers, finding that software unreliable and overcomplex. By comparison, "In

6762-435: The Banshees, and Tom Verlaine of Television . In 2018, Albini said the reduction in the power of record labels over the preceding 25 years had reduced the prevalence of producers who are there only to exert artistic control over the recording. In contrast, he felt that digital recording created more freedom for people to do productive work as engineers. Albini saw the increasing affordability of high-quality recording gear as

6900-542: The Basement" is also minimalist, and inspired by horror movies. The entire text is composed of three lines, and the composition was based on three major chords . With a playing time of 2:40, it is the longest piece on the album. (Asked about the bathroom at CBGB , Debbie Harry remarked: "I think that song from the Ramones is partially about that: 'I don't wanna go down to the basement ... ' As kids, we never wanted to go down to

7038-492: The Brat" "Beat on the Brat" was said by Joey to have origins relating to the upper class of New York City. Dee Dee, however, explained that the song was about how Joey saw a mother "going after a kid with a bat in his [apartment building's] lobby and wrote a song about it." "Judy Is a Punk" – written around the same time as "Beat on the Brat" — was written by Joey after he walked by Thorny Croft, an apartment building "where all

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7176-519: The Breeders , Godspeed You! Black Emperor , Mogwai , the Jesus Lizard , Don Caballero , PJ Harvey , the Wedding Present , Joanna Newsom , Superchunk , Low , Dirty Three , Jawbreaker , Neurosis , Cloud Nothings , Bush , Chevelle , Page and Plant , Helmet , Fred Schneider , the Stooges , Nina Nastasia , Cheap Trick , Motorpsycho , Slint , mclusky , Labradford , Veruca Salt , and

7314-541: The Clash and Sex Pistols . The band performed over 100 concerts the following year. Ramones was released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records and received glowing reviews. In May, John Rockwell of the New York Times published a rave review, saying: "What the Ramones do is deliver a nonstop set of short, brisk, monochromatically intense songs. ... conventional considerations of pace and variety are thrown calculatedly to

7452-563: The EP Headache and the 7-inch single Heartbeat . Later that year they released the live album Sound of Impact on the British label Not/ Blast First , a former imprint of Mute Records . In 1987, Big Black released their second and final full-length album Songs About Fucking and the single " He's a Whore / The Model ", both on Touch and Go. They disbanded that year after a period of extensive touring. Albini formed Rapeman in 1987, with

7590-687: The Effigies and Jon Babbin ( Criminal IQ Records ). According to Albini, he maintained a "straight job" for five years until 1987, working in a photography studio as a photograph retouch artist. Albini formed Big Black in 1981 while he was a student at Northwestern and recorded their debut EP Lungs , released on Ruthless Records . He played all of the instruments on Lungs except the saxophone, played by his friend John Bohnen. The Bulldozer (1983) EP followed on Ruthless and Fever Records. Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango , of Chicago band Naked Raygun , and live drummer Pat Byrne joined shortly after, and

7728-634: The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, "only 6% of the students enrolled on its sound technology course are female." Women's Audio Mission was started in 2003 to address the lack of women in professional audio by training over 6,000 women and girls in the recording arts and is the only professional recording studio built and run by women. Notable recording projects include the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet , Angelique Kidjo (2014 Grammy winner), author Salman Rushdie ,

7866-597: The US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, and sold 6,000 units in its first year. Outside the US, the album peaked at No. 48 on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart. The album was included in Spin magazine 's List of Top Ten College Cult Classics (1995), where it was noted that "everything good that's happened to music in the last fourteen years can be directly traced to the Ramones." Also in 1995,

8004-508: The World Series of Poker. I play cash games informally in Chicago. It's a part of my livelihood, but it's not my profession." Albini died from a heart attack at his home in Chicago, on May 7, 2024, at the age of 61. Dave Grohl dedicated a performance of the Foo Fighters song " My Hero " in his memory, and Joanna Newsom did the same with a performance of her song " Cosmia ". On June 30,

8142-403: The [Ramones] hit the street in 1976 with their self-titled first album, the rock scene, in general, had become somewhat bloated and narcissistic. The Ramones got back to basics: simple, speedy, stripped-down rock and roll songs. Voice, guitar, bass, drums. No makeup, no egos, no light shows, no nonsense. And though the subject matter was sometimes dark, emanating from a sullen adolescent basement of

