Rocket to Russia
| Rocket to Russia | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||
| Studio album by the Ramones | ||||||||||
| Released | November 4, 1977 | |||||||||
| Recorded | August – September 1977 | |||||||||
| Studio | Media Sound Studios, Midtown Manhattan | |||||||||
| Genre | Punk rock | |||||||||
| Length | 31:46 (original) 43:23 (Expanded Edition) |
|||||||||
| Language | English | |||||||||
| Label |
Sire (US & UK) Philips (Europe) |
|||||||||
| Producer | Tony Bongiovi, Tommy Ramone | |||||||||
| Ramones chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| The Austin Chronicle | |
| Christgau's Record Guide | A |
| NME | 10/10 |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 10/10 |
| Uncut | |
Rocket to Russia is the third studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. Its origins date back to the summer of 1977, when "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as a single. That summer was known as the peak of the punk rock genre since many punk bands were offered recording contracts. The album's recording began in August 1977, and the band had a considerably larger budget with Sire allowing them $25,000 and $30,000; much of this money went toward the album's production rather than recording.
The album's cover art was directed by John Gillespie. John Holmstrom and guitarist Johnny Ramone both worked on illustration, with the entire back cover contemplating a military theme, while the inner sleeve artwork depicted many of the themes portrayed in songs. The subject matter of songs varied throughout the album, though nearly all the tracks on the album incorporated humor into the lyrics. The musical style showed more of a surf rock influence, and many songs had minimal structuring.
The album received positive reception, with many critics appreciating the matured production and sound quality as compared to Rocket to Russia's predecessors. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it his favorite Ramones album as it contained several hooks and featured more variety of tempos. The album was not as commercially successful as the band had hoped, peaking at number 49 on the Billboard 200. Band members blamed the Sex Pistols for their lack of sales, saying that they changed the punk image for the worse. This is the last album to feature original drummer Tommy Ramone who left the band in 1978 to work solely on production. The album was ranked at number 106 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2012.
In the summer of 1977, "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as a single, being an outtake from the band's previous release, Leave Home. This period was extremely significant to the punk rock genre, as it was the initial wave of New York City's underground punk bands retrieving recording contracts. New York-based clubs CBGB and Max's Kansas City began to see bigger audiences crowd in to hear these bands. Punk fans commonly believed that this musical style would soon top the market, to which author Tom Carson explains: "To be in New York that summer was to have some sense of what it might have been like to live in San Francisco in 1966 or '67, or in London when the Beatles and the [Rolling] Stones first hit."
...
Wikipedia