The Ramones are generally known for their more riff-heavy, head bopping fare. My dad being a pretty big Ramones fan, I was brought up constantly listening to their music. While “Rocket to Russia,” and earlier works are fantastic, one of my favorite albums is their oft-overlooked 1992 release “Mondo Bizarro.”
Mondo Bizarro is like an updated version of their previous works with a clear 1990s influence. Deviating from their more barebones early releases, Mondo Bizzaro adds a fuller sound to the typical Ramones repetitive riffs. This change is probably in part due to the replacement of Dee Dee Ramone after his departure from the group. The new bassist, C.J. Ramone and the Ramones’ evolving percussion style lend the album a louder, more fleshed out feel.
The result is a CD with the distinctive 90’s hard rock sound that also preserves the Ramones’ punk roots through fast guitar riffs as well as the group’s always-quirky lyrics. “Mondo Bizarro” opens with “Censorshit,” a song condemning censorship by the Parents Music Resource Center. “Ask Ozzy, Zappa or Me/We’ll show you what it’s like to be free,” Joey Ramone chides in the chorus of the song.
Other tracks include an anti-9-to-5 anthem, “The Job That Ate My Brain.” While it maintains the goofy, oddball sound and lyrics of past Ramones tracks, the song is decidedly darker than their early material. The chorus, “I can’t take this crazy pace/I’ve become a mental case,/Yeah this is the job that ate my brain,” appears much more sinister than their zany punk ballads of the 70’s and 80’s. Similarly, one of my favorite tracks “Poison Heart,” is much deeper, deviating from former chants of “Hey, ho, let’s go.” One stanza finds Joey crooning “Making friends with a homeless, torn up man/He just kind of smiles, it really shakes me up./There’s danger on every corner but I’m okay/Walking down the street trying to forget yesterday.” Obviously, there are no sunny, sandy Rockaway Beach getaways on this record.
The album really seems to bring Ramones material up to date with the paranoid 90’s. I always thought it appropriate when Richard Langly from the X-Files wore his Mondo Bizarro shirt. The brooding atmosphere of the 90’s is combined with the goofiness of the Ramones on this record in a way which makes you contemplate their songs more so than their light-hearted early works. A very worthy addition to any music collection, you can purchase it from iTunes or Amazon as well as stream it on Grooveshark. Be aware that a 2004 CD release allegedly has a cover of the Spider-Man theme song. Having just recently discovered this bonus track after doing some internet research, I may be upgrading my outdated copy soon…
pophiss 