8280-457: The album in their "100 Greatest Albums Ever" (2003) list, where it was listed at No. 74. In 2006, it was chosen by Time as one of the 100 greatest albums ever. Ramones was included in Chris Smith's 2009 book 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music , who said the album "opened a whole new world of garage rock for those fed up with the excesses of existing rock gods." It was also included in

8418-438: The album influential, saying "In comparison to some of the music the album inspired, The Ramones sounds a little tame—it's a little too clean, and compared to their insanely fast live albums, it even sounds a little slow." The album's sound was considered by Erlewine to be "all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity." Regardless of this critical acclaim, Ramones was not successful commercially. It only reached No. 111 on

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8556-442: The album was similar to early rock and roll , and was constructed using rhythm tracks of great intensity. In August, Creem dubbed The Ramones as "The most radical album of the past six years", saying: "[it] is so strikingly different, so brazenly out of touch with prevailing modes as to constitute a bold swipe at the status quo." Reviewer Gene Sculatti saw it as "a rock 'n' roll reactionary's manifesto" ... "a sharp wedge between

8694-440: The album's influence on rock music. In 1995, Jeff Tamarkin of The AllMusic Guide to Rock said that the album ignited the punk rock era, writing: "rock's mainstream didn't know what hit it." In 2001, April Long of NME rewarded the album with a perfect score, remarking that the Ramones were "arguably the most influential band ever," despite their lack of mainstream acceptance. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic also deemed

8832-480: The album's lyrics. The album opens with " Blitzkrieg Bop ", which is among the band's most recognized songs. Most of the album's tracks are uptempo , with many songs measuring at well over 160 beats per minute. The songs are also rather short; at two-and-a-half minutes, "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" is the album's longest track. Ramones contains a cover of the Chris Montez song " Let's Dance ". Ramones

8970-595: The album's packaging, helped out with the road crew as much as possible. Tommy's friend Monte Melnick occasionally helped with the audio output , but this was typically done by Leigh. Following their debut album's release, the band performed at over 60 concerts for its promotion. While most of the gigs were booked in North America, two dates—July 4 and 5—were in London's Roundhouse venue and Dingwalls , respectively. Linda Stein pushed to make these events happen, setting up

9108-455: The album's slowest song – was solely written by Tommy and pays homage to love songs by pop music acts of the 1960s, particularly the John Lennon -penned Beatles song, I Should Have Known Better . The song used a 12-string guitar , glockenspiel , and tubular bells in its composition, and was said by author Scott Schinder to be an "unexpected romantic streak." "Chain Saw" opens with

9246-421: The album, they are primarily Freeman's contributions combined with some of Leon and Dee Dee's, and a great deal by Leigh, "all compiled and compressed to create an effective cyborg backing vocal creature." The album's length is 29 minutes and four seconds and it contains 14 tracks. On the original issue of the album, all the original songs were credited to "the Ramones" collectively. The opening "Blitzkrieg Bop"

9384-562: The analogue domain you know what you're supposed to do, you plug something in, and it's done." He said he had never felt limited by his equipment and had never had to tell an artist that something was impossible without computers. He was skeptical of digital manipulation, saying: "I don't understand where the impulse comes from to make a record that doesn't have any relationship to the sound of the real band. That seems crazy to me." Albini preferred to record bands together in live takes where possible, rather than overdubbing , believing this created

9522-508: The audio and acoustic industry. Audio engineers in research and development usually possess a bachelor's degree , master's degree or higher qualification in acoustics, physics, computer science or another engineering discipline. They might work in acoustic consultancy, specializing in architectural acoustics . Alternatively they might work in audio companies (e.g. headphone manufacturer), or other industries that need audio expertise (e.g., automobile manufacturer), or carry out research in

9660-408: The band had to pitch in unloading the equipment. I'd play the drums during sound checks, while Tommy went out to the board and mixed the sound—and instructed the soundman not to fuck with the settings. We would enlist the aid of any fan willing to help us load out at the end of the night. At the time, Leigh was road manager , stage manager , chauffeur , and head of security. Vega, who contributed to

