TS: ramones vs buzzcocks

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

dont think its been sone before, though i cant imagine why not. inspired by the possibly-hyperbolic "buzzcocks GOAT: C or C?" thread. pop-punk/punk-pop at its very finest.

i say buzzcocks.

― peter smith (plsmith), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

As much as I love the Buzzcocks, I must say RAMONES (though the Buzzcocks' records were more consistent). Buzzcocks also have an edge in the none-of-them-being-dead-yet department.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones, easily.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Whichever one played "Ever Fallen In Love" and "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement".

― brianiac (briania), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Whichever one wrote "Sitting Round At Home (I Just Wanna Have Something To Do)"

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Just this past weekend I heard 'Why Can't I Touch It' cranked up loud in a pub after a few pints, and it sounded soooo great. Had the DJ played 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker' my opinion today might be completely different. Da Bruddas for doing it first, and longest, but does any Ramones comp match up to 'Singles Going Steady?'

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: "Orgasm Addict" vs "Why Can't I Touch It" vs "I Touch Myself"

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 9 May 2005 19:47 (twenty-one years ago)

my fondest wish was to have the buzzcocks join ZZTop and become
the supergroup BuZZtops.

― peteno1fan, Monday, 9 May 2005 20:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

This is as difficult as the Daft Punk vs Basement Jaxx thread. I think the Buzzcocks just edge it because there was an ever so slight hint of variation and the impulse to explore a bit. The Ramones, on the other hand, knew what hit and went for it.

Incidently, am I the only person who thinks End Of The Century is the best Ramones album?

― Nick H (Nick H), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Easily two of the better punk bands. I feel that Ramones had more good songs altogether, while Buzzcocks were slightly better at varying their sound.

I choose Ramones, although Howard Devoto later easily beat them with Magazine.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks by a nose. I side with those above who say that SGS is just too good to be toppled by even the mighty Ramones.

― Roadkill Bingo (Roadkill Bingo), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: "Orgasm Addict" vs "Why Can't I Touch It" vs "I Touch Myself"

"Pictures Of Lily". Clearly! :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones win for Joey's voice. No one ever had or ever will sing like that.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones: better singer, better lyrics, better rhythm section

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I vote Ramones.

― Burr (Burr), Monday, 9 May 2005 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh man, Ramones by a ton. I feel like I probably should like the Buzzcocks better, what with the Can stuff and the totally, totally awesome drumming and the stylistic variation, but the Ramones just have so many better songs and are so much more consistent. The Buzzcocks never released anything perfect (to my ears), even Singles Going Steady, whereas the Ramones have two flawless albums and two nearly flawless albums. So Ramones.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Monday, 9 May 2005 21:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks

They could play adolescent idiocy like the Ramones could but they could also bring a little more substance on songs like I Believe. The Ramones did songs with Nazi references but they weren't as witty as I Believe's "I believe in the worker's evolution and I believe in the final solution", etc.

Musically they were equally good.

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones have an edge in that all key players are dead, preventing the possibility for further embarrassment, which definitely isnt the case for Buzzcocks.

― jack cole (jackcole), Monday, 9 May 2005 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks are superb, but I gotta go with Ramones. I'd go so far as to say thier 1st 4 records are flawless.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones pathetically easily (Magazine'd be a bit harder but still Ramones)

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:05 (twenty-one years ago)

1234: RAMONES!

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

This is a really hard choice and I'm not sure if it's entirely fair. The Buzzcocks had the quirky, Kinks-influenced sparseness (thinking about Different Kind of Tension here) but also heavier but *still* more pop stuff (thinking Orgasm Addict here)--they were a twisted band with twisted lyrics. The were far more angstful and grown up than the Ramones, with a couple of songs making the exception. I mean think about the Pink Floyd-esque lyrical angst on Different Kind of Tension. It is a lonely album with a peppy background.

The Ramones, on the other hand, never had a lonely feeling. It was all pure teenage energy--Gabba Gabba Hey We Accept you One of Us! or sweet stripped down neo- doo-wop ballads (I want you Around etc).

If I had to take sides, and it is hard, it would be the Buzzcocks because they achieved more of an emotional range. I wouldn't have to make that choice, though.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:44 (twenty-one years ago)

The Buzzcocks are way more teenage!

― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Depends what song you are listening to, actually. I mean Hollow Inside is somehow more angstful than Teenage Lobotomy, which is basically just a party song.

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Depends what song you are listening to, actually. I mean Hollow Inside is somehow more angstful than Teenage Lobotomy, which is basically just a party song.

While I don't think there's anything wrong with something being just a party song, I don't think that's true here. Ramones lyrics, particularly early on, have this completely self-aware/un-self-aware meta thing going on, where I constantly find myself asking "wait, do they really mean this? If yes, awesome, if no, also awesome." I think there's generally way more intelligence - or at least archly clever awareness - in yr average Ramones lyric than most people give them credit for. What makes them so singular is that the band's approach is pre and postmodern at the same time, something that they certainly lost as they became more proficient, and that pretty much every single one of their direct imitators could never quite manage. Not that I'm saying they would make good literary theoreticians or anything, but that does not equal insight or intelligence.

And nothing but nothing is more teenage than angst, dude.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones. i lurve teh 'Cocks though.

― latebloomer: the rebel sound of grits and bacon (latebloomer), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

dumbest question ever. Ramones by eight zillion light years

and i LIKE the Buzzcocks...

― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 02:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: "Orgasm Addict" Buzzcocks vs "Why Can't I Touch It" Buzzcocks vs "I Touch Myself" Divinyls vs "It's My Turn" Diana Ross.

Oh, Buzzcocks.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 08:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks. I suspect most of the brits will vote for the Buzzcocks and most of the yanks for The Ramones.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 08:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones, despite this.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 09:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i've often thought 'i'm in love with somebody/i wish somebody loved me too' is the greatest unrequited teenage love lyric ever written, so - much as i love the ramones - it must be buzzcocks.

― Pete W (peterw), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones r great, but the buzzcocks were better. General consensus amongst older musick lovers when the buzzcocks first reformed = they were better than when they were originally together.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Difficult choice, like trying to decide which eyeball you'd rather lose to a vengeful billiards cue in a barroom brawl. But in the end, altho Ramones were funnier, Buzzcocks take the prize for appealing to the pop/hard rock/prog fan in me, while the Ramones only managed two of the three. And if the Ramones were more consistent, the 'cocks were more experimental, less redundant. But of course every note these two quartets recorded in the '70s (at the least) is worthy of ownership.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel like I probably should like the Buzzcocks better, what with the Can stuff and the totally, totally awesome drumming

I'm not that taken with the drumming on the Buzzcocks songs I've heard. It seems to be a bit too busy and sometimes a bit erratic. I prefer the solid, propulsive feel of the Ramones drumming.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, especially on the earliest records. Tommy Ramone was a machine.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I never voted, did I? Even though I'm a Yank, from Queens no less, I gotta give it to the Buzzcocks, for all the reasons cited on this thread

― Ken L (Ken L), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno, I find that really skittery, spastic "oh my god I have to hit as many things as possible" style very appealing...but I still like the Ramones better. Of course Tommy's great (as is Marky) - he was perfect for that band and those songs.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Buzzcocks were more adventurous and creative songwriters, I think.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone else find the Buzzcocks...annoying? Not in a cool "Noise Annoys" kind of way, but in a shrill, irritating kind of way? I like a few of their songs, but I never listen to "Singles Going Steady" all the way through.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll say Buzzcocks for now because I more often would rather listen to the Buzzcocks.. But maybe that's just because I'm so sick of the Ramones. So it could change, is all I'm sayin'.

― diedre mousedropping and a quarter (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Gotta go with the Buzzcocks.

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Ramones were so original they can't be compared fairly with anything. Buzzcocks are undoubtedly superb in many similar ways, but Ramones edge em out head to head. It's almost a shame how commercial some Ramones things have become, but that can't be counted against them. Who can argue against Rocket to Russia?

― Benjamin Rex, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

"I suspect most of the brits will vote for the Buzzcocks and most of the yanks for The Ramones."

I don't doubt that you're right for a second Doc; but why do you think this should be?

