Jun 3, 2023·edited Jun 3, 2023Liked by Marshall Bowden
Great read, Marshall....fun to go back! What sometimes gets lost in the fog of time (while mind-numbing minutiae to many) is that their debut and "Leave Home" both had dual releases (of interest for the Ramones completists in the house!).
ABC Records distributed Sire (and thus initially released both albums) through much of 1977, before Warner Bros. picked up Seymour's label. Warners, of course (at about the time of "Rocket to Russia's late '77 release), saw fit to RE-release the debut and "Leave Home"! So, all collectors need to check their yellow labels to see which parent label distributed the album! Marshall, do you have the ABC or Warner Bros. copy? Just curious.
Back in the day, I (gaudily) had both the ABC and WB releases of both, and had the boys sign all of them when I'd see them (like, backstage in Houston in '77--shown in my ID pick to your left)--and the following year when I trundled up to their hotel room the next year (about which I've written...I won't sully your site with the link...it's easily found).
All of that label drivel is important to take into account (to evaluate market impact) when perusing airplay charts and sales figures from '76 and '77: ABC was a much smaller major label than was the Label of The Bunny, and Warners (amid their single-minded promotion of the Fleetwood Macs on the roster) was fairly distracted by keeping their whales afloat!
I think if one graphs the first three albums, you might see a jump in sales from "Leave Home" to "Rocket," simply because the latter was the only one (of their first 3) solely distributed by Warners. I think sales were negligible for the Warner re-releases of the first two (but, I could be wrong)...I mean, those who were going to buy them anyway, had already done so by Sire's move from ABC to WB.
I used to know well the Houston regional WB rep from that time (Rob Sides), and he had little interest in the attendant promo items (the records, posters, flats, "that" t-shirt, and more) that the parent company was providing him with, profusely....which left them to me to successfully hound him for!!
Warners promoted The Ramones pretty aggressively, and by all accounts, seemed to be on board with "this whole punk thing" (they had the Pistols, after all, and Sire's Heads, Hell, Tuff Darts🤣, Paley Bros., and many others), and I think they quickly learned how to market "new wave" and "punk." Plus, I'm guessing Seymour and Warner bosses, Mo Ostin, Joe Smith, et al worked well together to maximize their relationship.
For the record (or the tape!), I thought the lads reached their peak with "Rocket," with the first two building to that more fully-realized result (IMO) on "Rocket"! Thanks, Marshall, for allowing me to bloviate here! Hope it comes close to being welcomed and helpful!
I was only "kinda" into the Ramones until the played on MTV one day. It was midday, which was weird enough, but they had someone dressed as Zippy in the corner kind of bopping along. That's all well and good, but what caught my attention was Kurt Loder. This might've been the *only* time I saw him show any kind of emotion. That told me all I needed to know. I rode my bike to Tower Records and bought "Brain Drain."
Great read, Marshall....fun to go back! What sometimes gets lost in the fog of time (while mind-numbing minutiae to many) is that their debut and "Leave Home" both had dual releases (of interest for the Ramones completists in the house!).
ABC Records distributed Sire (and thus initially released both albums) through much of 1977, before Warner Bros. picked up Seymour's label. Warners, of course (at about the time of "Rocket to Russia's late '77 release), saw fit to RE-release the debut and "Leave Home"! So, all collectors need to check their yellow labels to see which parent label distributed the album! Marshall, do you have the ABC or Warner Bros. copy? Just curious.
Back in the day, I (gaudily) had both the ABC and WB releases of both, and had the boys sign all of them when I'd see them (like, backstage in Houston in '77--shown in my ID pick to your left)--and the following year when I trundled up to their hotel room the next year (about which I've written...I won't sully your site with the link...it's easily found).
All of that label drivel is important to take into account (to evaluate market impact) when perusing airplay charts and sales figures from '76 and '77: ABC was a much smaller major label than was the Label of The Bunny, and Warners (amid their single-minded promotion of the Fleetwood Macs on the roster) was fairly distracted by keeping their whales afloat!
I think if one graphs the first three albums, you might see a jump in sales from "Leave Home" to "Rocket," simply because the latter was the only one (of their first 3) solely distributed by Warners. I think sales were negligible for the Warner re-releases of the first two (but, I could be wrong)...I mean, those who were going to buy them anyway, had already done so by Sire's move from ABC to WB.
I used to know well the Houston regional WB rep from that time (Rob Sides), and he had little interest in the attendant promo items (the records, posters, flats, "that" t-shirt, and more) that the parent company was providing him with, profusely....which left them to me to successfully hound him for!!
Warners promoted The Ramones pretty aggressively, and by all accounts, seemed to be on board with "this whole punk thing" (they had the Pistols, after all, and Sire's Heads, Hell, Tuff Darts🤣, Paley Bros., and many others), and I think they quickly learned how to market "new wave" and "punk." Plus, I'm guessing Seymour and Warner bosses, Mo Ostin, Joe Smith, et al worked well together to maximize their relationship.
For the record (or the tape!), I thought the lads reached their peak with "Rocket," with the first two building to that more fully-realized result (IMO) on "Rocket"! Thanks, Marshall, for allowing me to bloviate here! Hope it comes close to being welcomed and helpful!
I was only "kinda" into the Ramones until the played on MTV one day. It was midday, which was weird enough, but they had someone dressed as Zippy in the corner kind of bopping along. That's all well and good, but what caught my attention was Kurt Loder. This might've been the *only* time I saw him show any kind of emotion. That told me all I needed to know. I rode my bike to Tower Records and bought "Brain Drain."