Too Tough to Die

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Too Tough to Die
Ramones studio album

Publication
(s)

October 1984

Label (s) Sire Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

punk

Title (number)

13

running time

36:37 (CD)

occupation
  • Walter Lure - guitar
  • Tony Wright - graphic design
  • George DuBose - Photography

production

Ed Stasium , T. Erdelyi, David A. Stewart

Studio (s)

Media Sound , Sigma Sound Studios , New York

chronology
Subterranean Jungle (1983) Too Tough to Die Animal Boy
(1985)

Too Tough to Die (German: "too hard to die") is the eighth studio album by the American punk band Ramones, first released in 1984 . With this album, after several experiments with various studio producers, the group found their way back to the harsh, unpolished sound for which they were originally known in the 1970s.

History of origin

The studio recordings for Too Tough to Die began in the summer of 1984 at New York's Media Sound Studios. Due to stagnating sales, a lack of presence on US radio and a lack of chart success, the band had been forced to accept studio producers for the previous three studio albums who had been forced on them by their record company Sire Records - in order to make the band's music a more commercially successful one To give sound. After the failure of these experiments, the band was able to prevail over their label and use the recording team of Ed Stasium and ex-band member Tommy Erdelyi , which had already proven themselves on previous albums . With the rough mix of the album and the selection of the compositions, the Ramones intended to participate in the success of the "harder" music styles that have now been developed, such as hardcore punk, and thus gain credibility.

Too Tough to Die is the Ramones' first album with the new drummer Richie Ramone , who replaced Marky Ramone and who also contributed his own compositions for the album and the single (EP) extracted from them with the pieces Humankind and Smash You . After several years of songwriting abstinence, guitarist Johnny Ramone was again involved in the compositions of the album on five pieces, four of them in cooperation with bassist Dee Dee Ramone . In addition, singer Joey Ramone had further developed his singing style on some pieces: In addition to a melody-dominated first voice, on Too Tough to Die he applied a deeper, guttural vocal style for the first time , which was based on the shouting of hardcore punk . Dee Dee Ramone contributed lead vocals to two of the songs on the album.

Album cover

The photo on the front of the album cover was taken in an underpass in New York's Central Park . It shows the dark silhouettes of the four band members, standing side by side under the arch of the underpass in blue backlight and dry ice fog. The photo came about due to a technical glitch when the flashlights of photographer George DuBose, aimed at the group from the front, failed.

In 2002, the album Too Tough to Die was reissued by Rhino Records and re-released with additional previously unknown recordings - demos, alternative versions, unreleased tracks.

The pieces of music on the album (selection)

  • With Durango 95 , Too Tough to Die contains the only single composition by guitarist Johnny Ramone in the band's history - and thus also the only published instrumental piece by the Ramones. The title of the play is borrowed from the name of a sports car from the movie A Clockwork Orange .
  • In the piece Wart Hog (German: "Warzenschwein") by Dee Dee Ramone, drummer Richie Ramone can be heard for the first time as a background singer. This track is also the only one on the album whose text, barely understandable in the recording, was not printed on the inner sleeve or on the CD insert of the first edition of the album because it was perceived as "too negative". In the booklet of the 2002 new edition of the album, however, the lyrics are included.
  • The eponymous track on the album, Too Tough to Die , was inspired by a violent altercation by Johnny Ramone in August 1983, in which the guitarist suffered a life-threatening fracture of his skull and as a result had to pause for months.
  • The single Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) was produced by Eurythmics member David A. Stewart on the initiative of Ramones manager Gary Kurfirst and contains synthesizer sounds that are unusual for the Ramones .
  • In the texts of the plays Planet Earth 1988 and Humankind , the Ramones explicitly addressed current political and socially critical issues for the first time in their career.

