Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

There are many godfathers in music.

The godfather of rock?

Well, there's the king, Elvis Presley, but Chuck Berry is probably a more accurate choice.

The godfather of funk, James Brown, hands down.

Godfathers of hip-hop. DJ Cool Hurk was the OG, Run DMC should be in there, along with Africa Mobata, Spoonie G, and Fab Five

Freddy. How about the godfather of punk? Well, that's Iggy Pop. There's no question there.

But what about the fathers of punk? I'm going to say that that title

belongs to the Ramones. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. Okay, wait. Back up. In the early

1800s, an American pioneer named John Chapman traveled from Massachusetts, collecting seeds from

Pennsylvania cider presses. And for the

rest of his life, he planted thousands of apple trees throughout what is now Ohio, Indiana, and

Illinois. Chapman was given the nickname Johnny Appleseed, because wherever he went,

apple trees sprouted in his wake. In the mid-1970s, the Ramones, four middle-class

kids from Forest Hills and Queens, began to have the same effect with a new style of rock and roll

known as punk. Whenever they played a town on one of their endless tours, new bands would inevitably

start popping up just a few days later. What began as a

cartoonish attempt in making goofy bubble gum pop music, think of what the Beach Boys might sound

like if they sniffed glue and took a lot of meth, the Ramones stumbled on something profound

and eternal. It was all a big, happy, dumb accident. The Ramones had no idea that they were about

to change the world of music. They were just four regular guys who wanted to rock in the most

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