![\"Joey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Joey-Ramone-The-Beatles-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy \/ Apple Corps)<\/p>\n
Sun 15 June 2025 0:00, UK <\/p>\n
There\u2019s an entire wave of musicians who each had an epiphany from the exact same source: The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles in 1964 was it for most people, but for Joey Ramone<\/a>, it was Elvis Presley in 1956. \u201cI guess that was it for me,\u201d he once said. Even as a young kid, watching it for the first time was like a lightbulb flicking on.<\/p>\n Of course, it all makes perfect sense. Most of the performances on The Ed Sullivan Show were others\u2019 first experiences witnessing all the striking energy of live performances. The Beatles\u2019 show, for instance, is one of the most widely cited across the entire industry, especially for those who grew up around the time it aired, eyes and ears fresh with a new kind of charge that made them want to follow in the exact same footsteps.<\/p>\n And many did. For Ramone, watching Presley on the show might have been the first time he ever felt interested in music, but it also led him down a road with a different kind of fascination: the significance of debut albums, and how, at least to Ramone, the first records in an artist\u2019s discography signifies the peak of their capabilities while also being the most important chapter in their story.<\/p>\n In all fairness, this is most definitely the case for many artists. There\u2019s something about the debut that feels more special than the rest, whether it\u2019s because they had less to prove, or because it shows them at their most authentic, or because it reached a standard they struggled to replicate after. The point is: countless debut albums are celebrated way more than other parts of a band\u2019s discography, and the reasons are more than clear. <\/p>\n However, when discussing why he sees it this way, Ramone seems somewhat divisive in his claim, especially when it comes to bands like The Beatles. There are many you could make a good case for when it comes to their best records, like The White Album, Revolver, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road\u2026and yet, the album Ramone says is worth listening to is the debut: Please Please Me. <\/p>\n When discussing his favourite albums of all time with The Face in 1981, Ramone admitted he \u201clistened to the albums that I considered were the most important and not necessarily the favourites.\u201d He said that \u201cbands do run out of ideas,\u201d and that the records he sees as most important are the ones that \u201cin some way changed something.\u201d <\/p>\n He concluded: \u201cTake The Beatles. I could\u2019ve chosen Help! or Beatles For Sale, but I think the first one was the most important. Just like our first album was the most important.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that sonically Ramone felt the others fell short. In fact, his appreciation for debut albums (not just The Beatles\u2019) came from knowing the broader context that makes a debut album so great, even if the material itself isn\u2019t yet as accomplished as it will become. In The Beatles\u2019 case, that first album has an entire story wrapped around it<\/a>, one of intense cultural resonance and extremely good timing, which Ramone clearly believed held more worth than their later accomplishments.<\/p>\n It also had something in it that most great debut albums have: that energy that\u2019s hard to put your finger on. As inevitable as The Beatles\u2019 global takeover seemed, that first album was no doubt a child of serendipity, bolstered by music that felt like it was meant to go somewhere, even in its simplicity. In other words, it wasn\u2019t just the start of their story; it was a culmination of several crucial factors that followed the band around until the end.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n The Far Out Music Newsletter<\/p>\n All the latest music news from the independant voice of culture.
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