9798-489: The band needed a recording contract, Robinson contacted Danny Fields , former manager of the Stooges , and argued that he needed to manage the band. Fields agreed because the band "had everything I ever liked" and became the manager in November 1975. On September 19, 1975, Ramones recorded a demo at 914 Sound Studios , which was produced by Marty Thau . Featuring the songs "Judy Is a Punk" and " I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend ,"

9936-508: The band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $ 6,400 to record the album. The album cover, photographed by Punk magazine's Roberta Bayley , features the four members leaning against a brick wall in New York City . The record company paid only $ 125 for the front photo, which has since become one of

10074-592: The band performances in the UK during the United States Bicentennial . Fields relates: "On the two-hundredth anniversary of our freedom, we were bringing Great Britain a gift that was forever going to disrupt their sensibilities." The band sold out for their first London performance, with an audience of roughly 3,000. Leigh described the Dingwalls gig as very similar to performances at CBGB. Likewise, these venues in future were headlined by other punk bands like

10212-415: The band took a break from their live performances to prepare for recording at Plaza Sound studio. Sessions began later that month and were completed within a week for $ 6,400; the instruments took three days and the vocal parts were recorded in four days. In 2004, Leon admitted that they recorded Ramones quickly due to budget restrictions, but also that it was all the time they needed. Doing an album in

10350-484: The band used the demo to showcase their style to prospective labels. Producer Craig Leon , who had seen the Ramones perform in the summer of 1975, brought the demo to the attention of Sire Records ' president Seymour Stein . After being persuaded by Craig Leon and his ex-wife Linda Stein , Ramones auditioned at Sire and were offered a contract, although the label had previously signed only European progressive rock bands. Drummer Tommy Ramone recalled: "Craig Leon

10488-499: The band: "they had songs that just stuck in your head, just like a hammer they banged right into your brain." The album also had a great impact on the English punk scene as well, with the bassist for Generation X , Tony James , saying that the album caused English bands to change their style. "When their album came out," commented James, "all the English groups tripled speed overnight. Two-minute-long songs, very fast." In another interview, James stated that "Everybody went up three gears

10626-597: The band—along with a Roland TR-606 drum machine — released the 1984 EP Racer-X after touring and signing a contract with the Homestead Records business. Pezzati was replaced on bass by Dave Riley , with whom the group recorded their debut full-length album Atomizer (1986). The band also released The Hammer Party while signed to Homestead, which was a compilation of the Lungs and Bulldozer EPs. Big Black signed to Touch and Go in late 1985/early 1986, and released

10764-478: The basement cos it was so dark and scary. And that toilet was certainly very scary.") "Loudmouth" has six major chords and is harmonically complex. The song's lyrics are — depending on the reading and punctuation — a single row or four very brief lines. "Havana Affair" has a lyrical concept incorporating the comic strip Spy vs. Spy by Cuban-born illustrator Antonio Prohias . At roughly 170 beats per minute, "Loudmouth" and "Havana Affair" proceed at about

10902-538: The beginning of 1974, it was the opener on their first demo . "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You" segues into the closing track "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World," which refers to a Hitler Youth member. Seymour Stein complained about its original lyrics — "I'm a Nazi, baby, I'm a Nazi, yes I am. I'm a Nazi Schatze, y'know I fight for the Fatherland" — insisting the track was offensive. When he threatened to remove

11040-465: The best quality recordings. In addition to technical knowledge, an audio engineer must have the ability to problem-solve quickly. The best audio engineers also have a high degree of creativity that allows them to stand out amongst their peers. In the music realm, an audio engineer must also understand the types of sounds and tones that are expected in musical ensembles across different genres— rock and pop music , for example. This knowledge of musical style

11178-536: The camera with blank faces. They are all wearing ripped and faded blue jeans and leather jackets, standing upright against the brick wall of a private community garden called Albert's Garden, located in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City between the Bowery and Second Street. The stance of the group members in the photograph would influence their future cover designs as well, with the majority of their succeeding albums using

11316-487: The context they may be synonymous, or they may refer to different roles in audio production. Such terms can refer to a person working in sound and music production; for instance, a sound engineer or recording engineer is commonly listed in the credits of commercial music recordings (as well as in other productions that include sound, such as movies). These titles can also refer to technicians who maintain professional audio equipment. Certain jurisdictions specifically prohibit

