The dumbest band with the dumbest tunes - but still they transcend all other groups as the ground zero of rock, reduced to its crudest essence. This, their first album is a brutal combination of 60s pop and garage punk with adolescent tales of girls and sniffing glue.

What could be more punk rock than a band that never changed, a band that for decades punched out three-minute powerhouses in the style that made them famous? The Ramones' repetition and attitude inspired a genre, and Ramones set its tone. Nicholas Rombes examines punk history, with the recording of Ramones at its core, in this inspiring and thoroughly researched justification of his obsession with the album.

The nifty 33 1/3 book series publishes cool little books that dive deep into individual canonical rock 'n' roll albums. Ramones/Ramones is undoubtedly a worthy addition to their catalog. ? Rombes does a concise job of laying out a solid thesis (complete with a chart), detailing the various early waves of punk (or new wave, as the terms are proved interchangeable) and approaching these topics in a thoughtful but fun way. ? This book got me thinking about this culture in ways I never had before.