Is it just down to good old fashioned nationalism - or could it be because there's something quintessentially British (English?) about Buzzcocks' sound, style, Pete Shelley's voice, lyrical preoccupations, willingness to experiment, or whatever and / or is there something intrinsic to Da Ramones that's as unmistakeably American as the fraternity system, little league baseball, the Stars & Stripes, ma's apple pie, or any of those other things that the Septics always seem to go on about interminably in their "movies" but which actually mean "jack-shit" to most of us Limeys?

Personally, much as I like Da Brudders (especially the first 5 or 6 albums) I can't help but feel that over the course of 22 years they never displayed any signs of being much more than a one trick pony - even if it was an absolutely fantastic trick.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 07:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think there's anything quintessentially British about having a half-assed rhythm section. And though I'm a Yank, for a long time, I didn't really like the Ramones very much because they seemed somehow not adventurous enough, too much like frat rock, and I didn't like Joey's Queens accent.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 14:46 (twenty-one years ago)

**I don't think there's anything quintessentially British about having a half-assed rhythm section.**

Eh?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think there's anything quintessentially British about having a half-assed rhythm section.

Tell that to Joe Carducci

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This is truly a case of if you voted for X (x in this case = buzzcocks) you are a HELPLESS AND HOPELESS MENTALIST. And possibly British.

― Aaron A., Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Tell that to Joe Carducci

Tell that to Charlie Watts.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

buzzcocks for the perfect blend of punk and irresistible melodies, but my vote is probably useless as i hardly know the ramones. i always thought they have only song. if it had been ramones vs. sex pistols i'd have gone for ramones though.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I like ramones better...I didn't like Buzzcocks much at all at first (that shrill thing mentioned above)...I just think the Ramones tunes'r better. Ramones are a lot less of a mental listen for me.

― p.j. (Henry), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Tell that to Charlie Watts.

Carducci's talkin' punk & afterwards though.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 18:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I loved them both from the start, but I kept listening to the Buzzcocks long after I tired of hearing the Ramones. Nowadays, I'd probably find the Ramones more interesting to hear again. Musically, it might be close call; on all counts exra-musical, it's Ramones all the way.

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 18:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree. Although I find some of SGS enjoyable and catchy, I'm annoyed by the rest and can't quite see what everyone else obviously does.

Ramones by a parsec.

― PB, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 19:27 (twenty-one years ago)

everybody says the first 2-4 ramones records are the best but i think it's the first 6 or 7 are all amazing. basically everything before "too tough to die" is great... and that's not even including "it's alive"! in fact, i think some of their best stuff is on "road to ruin" and "end of the century".
buzzcocks were great too but it's not even a fair fight.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

y0.... I've been through a Ramones phase.....now im on a Buzzcocks phase...and im telling you the 'cocks is hitting me harder... I think they are more catchy than the Ramones... their newest albums are awesome... their self titled (2003) is flawless..

this is my formula for buzzcocks: REM, Husker Du, Beatles, Ramones, Beach Boys

― Cattellar, Monday, 16 January 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

I love the Ramones deeply, and will never forget seeing them live in 1977, or the impact of hearing their first album at the end of 1976 - and they still sound fantastic.

The Buzzcocks were part of some of the best gigs I ever saw, and their first two albums are glorious. I love the campness, the extraordinary combination of driving rock guitar, experimental rhythms and song structures, and pop tunes. That's what wins it for me - and I love their half-dozen finest songs more than anything by the Ramones, even though the latter had more very good songs.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 16 January 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

sixteen years pass...

I have to agree

https://www.getintothis.co.uk/2015/11/ramones-shit-ruined-punk/

― gravalicious, Monday, 13 June 2022 18:21 (four years ago)

Whether you agree or not--and I most definitely do not--that piece is all over the place from a logic standpoint. The Ramones ruined punk, and preempted all the great bold and experimental music that would have happened if they'd never existed, except, well, all that music happened anyway, and we shouldn't blame the Ramones for terrible skinhead bands from the early '80s, except, well, let's blame them anyway.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 14 June 2022 16:24 (four years ago)

Exploited, GBH, UK Subs etc more commonly derived their ethos and sound from Slade>Clash rather than from Ramones.There in not really any Oi or streetpunk that looks or sounds like them. Also many of those bands are much loved so leave em alone!

― everything, Wednesday, 15 June 2022 02:14 (four years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.