91福利社

One of the defining moments in rock history saw Ramones made their triumphant UK debut in front of 2,000 fans at The Roundhouse in Camden on July 4, 1976, blitzkrieging the London crowd with NYC punk attitude. The following night they played Dingwall鈥檚.

The arrival of the Ramones in the UK had been hotly anticipated due to the hype created by Malcolm McLaren, who had seen the band at CBGB鈥檚 in New York and made plans to bring them to the UK to spread the Gospel of Punk.

That weekend, members of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Pretenders, The Ruts and The Adverts (and even Marc Bolan!) saw those gigs.

As Joe Strummer from The Clash said afterwards, 鈥淲e all saw them play fast and hard, so we went away and immediately sped everything up. It was the sound of the next generation getting angry. It made us realise we weren鈥檛 alone. That kick started everything.鈥�

Fifty years later, with exclusive access to key people who played a huge part in the early success of the Ramones - including Craig Leon who discovered the band, signed them to Sire Records and then produced the band鈥檚 debut album - Mariella Frostrup revisits one of the most important weekends in the history of Punk.
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With previously unheard tracks from both those London gigs and their debut recording sessions the previous April, along with contributions from those inspired by those Ramones gigs including Chrissie Hynde, Glen Matlock, Hugh Cornwell, Paul Simonon, John Giddings, Gaye Black, Rob Lloyd and Capt. Sensible - along with New York compatriots Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, David Byrne and Tina Weymouth.

Mariella Frostrup explains the importance and influence of those London concerts that cemented the Ramones' reputation as the godfathers of Punk and provided a huge impetus for the nascent UK punk scene.

A Zinc Media production for 91福利社 Radio 4