Pleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by American punk rock band the Ra… Read Full Bio ↴Pleasant Dreams is the sixth studio album by American punk rock band the Ramones, released on July 20, 1981, through Sire Records. While the band members wanted Steve Lillywhite to produce, Sire chose Graham Gouldman in an attempt to gain popularity through a well-known producer. The recording process brought about many conflicts between band members, most notably the strife between Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone, due to Johnny starting a relationship with Joey's girlfriend. There were also disputes about the overall direction of the album, with Johnny leaning towards hard rock and Joey towards pop punk. Ultimately, the album incorporated high production values and varying musical styles, straying from traditional punk rock on songs such as "We Want the Airwaves", "She's a Sensation" and "Come On Now". It is the first Ramones album not to feature any cover songs.
Despite Sire's efforts to broaden the band's appeal by enlisting Gouldman to produce, the album was not commercially successful, peaking at #58 on the Billboard 200 and only charting outside of the US in Sweden. The album also met with mixed critical reception.
The writing process for Pleasant Dreams began in January 1981. With Sire Records management being insistent on allowing a celebrity record producer to work on the album, they hired Graham Gouldman—songwriter and musician for the British band 10cc—to produce the album. Prior to working with Gouldman, the Ramones had recorded demos for the album with audio engineer Ed Stasium, and while the band had intended for Steve Lillywhite to produce the album, this decision was rejected by Sire. The studio recording process began on March 30, 1981, and initiated several conflicts between band members. This tension was partially due to Dee Dee Ramone's drug addiction, as well as Marky Ramone and Joey Ramone developing problems with alcohol, resulting in the frustration of Johnny Ramone. These conflicts and differences became evident in the songwriting as, for the first time on a Ramones album, each song was now credited to individual members rather than multiple members.
The time period of recording was a high-point in musical style for both Joey and Johnny, though they directed their sound towards different styles of music: Joey's inspiration from pop music became evident in his writing, while Johnny's keenness of hard-rock guitar riffs are apparent in much of his performing on the album. Johnny thought that this did not result well for the band's sound, saying: "I knew going in that this was not going to be the type of album I wanted. It really could have used another two of three punk songs ... All I want to do is keep our fans happy and not sell out. I'm fighting within the band. They are trying to go lighter, looking for ways to be more commercial. I'm against the band for doing that." Joey countered by explaining: "By Road to Ruin (and) End of the Century, I was doing the majority of the songwriting. I started feeling that the Ramones were faceless; there were no individual identities in the band." Joey went on to say that, while this method had worked well in the beginning of their career, it began to annoy him, since "everything (he) wrote, the band would take credit for."
Even though he expressed dissatisfaction with the album, working with Graham Gouldman, Johnny admitted, "was easy—he was always a gentleman. He changed a lot of the songs: "Here's a nice chord for the bridge, you should be playing a minor chord instead of a major chord," things like that." Gouldman also had ideas for vocal harmonies, guitar overdubs, and melodic basslines. If he suggested a guitar part, it had to sound like it came from Johnny, "or he wouldn't play it," Gouldman said. Gouldman also revealed that there were certain tracks he actually played guitar on. "I'd show (Johnny) and he'd say, "You play it," but I had to play very restrictive, nothing fancy at all." He went on to say that there wasn't much work to do with the songs. "We changed arrangements slightly, but it was basic stuff, like, "Let's put and end on this song rather than fade it, let's double up on the chorus at the end." Dee Dee recalled that "Graham really produced. He put something into the album, some harmony ideas."
During early stages of the album's development, Joey was dating Linda Daniele. After the album was released, however, Daniele left Joey and became Johnny's girlfriend. Ramones' road manager Monte Melnick relates: "Joey was devastated. It affected him deeply. Johnny knew it was bad and kept Linda totally hidden from that point on. She didn't come to many shows and if she did he'd hide her in the back; she wouldn't come backstage. He'd run out to meet her and leave as soon as they were done." While Johnny would eventually marry Linda, Joey held a strong grudge against them both, and, though they continued to perform and tour together, the two rarely talked to each other. Joey explained that Johnny had "crossed the line" once he started dating Daniele, and noted that "he destroyed the relationship and the band right there". Johnny defended himself by stating that had Daniele not left Joey for him, "he wouldn't have even been talking about her and saying how much he loved her because he wouldn't have been obsessed about it."
The album opens with "We Want the Airwaves", which has instrumentation that strays from traditional punk rock and more towards hard rock. Music journalist Chuck Eddy described the song as "a sort of Black Sabbath punk rock". Though it was long rumored that the album's third track, "The KKK Took My Baby Away", was written about Johnny stealing Joey's girlfriend, the song was reportedly written some time before Joey had found out about this. Joey's brother Mickey Leigh relates: "The fluky connection between Johnny and the KKK raised a specter that keeps friends and fans speculating to this day. At the time, though, it had to be an unusual situation for him being that, as often happens with song lyrics, his words now took on a whole new meaning." The following track, "Don't Go", was described in Musician, Player, and Listener as "Spector-ish", likening the song's production values to those of music producer Phil Spector, the infamous producer of the band's previous record, End of the Century. According to the magazine, the lyrics detail "an archivist's sense of young love by the book and how innocent rock 'n' roll is supposed to sound." Everett True, author of Hey Ho Let's Go: The Story of the Ramones (2005), explains that the album's fifth track, Dee Dee's "You Sound Like You're Sick", "returns to the bassist's traditional institutionalised theme." Side A ends with "It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)", which was described by music critic David Fricke as "driven home" by drummer Marky's "feisty, Bo Diddley-style" drum beat, noting that it borrows the middle eight (of thirty-two-bar form) from the Who song "Whiskey Man".
