Song of the Day 10/3: The Ramones, “Why Is It Always This Way?”

Elon Musk’s fascist leanings are obvious at this point, and Russian state TV put a fine point on it yesterday by bragging that “Elon Musk really is our agent.” That got me thinking about “Rocket to Russia,” the Ramones’ third album.

Unfortunately for the band that essentially invented punk rock, it came out just as the mainstream media was freaking out about the Sex Pistols, and the publicity about the snotty Brits overshadowed the musical growth of the grubby New Yorkers. Most critics consider “Rocket to Russia,” the last LP by the quartet’s original lineup, their best album, but it only reached No. 49 on Billboard’s album chart. The disappointing showing that led to Tommy Ramone quitting as a performer, though he continued as their producer.

“Why Is It Always This Way?” closed the album. It’s unusual among the Ramones catalog in that they never performed it live. Reportedly Johnny Ramone refused to play some of Joey’s love songs because they were written about the woman who left Joey for Johnny.