by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 02, 2008

The Ramones released one of their most unusual albums in 1993. They combined their fast, driving, punk sound to twelve classic rock songs from the 1960s. The band had always had an affection for the raw energy of early rock songs, even hiring the legendary Phil Spector to produce their 1980 album "End of the Century." Seventeen years after their first album, the band released an album containing nothing but covers of 1960s songs, giving it an appropriately wild title: "Acid Eaters."

What's surprising is how well it works. The album opens with an almost nihilistic song, "Journey to the Center of the Mind," and there's other fast-and-fatalistic melodies, including "Shape of Things To Come" Jefferson Airplane's "(Don't You Want) Somebody To Love." Some songs sound almost new after receiving the Ramones' speedy delivery, including Credence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" and The Byrds "My Back Pages" (which was written by Bob Dylan). But even the slow songs seem to fit the band's dark personality. Joey's wailing voice is a good match for an early Rolling Stones song taunting a rejected girlfriend, "(You're) Out of Time," and he gives a raw and convincing vocal to a song by the Animals, "When I Was Young."

The band sometimes augments their usual punk sound to suggest the feel of the 1960s originals. For example, "Out of Time" opens with a keyboard and a xylophone - though by the time it reaches the chorus, the unrelenting drums and Joey's vocals have turned it back into a Ramones song. Pete Townshend himself turned up for a fast, angry cover of the Who's "Substitute." Even the album's cover has a wavy fluorescent letters, with a psychedelic illustration that shows the bands as a hallucination.

Ultimately the punk band's sound fits perfectly with the original songs. Their 1960s lyrics about power, alienation, and pleasure-seeking were a perfect match for the rock-loving Ramones. There's a real novelty when the classic street punks revive classic songs from three decades earlier - but it also makes sense. The 60s launched the era of "do your own thing," and it's one small step from that to the punk movement's "do it yourself" ethic. If punk rock really is an all-inclusive tribe, then there's a place in the movement for raw covers of The Animals.

In 2001 when Joey Ramone died, Mike Watt shared a special sentiment in an announcement to his fans. "Sheena was a punk rocker. I am too. Miss you Joey." Watt felt that all the moment required was one more declaration of solidarity. In its own way, "Acid Eaters" is another declaration of solidarity - for anyone whose been young, lost...or hungry to join a rock band.

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