Sorry for all (two) of you who had to wait for me to continue my top 10 albums list, "real life" needs to take priority over my dreams of rock writing. But, the list continues, and will continue, though intermittently. Stay tuned...
Ramones Subterranean Jungle (1983)
This is the record that yanked me out of popular music almost altogether. Prior to my friend Tim Jacobson playing his copy for me, I was addicted to Radio (yes, at that time it was capitalized). While playing driveway or indoor Nerf basketball, I kept a blank tape in my puny, fire engine red Panasonic boom box and stopped--sometimes mid-shot--to hit “RECORD” when Casey Kasem or the local WAQE DJ played a song I liked. Eddy Grant, The Police, and Men At Work were frequent game-interrupters. When he first played this cassette for me, Tim likely had to eject a TDK tape hand-labeled “KOOL TUNES” to make way for New York’s finest. I made sure my bedroom door was closed for that initial listen: these guys looked badass, forbidden, underground. What would my parents think? As soon as the first naked bass riff melded into the head-bobbing, hand-clapping beat (and soon after that cowbell interlude, DAMN!), I was hooked. Joey’s nasal delivery, Dee Dee’s chainsaw guitar, “Outsider” (my theme song), “Psycho Therapy,” “Time Bomb.” I grabbed my RATT Out of the Cellar tape and threw it (literally) into the back of my closet. I’ve been riding the underground ever since.
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