11454-439: The controversially named band Rapeman with David Wm. Sims and Rey Washam , releasing one album and one EP in 1988. He formed Shellac with Bob Weston and Todd Trainer in 1992, with whom he released several albums, including At Action Park (1994) and 1000 Hurts (2000); To All Trains was released ten days after his death. After Big Black's dissolution, Albini became a highly sought after recording engineer, rejecting

11592-477: The creative use of audio as a sound engineer, and (ii) training in science or engineering topics, which then allows students to apply these concepts while pursuing a career developing audio technologies. Audio training courses provide knowledge of technologies and their application to recording studios and sound reinforcement systems , but do not have sufficient mathematical and scientific content to allow someone to obtain employment in research and development in

11730-496: The customer with a razor to prove he is not a homosexual. In interviews, Dee Dee described the piece as autobiographical. "The song speaks for itself," Dee Dee commented in an interview. "Everything I write is autobiographical and written in a very real way, I can't even write." According to Danny Fields, "Johnny would never admit to knowing that '53rd and 3rd' was about Dee Dee turning tricks!" The half-sung and half-shouted bridge in "53rd and 3rd" are performed by Dee Dee, whose voice

11868-492: The day they got that first Ramones album. Punk rock—that rama-lama super fast stuff—is totally down to the Ramones. Bands were just playing in an MC5 groove until then." In 1999, Classic Albums by Collins GEM recognized Ramones as the start of English punk rock and called it the fastest and hardest music that could possibly be concocted, stating: "The songs within were a short, sharp exercise in vicious speed-thrash, driven by ferocious guitars and yet halting in an instant. It

12006-432: The electronic manipulation of audio signals. These can be processed at the heart of much audio production such as reverberation , Auto-Tune or perceptual coding (e.g. MP3 or Opus ). Alternatively, the algorithms might perform echo cancellation , or identify and categorize audio content through music information retrieval or acoustic fingerprint . Architectural acoustics is the science and engineering of achieving

12144-404: The evolution of the music industry over his career. He described the pre-internet corporate industry as "a system that ensured waste by rewarding the most profligate spendthrifts in a system specifically engineered to waste the band's money", which aimed to perpetuate its structures and business arrangements while preventing almost all but the biggest acts from earning a living. He contrasted it with

12282-405: The exception. After the album's recording, the Ramones headlined for very few shows, usually opening for an identified cover band which played Aerosmith and Boston . When they opened at Brockton, Massachusetts , the audience appeared extremely uninterested in the Ramones so Johnny swore off playing as an introduction for other bands. Following this, Fields booked several headlining shows around

12420-519: The field of sound and media are women. "Only three women have ever been nominated for best producer at the Brits or the Grammys " and none won either award. According to Susan Rogers , audio engineer and professor at Berklee College of Music , women interested in becoming an audio engineer face "a boys' club, or a guild mentality". The UK "Music Producers' Guild says less than 4% of its members are women" and at

12558-517: The fledgling Ramones performing at CBGB and subsequently wrote about the band in several magazine issues. The group's vocalist Joey Ramone related that "Lisa came down to see us, she was blown away by us. She said that we changed her life; she started writing about us in Rock Scene , and then Lenny Kaye would write about us and we started getting more press like The Village Voice . Word was getting out, and people starting coming down." Convinced that

12696-546: The food show Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown . From 1996, Albini and Whinna committed charity drives during the Christmas season, responding to letters in the Chicago post office. They experienced conflict in deliveries after a "policy change" by the USPS in 2009 over including personal details. Albini was an avid poker player, particularly in mixed games. He won two World Series of Poker bracelets: in 2018, Albini finished first in

12834-461: The funniest rock records ever made and, if punk continues to gain momentum, a historic turning point." I love this record—love it—even though I know these boys flirt with images of brutality (Nazi especially) in much the same way ' Midnight Rambler ' flirts with rape. This makes me uneasy. But my theory has always been that good rock and roll should damn well make you uneasy ... —Robert Christgau Later reviews of Ramones tended to praise

