The Ramones song inspired by ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’
If “Simple yet Effective” was a category for American music awards, Ramones would have swept up a fair weight of medals and trophies during their brief tenure as the quintessential punk group. While punk rock can be traced back to the “proto-punk” groups of the late 1960s, like The Stooges and The Velvet Underground, the Ramones are often cited as the first true punk rock group.
Punk rock was more than just music. When Ramones hit the New York music scene with their seminal eponymous debut record in 1976, their iconic look of torn Levi’s, snug t-shirts, chains, leather jackets and jet black mops started a fashion craze that came with its own built-in attitude. Of course, this hedonistic attitude was nothing new by the time the ’70s rolled around, but Ramones put a time stamp on it and popularised the term “punk”.
Concurrently, across the Atlantic in Britain, Sex Pistols were spearheading the punk wave of the UK. The fashion choices were much the same, save for the influence of Vivienne Westwood, and so were the attitudes.
Although the aforementioned proto-punk bands would seem the most tangible of links to both Sex Pistols and Ramones, both groups named The Beatles as a prime influence during their respective rises to fame and glory.
In an interview published in the Big Issue, Sex Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock recalled how The Beatles triggered the band’s genesis. “John Lennon’s vocal on ‘Twist and Shout‘ is fantastic,” he said. “It’s a real slice of rock and roll. I heard it, and I thought I’d immediately start the Sex Pistols.”
Meanwhile, the Ramones were tied to the Beatles by an even stronger, if illusive, link. The New York punks named themselves so because their hero Paul McCartney once revealed that he signs into hotels using the pseudonym Paul Ramon.
Outside of such links, the punk sound was far removed from the vast majority of the Beatles’ catalogue. The simplistic bass, rhythm guitar and drum lines are characteristically adorned with provocative lyrics; in the Sex Pistols’ case, pertaining to the Royal Family and social justice, and in the Ramones’ case, Nazis, sex, violence and drugs.
Amongst the glue-sniffing, blitzkrieg bopping, and prostitution of the Ramones’ first album also lies a fitting nod to one of the decade’s most popular and controversial horror movies.
Those of you who know the album well will probably already have guessed that if any of the tracks on Ramones were inspired by Tobe Hooper’s 1974 classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it would be ‘Chain Saw’. I have no surprises in store for you here; you would be entirely correct in this logical assumption.
‘Chain Saw’ begins with the ominous sound of a revving circular saw as the group seeks to strike fear into the hearts of their listeners. Approaching 180 beats per minute, it has the highest tempo of the album’s tracks and carries tension akin to Hooper’s iconic thriller.
The similarly harrowing lyrics read: “I don’t care, wohoho ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’/ They took my baby away from me/ But she’ll never get out of there/She’ll never get out of there”
Listen to the Ramones’ Halloween-worthy classic, ‘Chain Saw’ below.
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