[mtts]

> they were terrible musicians

Not only are the songs they wrote really good and catchy, Ramones are one of those bands where it sounds so easy anyone can do it but if you give it a try, you quickly find out it’s difficult to get the nuances right and your results, unlike theirs, sound crude and obviously amateurish.

They’re like AC/DC in that respect. Or Melvins.

[antonymoose]

I once saw a documentary on them, one of the critics had a quote that really stuck with me (paraphrasing):

If you or I drew a square, it’s unremarkable anyone can draw one. But someone had to be the first guy to drawn one, and that guy is the genius.

[mr_toad]

Reminds me of a story about Giotto di Bondone, an artist who when called upon to prove his talent drew, freehand, a perfect circle. Something which seems simple, but which is actually very difficult.

[pfannkuchen]

But have you tried recording your version and also playing it in public and promoting it for decades? It’s possible that’s what is making the one thing sound like it has something hard to name, and the other one not.

Like if you are sloppy there is an element of randomness in the output, and any particular randomness will be difficult to replicate.

[saidnooneever]

for this stuff its mostly just a question of buy same gear really. they play a bit 'wild' so esp live it wasnt like super clean. but the sound is mostly having the right kit including recording gear / setup or live equipment etc. depending on what ur trying to do.

playing sloppy isnt too hard to replicate.

[donkeybeer]

Punk is not easy, they were developing new techniques and song writing approaches. Otherwise you tell me why we talk of Ramones as being different from older rock like say Led Zeppelin. I will say by the time we get to bands like Minor Threat we have genuinely new song structural paradigms that never existed in rock music.

And to say nothing of course of the mechanical finesse and stamina required to play this kind of music.