As mentioned, it was the first album to feature Marky Ramone the first to not feature Tommy, who is now seen as the architect of the band. “I Wanna Be Sedated” appeared on the Ramones’ fourth album, Road to Ruin, in late 1978.
Which is wonderful vindication, even though the four original Ramones are now dead, and the only living member of the line-up that recorded “I Wanna Be Sedated” is drummer Marky, who replaced original drummer Tommy just before the song was recorded. And the Ramones’ presence in popular music is thusly far greater now than in it ever was when the band was around. Including The Offspring, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Green Day, who sometimes sounded much like the Ramones, and did a great job playing their tunes at the Ramones’ induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame. The Ramones were too weird for too many people.īut of course that weirdness appealed to certain people, and some of those weird kids grew up and started bands. “Rock’n’Roll High School” was from the Spector produced album ( End of the Century) as was the bands biggest UK hit, “Baby, I Love You,” and the album itself was the biggest of the Ramones career, but it still wasn’t a real breakthrough. The record company knew it – “I Wanna Be Sedated” was never released as a single in any English-speaking country in the world, and they teed up iconic producer Phil Spector to make the Ramones next album, in the hope that the involvement of such a towering figure would open doors, which it did, to a degree. Which was emblematic of something both bewitching and befuddling of what was at the heart of the Ramones, four guys from the New York borough of Queens who started off thinking they could compete as possible rivals to the Bay City Rollers, despite fusing their tunes with the primal power of the Stooges and writing songs that related to their life on the streets.
Of course, as irresistible as it was, the songs lyrical content meant it was never going to get any commercial airplay. And it’s remembered much more fondly, appearing as it does at number 145 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and amongst NPR’s (National Public Radio in the US) choice of the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. It’s not unlike a handful of other Ramones tunes in that regard really, but this one is not nearly as jarringly simple or punky as earlier singles like “Blitzkrieg Bop” or “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker.” It has everything – and more – that the Ramones’ lone hit single in Australia, “Rock’n’Roll High School” has, in fact. It’s super catchy, attention-grabbing, and the kind of record that you want to hear again the moment it finishes. The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” has all the hallmarks of a smash hit.
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