I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement - 2016 Remaster

Early on, the Ramones had a lot of songs that simply stated something they did or didn't want to do: "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" "I Wanna Be Sedated" This song, written by guitarist Johnny Ramone and bass player Dee Dee Ramone, is about how they don't want to go down to the basement, since there's something down there.

This song was part of the band's unique live show for about a year before they recorded it for their first album. At clubs like CBGB, the Ramones would play loud and fast, going from one song to the next with a count-in but no other break. The songs were about two-minutes long (this one is a hearty 2:35), so they would pound through a set in about 30 minutes. And if you think the words are hard to understand on the studio recording, imagine what Joey Ramone sounded like in a club setting, where he made even less effort to enunciate. On this song in particular, his vocals were comically mushy.

According to the Obsever Music Monthly, the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious learnt to play the bass by listening to the Ramones' self-titled debut album and in particular this song. He applied this tune's bump and grind pattern to nearly every Pistols number that he played on.