The Ramones are so intrinsic to New York City that to imagine them out of their city, their element, is as ridiculous as imagining the Empire State Building in Iowa. Like streets and buildings around them, The Ramones represent the materialization of an abstract monolithic from. It’s just that with The Ramones, the form applies to rock ‘n’ roll instead of urban design.

Besides such esthetic values, there is the intangible air of the classic surrounding The Ramones-if rock music is capable of producing instant classics. "Blitzkrieg Bop" is after all, everything it intends to be, and how many of us can claim that? To rail at The Ramones is to deny the very sense of sheer bravado New Yorkers have always claimed to be their own.
The Ramones are to C.B.G.B’s what the Who was to the Marquee a dozen years ago-the home team, and as such (added to all these previous ingredients), The Ramones-ragged musicianship and repetitiveness aside-just may be the city’s most popular band. Popularity is hard to argue with. An evening at C.B.’s with The Ramones is really a celebration of the city and its lifestyle.

The boys themselves knew this on the night in question and responded with all the punkiness their slight frames could muster. Johnny R. turned savage, perhaps the first rock guitarist ever to engage in a full fledged glaring match with his guitar (it was a draw). Dee Dee’s "one, two, three, four" was a bit less audible and that much more visceral, and Joey did his Patti Smith-in-sunglasses number to method-acting perfection.

Everything from the (Ramones-Sire) album sounded just like the album, only louder, but in a band which regards repetition as a prime means of achieving artistic accomplishment, literalness must be considered an additional attribute. New material of note included a version of "Do You Wanna Dance?" which came close to Bobby Freeman’s original intentions (heavy) and a smattering of semi-sixtyish Ramone-type quickies (names incomprehensible).

One final note: the band still (and that "still" implies they are now to be considered famous) haven’t stretched their sets and longer than a half-hour. This is smart. Punk rock is for rushes, not trips. As long as they keep this in mind, The Ramones will continue to be one hell of a rush.