10 Rock Albums That Invented Entire Genres

The end of the ‘70s wasn’t looking good for the state of rock music. Outside of the heavy hitters like Led Zeppelin, rock started to get treated like classical music, with bands being paraded around in limousines and getting further away from a kid in his garage learning to play guitar. The next generation had something to say though, and it took a couple of punks from Queens to light a fire under everyone’s ass.

While The Sex Pistols may have gotten more credit for pioneering the punk aesthetic in the ‘70s, the Ramones’ self-titled debut was the first of its kind to turn that aesthetic into music, playing fast and loud and never letting up for a minute. This album might only be under a half hour, but every song is balls to the wall, with Johnny Ramone taking no prisoners on songs like Chainsaw and Loudmouth. Aside from the intensity, the music was your traditional pop tunes played with a whole lot more attitude.

In between songs about beating on brats with baseball bats, Joey Ramone was totally comfortable singing songs like I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, sounding like the girl groups of the ‘60s if it were gender flipped and born with safety pins through its nose. The heart of rock and roll was still in there, but the Ramones weren’t looking to be Led Zeppelin. It was just about giving it your all and being ready to throw down whenever the count-in started.