50 years ago today the greatest band to ever step on stage released the album that would change rock and roll forever.

Four misfits, geeks, and “outsiders” considered American refuse turned up and became some of rock’s biggest icons and gave those of us just like them a music to call our own. They became imitated, idolized and admired for all the reasons they had once been rejected.

Nobody asked for The Ramones, but they needed it and they got it, hard, fast, four on the floor, buzzsaw guitar work like nobody had ever heard before, bullfrog vocals with some of the catchiest hooks, ironic and often cartoonish lyrics to liberate rock music from the dinosaurs still hanging around playing the same old worn out, tired arena rock that had grown stagnant. They took the best parts of rock and roll, distilled it and injected it into the music industry like a shot of adrenaline and owned every cubic centimeter.

They were a pocket of fresh air in a smoky room who breathed new life into rock and roll. They changed my life.

Thank God for the Ramones.