Ramones

The Ramones invented punk rock. That sentence is a simplification, but not by much. When their self-titled debut landed in 1976, recorded at Plaza Sound Studios in Radio City Music Hall for $6,400 with producer Craig Leon, it established a template that has never been improved upon: three chords, two minutes, no solos, full volume. Johnny Ramone's guitar rig was one of the most deliberately restricted setups in rock history. He played a white Mosrite Ventures II model — a guitar most associated with surf music — exclusively using downstrokes with a heavy pick, creating the relentless buzzsaw rhythm that defined every Ramones record. He ran the Mosrite through a Marshall JCM800 with a Marshall Plexi as backup, keeping the amp settings flat with everything at maximum volume. No effects pedals. No overdrive. No reverb. The distortion came entirely from the amp being driven past its limits. This setup never changed across 22 years and 14 studio albums. Dee Dee Ramone played a Fender Precision Bass through an Ampeg SVT, providing the low-end rumble beneath Johnny's wall of downstrokes. The P-Bass into SVT combination anchored every recording and live show, giving songs like "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Rockaway Beach" their physical impact. Tommy Ramone's drum production on the first four albums — tight, fast, no fills — was as much a stylistic statement as the guitars. On Road to Ruin (1978), the band briefly experimented with guitar solos and acoustic guitars, but largely returned to the formula. End of the Century (1980), infamously produced by Phil Spector, saw Spector layer the guitar tracks and add piano and strings, but even his Wall of Sound approach couldn't obscure the fundamental simplicity of Johnny's Mosrite-to-Marshall chain. Live, the Ramones were even louder and faster than on record, with Johnny's Marshall stack creating a physical wall of sound that audiences either loved or fled from.