Album
Road to Ruin
Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the Ramones, released on 22 September 1978 through Sire Records. It was the first to feature Marky Ramone on drums, replacing Tommy Ramone, who had grown tired of the touring stress and the weak sales of earlier records. Tommy stayed on to co-produce with Ed Stasium, credited as T. Erdelyi. The cover idea came from a fan, Gus MacDonald, and John Holmstrom later reworked it to show Marky.
The band widened their palette here, adding heavy metal-style guitar solos and ballads in the manner of the 1960s, which some see as a bid for more radio play. It peaked at number 103 on the Billboard 200, well below Rocket to Russia, but fans have kept faith with it. It also contains "I Wanna Be Sedated", now one of the band's best-known songs and their second most-streamed on Spotify after "Blitzkrieg Bop".
Road to Ruin: tracklist, credits and charts
12 tracks · 31:01Tracklist
- 1I Just Want to Have Something to DoColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:41
- 2I Wanted EverythingColvin, Ramone, Ramone3:15
- 3Don’t Come CloseColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:44
- 4I Don’t Want YouColvin, Erdelyi, Ramone, Ramone2:26
- 5Needles & PinsSonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche2:20
- 6I’m Against ItColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:06
- 7I Wanna Be SedatedRamones, Colvin, Ramone, Ramone2:29
- 8Go MentalColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:42
- 9QuestioninglyColvin, Ramone, Ramone3:20
- 10She’s the OneColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:13
- 11Bad BrainColvin, Ramone, Ramone2:26
- 12It’s a Long Way BackColvin, Erdelyi, Ramone, Ramone2:19
- Produced by
- Thomas Erdelyi, Ed Stasium, T. Erdelyi, Tommy Ramone
- Recorded at
- Mediasound Studios (New York City)
- Recorded
- May–July 1978
- Engineered by
- Thomas Erdelyi, Ed Stasium
- Mastered by
- Greg Calbi
- Artwork
- John Gillespie, Spencer Drate, Gus MacDonald, John Holmstrom
- Photography
- Danny Fields, Bob Gruen, Chip Rock
- Labels
- Sire Records, Sire
- Length
- 31:01
Line-up
- Dee Dee Ramone · bass guitar
- Johnny Ramone · guitar
- Marky Ramone · drums (drum set)
- Joey Ramone · lead vocals
Singles
- “Don't Come Close” · 1978
- “Needles and Pins” · 1978
- “I Wanna Be Sedated” · 21 September 1978
- “She's the One” · 1979 (UK)
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1978–1979 | 32 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1978–1979 | 103 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) · 1978–1979 | 23 |
| Swedish Albums · 1978–1979 | 25 |
| Spanish Albums · 2018 | 58 |
| Scottish Albums · 2018 | 72 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2018 | 97 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1978–1979 | 99 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
80.9
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
6.9k
ListenBrainz listeners
80k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
19k
Deezer fans (all editions)
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Full discography →
Ramones
1976
Leave Home
1977
Rocket to Russia
1977
It’s Alive
1979
End of the Century
1980
Pleasant Dreams
1981
Subterranean Jungle
1983
Too Tough to Die
1984
Chasing the Night / Howling at the Moon (Sha‐La‐La)
1985
Howling at the Moon
1985
Bonzo Goes to Bitburg
1985
Something to Believe In
1986
Animal Boy
1986
Halfway to Sanity
1987
Ramones Mania
1988
Brain Drain
1989
All the Stuff (and More), Volume 2
1990
All the Stuff (and More), Volume 1
1990
Loco Live
1991
Mondo Bizarro
1992
Acid Eaters
1993
¡Adios Amigos!
1995
Greatest Hits Live
1996
We’re Outta Here!
1997
Anthology: Hey Ho, Let’s Go!
1999
Ramones Mania 2
2000
Ramones You Don't Come Close 2001
You Don't Come Close
2001
Best of the Chrysalis Years
2002
The Chrysalis Years
2002
Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits
2002
NYC 1978
2003
The Best of the Ramones
2004
Weird Tales of the Ramones
2005
Greatest Hits
2006
Meltdown With the Ramones
2014
Spider‐Man
2019
LIVE FM Radio Broadcast Concert (City Hall Plaza, San Francisco, USA, 8th June 1979)
2025
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The label →Ramones
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Meltdown With the Ramones
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Subterranean Jungle
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz + wikidata
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 22 September 1978 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 22 September 1978 | |
| Wikidata | 22 September 1978 | |
| US release | 22 September 1978 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 1978 | earliest UK or European date |
14 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | PT | Sire Records | other | |
| 1978 | GB | Sire Records | other | |
| 22 September 1978 | US | Sire Records | original | |
| 25 January 1990 | JP | Sire Records | 4988014731447 | other |
| 1998 | XE | Sire Records | 075992742627 | other |
| 2001 | XE | Rhino | 081227430825 | other |
| 19 June 2001 | US | Rhino | 081227430825 | other |
| 19 June 2001 | US | Rhino | 081227430825 | remaster |
| 5 September 2007 | JP | Sire Records | 4943674073832 | other |
| 2014 | US | Rhino | other | |
| 2018 | XE | Rhino | 603497858279 | other |
| 21 September 2018 | — | Rhino | 603497858286 | other |
| 21 September 2018 | — | Rhino | other | |
| 21 September 2018 | US | Rhino | 603497858279 | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · native: native 1800x1800
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1800×1800 | native: native 1800x1800 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 225×225 | upscaled |