Reception, criticism

Like the four previous studio albums by the Ramones, Too Tough to Die also received mixed reactions from the press and fans. While the band's abandonment of their years of trying to achieve mainstream radio suitability through "soft" production was generally welcomed in reviews, their musical and lyrical flirtation with hardcore punk often met with rejection. Above all, critics missed the humor in the lyrics, which was typical of the Ramones' early albums, and complained about the cliché and approaches of moral apostleship in politically tinted song texts such as Danger Zone and Planet Earth 1988 . Contrary to such allegations, other critics consider the album, at least in retrospect, to be "the last great album that the Ramones released".

Too Tough to Die could only reach number 171 in the US charts in 1984 .

Track list

First edition 1984

  1. Mama's Boy (Johnny Ramone / Dee Dee Ramone / T. Erdelyi)
  2. I'm Not Afraid of Life (Dee Dee Ramone)
  3. Too Tough to Die (Dee Dee Ramone)
  4. Durango 95 (Johnny Ramone)
  5. Wart Hog (Dee Dee Ramone / Johnny Ramone)
  6. Danger Zone (Dee Dee Ramone / Johnny Ramone)
  7. Chasing the Night (Joey Ramone / Dee Dee Ramone / Busta Jones)
  8. Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) (Dee Dee Ramone)
  9. Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love) (Joey Ramone / Daniel Rey)
  10. Planet Earth 1988 (Dee Dee Ramone)
  11. Human Child (Richie Ramone)
  12. Endless Vacation (Dee Dee Ramone / Johnny Ramone)
  13. No Go (Joey Ramone)

Extended new edition 2002

  1. Street Fighting Man ( Jagger / Richards )
  2. Smash You (Ramones)
  3. Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) (Demo)
  4. Planet Earth 1988 (Dee Dee vocal version)
  5. Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love) (Demo)
  6. Endless Vacation (Demo)
  7. Danger Zone (Dee Dee vocal version)
  8. Out of Here (Ramones)
  9. Mama's Boy (demo)
  10. I'm Not an Answer (Dee Dee Ramone)
  11. Too Tough to Die (Dee Dee vocal version)
  12. No Go (demo)

Single releases

  • Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) / Smash You (UK, 7 "single, February 1985. Beggars Banquet BEG 128)
  • Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) / Smash You / Street Fighting Man (UK, 12 "single, February 1985. Beggars Banquet BEG 128T)
  • Chasing the Night / Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La) / Smash You / Street Fighting Man
    (UK, 7 "double single, March 1985. Beggars Banquet BEG 128D)

literature

  • Hey Ho Let's Go - The Story Of The Ramones by Everett True. Omnibus Press, London / New York 2002. ISBN 0-7119-9108-1 . (English)
  • On the Road with the Ramones by Monte Melnick, Frank Meyer. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd., London 2003. ISBN 1-86074-514-8 . (English)
  • Ramones - The Complete Twisted History by Dick Porter. Plexus Publishing Ltd., London 2004. ISBN 0-85965-326-9 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 190
  2. ↑ Quoted from Melnick: On the Road with the Ramones , p. 195 f .: Interview with Ed Stasium, producer
  3. ↑ a b c Too Tough to Die - booklet for the 2002 CD edition (Sire / Warner Bros./Rhino), article by Billy Altman, p. 4 f.
  4. ^ Melnick: On the Road with the Ramones , p. 133: Interview with Monte Melnick, Tour Manager
  5. ↑ a b True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 191
  6. ↑ a b True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 192
  7. ^ True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 196
  8. ↑ Quoted from Melnick: On the Road with the Ramones , p. 210 f .: Interview with George DuBose, photographer
  9. ^ True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 344: Band discography
  10. ^ True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 195
  11. ↑ Too Tough to Die - booklet for the 2002 CD edition (Sire / Warner Bros./Rhino), p. 13 f.
  12. ^ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , p. 122
  13. ↑ a b Quoted from True: Hey Ho Let's Go , p. 194 ff .: Excerpts from US press reviews
  14. ^ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , p. 120
  15. ↑ Porter: Ramones - The Complete Twisted History , p. 121

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