2000 Great Songs #1415: Rock 'n' Roll High School

While Ramones purists may balk at the band's bid for commercial acceptance with the polished "Rock 'n' Roll High School," the song arguably served its purpose. Once polished up enough to get played on mainstream radio, it helped expose me (and presumably others) to the band. And, for all its sheen, it's still a Ramones song, silly and fun and absurdly catchy. The original 1979 version of the song (used in slightly remixed form as the title track for the film of the same name) still sounded like a classic Ramones number, or at least like the slightly slicker version of the band found on 1978's Road To Ruin, which already found them moving beyond the stripped-down punk of the first few albums. (This original version of the track can be found on one of the multiple Ruin reissues.)

But the better-known version of the track showed up on 1980's Phil Spector-produced End Of The Century. Spector gave the record a dollop of reverb and sanded off the edges (though not exactly the full-on wall-of-sound treatment; but while the album was controversial for its far more radio-friendly spin on the band's punk-pop sound, it's tough to keep a great song down. I have no qualms about the track in any version; if this is all it took to get 13-year-old me to check out the seemingly-scary Ramones, it was worth it.

Earlier version:

Live:

Old Grey Whistle Test:

Shonen Knife, live 2012:

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