12972-401: The greatest and most influential punk albums of all time, and it had a significant impact on other genres of rock music , such as grunge and heavy metal . The album was ranked at number 33 in Rolling Stone ' s 2003 list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time ", maintaining the ranking in a 2012 revision and dropping to number 47 in the 2020 reboot of the list. It was placed first in

13110-409: The independent music magazine Forced Exposure , Albini criticized bands he had worked with; he called the Pixies "blandly entertaining college rock", adding, "never have I seen four cows more anxious to be led around by their nose rings." Of Poster Children he wrote "they had a really fruity drummer for a while, but I think he died of the syph". He described the songwriter Courtney Love in print as

13248-407: The independent scene, which encouraged resourcefulness and established an alternative network of clubs, promoters, fanzines, DJs and labels, and whose greater efficiency allowed musicians to make a reasonable income. As part of the Face the Music speech, Albini noted that both the corporate and independent industry models had been damaged by filesharing. However, he praised the spread of free music as

13386-532: The kids in the neighborhood hung out on the rooftop and drank." The song's lyrics are fictional and refer to two juvenile offenders in Berlin and San Francisco and their possible deaths at the conclusion of the song. "Judy Is a Punk" is the original album's shortest track at 1:32; it is partially derived from the Burl Ives 1953 folk song , “ There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly ." "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" –

13524-500: The mind, the group also brought cartoonish fun and high-energy excitement back to rock and roll. Despite the lack of popularity in its era, the importance of the album for the development of punk rock music was incredible, influencing many of the most well-known names in punk rock, including the Damned , the Clash , Black Flag , Misfits , and Green Day . Billie Joe Armstrong , singer for Green Day, explained his reasoning for listening to

13662-544: The most imitated album covers of all time. The back cover depicts an eagle belt buckle along with the album's liner notes . After its release, Ramones was promoted with two singles , which failed to chart. The Ramones also began touring to help sell records; these tour dates were mostly based in the United States, although two were booked in Britain. Violence, drug use, relationship issues, humor, and Nazism were prominent in

13800-467: The most natural result. He aimed to create a faithful document of the performance, and said "I would be very happy if my fingerprints weren't possible". However, he conceded that it was impossible to have an "objective perspective in the visible". He used few effects and little compression , preferring to preserve dynamics and "hear the band rather than the machine". In his 1993 essay "The Problem with Music", he said compression made "everything sound like

13938-848: The name taken from a manga series . The band consisted of Albini on vocals and guitar, Rey Washam on drums and David Wm. Sims on bass. Both Washam and Sims were previously members of Scratch Acid . They broke up after the release of two 7-inch singles, the EP Budd and the album Two Nuns and a Pack Mule (both 1988). In 2023, Albini said he had become embarrassed by the name. Albini formed Shellac in 1992 with Bob Weston (formerly of Volcano Suns ) and Todd Trainer (of Rifle Sport , Breaking Circus and Brick Layer Cake ). They released six studio albums in his lifetime: At Action Park (1994), The Futurist (1997), Terraform (1998), 1000 Hurts (2000), Excellent Italian Greyhound (2007) and Dude Incredible (2014). Albini died ten days before

14076-459: The newly launched Chicago music magazine Matter . He wrote in each issue a chronicle called "Tired of Ugly Fat?", and contributed articles such as " Husker Du ? Only Their Hairdresser Knows For Sure". While in Australia in November 2014, Albini spoke with national radio station Double J and stated that, while the state of the music industry is healthy in his view, the industry of music journalism

14214-515: The next generation of women in audio, but also has been building up resources and directories of women in audio. Women in Sound is another organization that has been working to highlight women and nonbinary people in all areas of live and recorded sound through an online zine and podcast featuring interviews of current audio engineers and producers. One of the first women to produce, engineer, arrange and promote music on her own rock and roll music label

14352-595: The original album; single mixes, outtakes and demos; and a live 1976 performance. Ramones is considered to have established the musical genre of punk rock , as well as popularizing it years afterward. Rombes wrote that it offered "alienated future rock", and that it "disconnected from tradition." The album was the start of the Ramones' influence on popular music , with examples being genres such as heavy metal , thrash metal , indie pop , grunge , post-punk , and most notably, punk rock. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said of their influence on rock in general: When

