One Punk’s Guide to the Ramones by Rev. Nørb

For many intents and purposes, the Ramones are the first punk band—the Alpha, the architects. In another sense, the Ramones are the last band to exist before the Ramones invented (or at least mastered and codified) punk: They are the final band of the pre-punk era, the end of the line. The ripped jeans, the leather jackets, the machine-gun delivery, the Moe Howard-like tonsorial affectations.The fuses are lit. Punk Rock is a GO. Destruction imminent!

Rev. Nørb started writing for punk mags at age fifteen, with a review of a TSOL album in a 1981 issue of San Jose’s Ripper fanzine. He enjoyed the death threats so much that he started his own fanzine, Sick Teen, then continued to spew his funky jive in publications like Maximum Rocknroll, Zisk, and Razorcake. He has authored two books—The Annotated Boris: Deconstructing the Lyrical Majesty of Boris the Sprinkler (and Other Tales as the Need Arises) and Fear of a Nørb Planet: The Complete Maximum RockNRoll Columns 1994-1998. He hopes to write a third book someday that isn’t about the ’90s and doesn’t have a colon in its title.

Illustrations by Alex Barrett
Original layout by Todd Taylor
Zine design by Marcos Siref

Originally appeared in Razorcake #103, April/May 2018

5.5” x 8.5”
32pp