The Clash vs. The Ramones

[Tommy Walker]

Note: this is about the bands, i.e. their entire bodies of work, not their self-titled albums.

A post I made on another topic got me thinking about this, the ultimate heavyweight bout of punk rock:

In one corner, you have The Clash, the most accomplished band from the English punk movement. Their biggest achievement was incorporating a number of unique influences, including reggae and funk, into their music, most notably on London Calling, which is universally considered one of the best albums ever made. Like most of their British contemporaries, they also incorporated very political (specifically left-wing) lyrics into their music.

Then you have The Ramones, who were part of the New York punk scene. These guys generally get credit for inventing punk, which they probably deserve (although The Stooges, The Kinks, and some others played a big part too). They largely stayed away from politics, revolutions, etc., and instead "played dumb," a move which they executed flawlessly by growing mop tops and recording two-minute songs about sniffing glue and beating brats. The knock on them, if there is one, is that they didn't evolve as much as most great bands.

Who's it going to be?

 

[R. Evans]

Abstaining. The Clash have a true masterpiece in the London Calling album but the Ramones have so many great songs that both of them are equal in my eyes.

 

[fielding]

The Clash....no doubt to me...

 

[the_spore]

The Clash

 

[tomcat]

The Clash are trash. Ramones.

 

[Lynch]

Punk is garbage in my eyes/ears. one of the worst genres ever. If I have to choose, I'll take the Ramones though. Biggest reason is that they did quick, stupid/silly songs rather than get up on the proverbial soapbox and bitch like the Clash and the Sex Pistols did (among numerous others). As Tommy pointed out in the first post about the Clash, their uber-left wing politics and whiny bullshit gets old really fast with me. PIss and moan about "the man" and what's wrong with the gov't once in a while, don't make it the standard thread in everything you do (that goes for any artist, actor or musician).

Ramones were just kinda dumb but at least no where near as irritating as the majority of the Clash. I do like some of the stuff on Combat Rock, but I'm sure Clash 'purists' will tell me that was one of the worst albums they ever did.

 

[Death on Credit]

I love them both...But, I have to go with the Clash..."The only band that matters."

 

[Mr. T]

I could easily go to my grave without ever listening to another song from either of these bands. The fact that these two are considered royalty in punk circles exemplifies just how bad a genre of music it is to me. The Clash may be "Art" and The Ramones may be "Fun" to their followers but punk is nothing more than noise to me. To each their own... I'm not hatin' but I'll never "get" the genre as a whole. Just sayin'...

 

[Riff Raff]

I dont see punk as a bad genre it has its good music, without punk there likely wouldnt be the awesome British metal or thrash metal groups who were influenced by punk. Besides out of these 2 I would say The Clash is better.
Dead Kennedys back in the day were awesome, not now they aint.

 

[TrekkiELO]

The Ramones