14490-498: The power of the band's music draws from "fairly ominous sources" like Nazi imagery and brutality, he cannot deny the "sheer pleasure" of the music: "For me, it blows everything else off the radio: it's clean the way the Dolls never were, sprightly the way the Velvets never were, and just plain listenable the way Black Sabbath never was." In July, Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone wrote that

14628-702: The process and art of audio engineering. They might design acoustical simulations of rooms, shape algorithms for audio signal processing , specify the requirements for public address systems, carry out research on audible sound for video game console manufacturers, and other advanced fields of audio engineering. They might also be referred to as acoustic engineers. Audio engineers working in research and development may come from backgrounds such as acoustics , computer science , broadcast engineering , physics , acoustical engineering , electrical engineering and electronics . Audio engineering courses at university or college fall into two rough categories: (i) training in

14766-501: The producer. In smaller productions and studios the sound engineer and producer are often the same person. In typical sound reinforcement applications, audio engineers often assume the role of producer, making artistic and technical decisions, and sometimes even scheduling and budget decisions. Audio engineers come from backgrounds or postsecondary training in fields such as audio, fine arts , broadcasting, music, or electrical engineering. Training in audio engineering and sound recording

14904-452: The quality of a song or an arrangement was irrelevant, and that it would be inappropriate to tell a musician they were wrong about their music: "It's like saying, 'Here, let me show you how to fuck your wife. You're doing it all wrong.'" He felt his musical preferences were obscure and that imposing them would "make a lot of freakish records that wouldn't flatter the band in any way, and no one would like them". Albini bought Electrical Audio ,

15042-458: The quiet and the loud all at once". Bands would hire Albini in an attempt to sound "realer". Stereogum described his recording sound as "open, dry, claustrophobic, brutally honest". Steve Von Till of Neurosis, who recorded several albums with Albini, said in 2013: "He is the best damn engineer in the world, I believe. He's very traditional, there's no tricks, there's no fix it later. There's only an extremely high-fidelity approach towards capturing

15180-482: The recording booth. At a meeting of the Audio Engineering Society , Proffitt was told to "shut up" by a male producer when she raised the issue of updating studio recording technologies. Proffitt said she "finds sexism rampant in the industry". Other notable women include: There are four distinct steps to the commercial production of a recording: recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. Typically, each

15318-449: The recording process with a "high degree of preparedness and professionalism." The songs on Ramones addressed several lyrical themes including violence, male prostitution , drug use, and Nazism . While the moods displayed in the album were often dark, Johnny said that when writing the lyrics they were not "trying to be offensive." Many songs from the album have backing vocals from different guests. Leigh sang backing vocals on "Judy Is

15456-562: The release of their seventh studio album To All Trains (2024). Albini became widely known after recording the 1988 Pixies album Surfer Rosa . According to the Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield , Albini gave the album a "raw room-tone live crunch, especially the heavy drums and slashing guitars". The journalist Michael Azerrad wrote: "The recordings were both very basic and very exacting: Albini used few special effects; got an aggressive, often violent guitar sound; and made sure

15594-506: The results. The art direction was by Toni Wadler and, according to cartoonist John Holmstrom , the Meet The Beatles cover idea came out "horribly". Wadler later chose a photo by Roberta Bayley, a photographer for Punk magazine for the cover. The black and white photograph on the front of the album was originally in an issue of Punk . The cover photo features (from left to right) Johnny , Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone , staring at

15732-413: The rhythm section slammed as one." Albini did not see himself as a record producer , which he defined as someone completely responsible for a recording session. Instead, he described himself as an audio engineer . He left creative decisions to the artist and saw it as his job to satisfy them. Albini felt that putting producers in charge often destroyed records, and that the role of the recording engineer

15870-647: The same publication's list of the "100 Best Debut Albums of All Time" in 2022. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2014 for 500,000 copies sold in the US. Ramones began playing gigs in mid-1974, with their first show at Performance Studios in New York City . The band, performing in a style similar to the one used on their debut album, typically performed at clubs in downtown Manhattan , specifically CBGB and Max's Kansas City . In early 1975, Lisa Robinson , an editor of Hit Parader and Rock Scene , saw

