Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis.

The stories about the Ramones are insane.

They sniffed glue, bombed unsuspecting Queen's residence with

heavy television sets, attempted to brain the Beatles with rocks. One Ramon was locked up in a

psych ward, another forced to turn tricks for heroin. And despite it all, as a band, the Ramones

managed to survive and inspire an entire new generation of rock and rollers,

at a time when the genre seemed near dead.

And man oh man, did the Ramones make great music.

Some of the greatest music ever made.

Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music.

That was a preset loop from my Melotron called Florescent Function Hall,

MK2. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to Love is Alive by Gary Wright.

And why would I play you that specific slice of Dreamweaver cheese could I afford it?

Because that was the number one song in America on July 4th, 1976, and that was the day the

Ramones first played London, an act that marked the band's first major step towards

saving rock and roll.

On this episode, sniffing glue, TV bombs, psych wards, heroin, and saving rock and roll with the Ramones.

I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. Ninety-seven, a summer of love,

Helter-Skelter and the coming nihilism of the 70s was impossible to imagine,

yet there it was, just around the bend.

Rock and roll was the most culturally relevant it would ever be.

Few knew it, but rock and roll was also taking its first steps toward death, toward corporate rock, toward disco.

...