10 Albums That Changed Rock Music Forever

There's a good case to be made that prog rock was the moment where rock and roll began to jump the shark just a little bit. Acts like Led Zeppelin had already had some of their more grandiose material, but having some bands come right out of the gate with these 20 minute songs felt like too much to take in all at once. Rock and roll needed to get that stick out of its ass, and The Ramones disassembled everything rock and roll was and started over from scratch.

Recorded on a shoestring budget, the ramshackle energy of the Ramones' first record signaled a new sound for rock and roll, playing fairly simple songs that cut to the point and played at aggressively fast speeds. Before the Sex Pistols had even launched onto the scene, this was the real proper introduction to punk rock, taking the pop friendly sounds of singalong hooks and turning them into songs that were cynical and violent like 53rd and 3rd or Beat on the Brat.

Even when the punk movement started to stretch out a little more with bands like Clash and Television adopting different new wave and post punk tendencies, the Ramones never stopped being themselves, always having the same spirit of rock and roll they had in the beginning and honing it that much more. Other punk rock acts might try to be snide or lash out in anger whenever they can, but for the real credentials of the genre, this is about as pure as they come.