16008-477: The same tempo. "Havana Affair" segues into "Listen to My Heart" – the first of many Ramones songs to voice an ironic and pessimistic perspective on a failing or failed relationship. Written solely by Dee Dee, the lyrics of "53rd & 3rd" concern a male prostitute ("rent boy"), waiting at the corner of 53rd Street and Third Avenue in Midtown Manhattan . When the prostitute gets a customer, he kills

16146-547: The sound of a running circular saw and was influenced by the 1974 horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre . At nearly 180 beats per minute, "Chain Saw" had the fastest tempo of the album's songs and, according to Rombes, is the most "home-made" sounding. "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" contains four lines of minimalist lyrics that depict youthful boredom and inhaling solvent vapors found in glue. "I hope no one thinks we really sniff glue," said Dee Dee. "I stopped when I

16284-488: The stale ends of a contemporary music scene bloated with graying superstars and overripe for takeover." Critic Joe S. Harrington declared that the album was a huge landmark for music history, proclaiming that "[it] split the history of rock 'n' roll in half." Theunis Bates, a writer for Time , summed the album up with: " Ramones stripped rock back to its basic elements ... lyrics are very simple, boiled-down declarations of teen lust and need." Bates also said that it "is

16422-399: The street where Electrical Audio is located was renamed Steve Albini Way. Audio engineer Sound engineering is increasingly viewed as a creative profession and art form, where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for film, radio, television, music and video games. Audio engineers also set up, sound check and do live sound mixing using a mixing console and

16560-428: The studio open, he was forced to sell off studio equipment, guitars, and vinyl records. Albini's fortunes later changed when he engineered Page and Plant's 1998 album Walking into Clarksdale , winning his clients a Grammy Award and returning him to the labels' good graces. Albini has said that "anybody can play notes. There's no trick. What is a trick and a good one is to make a guitar do things that don't sound like

16698-418: The term " record producer ". He recorded several thousand records during his career, collaborating with notable acts such as the Breeders , the Jesus Lizard , Page and Plant , Godspeed You! Black Emperor , Joanna Newsom , Cheap Trick and Slint . He refused to take royalties on albums he worked on, operating fee-only. He founded the Chicago recording studio Electrical Audio in 1997, dedicated to recording

16836-459: The time from the tracking room" to communicate with Albini. During his first several years at Electrical Audio, Albini's unpopularity with the major labels in the wake of engineering Nirvana's In Utero (1993) made it difficult to secure consistent work. Although he produced Bush 's chart-topping 1996 album Razorblade Suitcase , Albini's refusal to take royalties meant that he saw little passive income from producing music. To pay bills and keep

16974-405: The track from the album, the band put together alternate lyrics: "I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am. I'm a Nazi Schatze, y'know I fight for the Fatherland." Stein accepted the revision and it was duly released. Initially, the Ramones wanted an album cover similar to Meet the Beatles! (1964) and subsequently had pictures taken in that style by Danny Fields but Sire was dissatisfied with

17112-492: The ultimate punk statement." Kris Needs of ZigZag declared that the album's "mutant vocals and ultra-simplicity of the music and lyrics do take some getting used to, but once you get past the curiosity stage, the effect can be shattering, especially at high volume" and that it was "impossible to mention highlights, 'cos the whole album's a highlight, geared and stripped down for maximum energy and effect." In 1977 Charles M. Young of Rolling Stone regarded Ramones as "one of

17250-407: The use of the title engineer to any individual not a registered member of a professional engineering licensing body . In the recording studio environment, a sound engineer records, edits, manipulates, mixes, or masters sound by technical means to realize the creative vision of the artist and record producer . While usually associated with music production, an audio engineer deals with sound for

17388-523: The winds. The ingredients are simplicity itself." Rockwell noted: "the effect in the end amounts to an abstraction of rock so pure that other associations get left behind." Nick Kent favourably commented in the NME : "This record poses a direct threat to any vaguely sensitive woofer and/or tweeter lodged in your hi-fi ...". Reviewing that same month in The Village Voice , Robert Christgau said that, while

17526-595: Was Cordell Jackson (1923–2004). Trina Shoemaker is a mixer, record producer and sound engineer who became the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album in 1998 for her work on The Globe Sessions . Gail Davies was the first female producer in country music , delivering a string of Top 10 hits in the 1970s and 1980s including " Someone Is Looking for Someone Like You ", " Blue Heartache " and " I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me) ". When she moved to Nashville in 1976, men "didn't want to work for

17664-686: Was Italian American, and some of his family are from the Piedmont region of Northern Italy. Albini began playing bass guitar while in high school, and was introduced to the Ramones by a schoolmate when he was 14 or 15. He bought every Ramones recording available to him and credits his career to their first album . He said, "I was baffled and thrilled by music like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols , Pere Ubu , Devo , and all those contemporaneous, inspirational punk bands without wanting to try to mimic them." During his teenage years, Albini played in bands including

17802-415: Was a middle-class neighborhood, with a lot of rich, snotty women who had horrible spoiled brat kids. There was a playground with women sitting around and a kid screaming, a spoiled, horrible kid just running around rampant with no discipline whatsoever. The kind of kid you just want to kill. You know, 'beat on the brat with a baseball bat' just came out. I just wanted to kill him. —Joey Ramone on "Beat on

17940-520: Was born in Pasadena, California , and raised in Missoula, Montana . After discovering the Ramones as a teenager, he immersed himself in punk rock and underground culture . He earned a degree in journalism at Northwestern University , Illinois, and wrote for local zines in Chicago. He formed Big Black in 1981 and recruited Santiago Durango and Dave Riley . Big Black attracted a considerable following, releasing two albums and four EPs. In 1987 he formed

18078-409: Was eight [years old]." Dee Dee also explained that its concept came from adolescent trauma. After several songs by the Ramones whose titles began with "I Don't Want to ...", Tommy said that "Now I Want to Sniff Some Glue" is the first positive piece on the album. The song served as an inspiration for one of the first punk fanzines , Mark Perry 's Sniffin' Glue . "I Don't Wanna Go Down to

18216-534: Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 2002 induction ceremony, with the website stating that their first album changed the rock genre from "bloated and narcissistic", to "basic" rock and roll. In 2003, Ramones was considered by Spin ' s Chuck Klosterman, Greg Milner, and Alex Pappademas to be the sixth most influential album of all time. They noted that the album "saved rock from itself and punk rock from art-gallery pretension." Q Magazine included

18354-564: Was not mentioned on the record's credits. Johnny replied: "We didn't want people to get confused with who's in the band or who's not. It's our first album, you know, and we didn't want people to get confused." The artwork became one of the most imitated album covers in music. The image of a band in front of a brick wall dressed in ripped jeans and leather jackets was copied by Alvin and the Chipmunks in Chipmunk Punk . Ramones ' s artwork

18492-563: Was ranked number 58 on Rolling Stone ' s 1991 list of 100 Greatest Album Covers. The album sleeve and a poster of the same design are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. There were two singles released from the album: " Blitzkrieg Bop " and "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." The first was released in February 1976, originally as a 7" split single with "Havana Affair" as its B-side . The release, along with

18630-440: Was to solve technical problems, not to threaten the artist's creative control,. and he never sought album sleeve credit. Instead Albini preferred the term "recording engineer". He felt that his involvement in recording was unimportant and sometimes created public relations problems for acts, or could distract from the record. He refused to accept royalties, preferring to charge a fixed fee. At the time of his death, Albini charged $ 900

18768-401: Was unsuccessful commercially, peaking at number 111 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart. Despite its poor chart performance, it received glowing reviews from critics. Many later deemed it a highly influential record, and it has since received many accolades, such as the top spot on Spin magazine's list of the "50 Most Essential Punk Records". Ramones is widely regarded as one of

18906-498: Was willing to work with "anyone who calls on the phone ... If someone rings because he wants to make a record, I say yes." In The Vinyl District , Joseph Neff wrote: "When enlisted by the big leagues, Albini took his job just as seriously as when he was assisting on the debut recording from a bunch of aspiring unknowns." In 2004, Albini estimated that he had engineered 1,500 records. By 2018, his estimate had increased to several thousand. Artists that Albini worked with include Nirvana ,

19044-404: Was written by Tommy, and originally named "Animal Hop." Once Dee Dee reviewed the lyrics, the band changed the wording, the name, and partially the theme. According to Tommy, the song's original concept was about "kids going to a show and having a good time," but the theme became more Nazi-related after its revision. The piece begins with an instrumental interval which lasts about 20 seconds. At

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