Side B of the album begins with "She's a Sensation", which was said by author Dave Thompson to have a 1960s melody which "melts through the hard rock". The next song, "7-11", deals with dating at a young age, where the couple goes on dates to places like convenience stores and record swaps. The lyrics follow a boy who meets a girl by a Space Invaders arcade machine, who eventually has to let her go after she dies in a car crash. True relates: "You can lose your heart within the singer's torched '7-11'. Joey details in time-honoured girl group fashion the beauty of young love that takes place among the most mundane, humdrum of surroundings." "You Didn't Mean Anything to Me", written by Dee Dee, reflects the desolation and vacillation that the bassist was feeling in his personal life, as well as within the band. This is evident through lines like "Every dinner was crummy/Even the ones for free." The pop-oriented song "Come On Now" was described by True as a "sparkling rush of blood to the head from the 'comic book boy'," with True adding that it was comparable to songs by The Dave Clark Five and 1910 Fruitgum Company. The eleventh track on the album, "This Business Is Killing Me", was written by Joey about how everyone expects him to please others but how he simply cannot please everyone all the time. Pleasant Dreams concludes with "Sitting in My Room", which David Fricke quoted in the conclusion of his review of the album, saying: "'It's us against them,' sneers Joey ... 'They just wanna worry ... /They just wanna be so lame/Maybe they should try and sniff some glue.' Or put Pleasant Dreams on the box and crank it up to ten."
Personnel
Ramones
Joey Ramone – lead vocals and backing vocals
Johnny Ramone – electric guitar and backing vocals
Dee Dee Ramone – bass, lead vocals and backing vocals (track 18)
Marky Ramone – drum and backing vocals
Additional musicians
Vic Emerson – synthesizers
Dave Hassell – percussions
Graham Gouldman – rhythm guitar and backing vocals
Russell Mael – backing vocals
Ian Wilson – backing vocals
Debbie Harry – backing vocals (track 15)
Kate Pierson – backing vocals (track 15)
Cindy Wilson – backing vocals (track 15)
Production
Graham Gouldman – producer
Lincoln Y. Clapp – engineer (Mediasound)
Harvey Goldberg – engineer (Mediasound)
Chris Nagle – engineer (Strawberry North)
Keith Bessey – engineer, mixing (Strawberry South)
Harry Spiridakis – assistant engineer (Mediasound)
Andy Hoffman – assistant engineer (Mediasound)
John Dixon – assistant engineer (Strawberry North)
Mark Cockburn – assistant engineer (Strawberry North)
Steve Cooksey – assistant engineer (Strawberry South)
Melvyn Abrahams – mastering
Michael Somoroff – photos
M & Co. – design
Guy Juke – uncredited cover art
Despite Sire's efforts to broaden the band's appeal by enlisting Gouldman to produce, the album was not commercially successful, peaking at #58 on the Billboard 200 and only charting outside of the US in Sweden. The album also met with mixed critical reception.
The writing process for Pleasant Dreams began in January 1981. With Sire Records management being insistent on allowing a celebrity record producer to work on the album, they hired Graham Gouldman—songwriter and musician for the British band 10cc—to produce the album. Prior to working with Gouldman, the Ramones had recorded demos for the album with audio engineer Ed Stasium, and while the band had intended for Steve Lillywhite to produce the album, this decision was rejected by Sire. The studio recording process began on March 30, 1981, and initiated several conflicts between band members. This tension was partially due to Dee Dee Ramone's drug addiction, as well as Marky Ramone and Joey Ramone developing problems with alcohol, resulting in the frustration of Johnny Ramone. These conflicts and differences became evident in the songwriting as, for the first time on a Ramones album, each song was now credited to individual members rather than multiple members.
The time period of recording was a high-point in musical style for both Joey and Johnny, though they directed their sound towards different styles of music: Joey's inspiration from pop music became evident in his writing, while Johnny's keenness of hard-rock guitar riffs are apparent in much of his performing on the album. Johnny thought that this did not result well for the band's sound, saying: "I knew going in that this was not going to be the type of album I wanted. It really could have used another two of three punk songs ... All I want to do is keep our fans happy and not sell out. I'm fighting within the band. They are trying to go lighter, looking for ways to be more commercial. I'm against the band for doing that." Joey countered by explaining: "By Road to Ruin (and) End of the Century, I was doing the majority of the songwriting. I started feeling that the Ramones were faceless; there were no individual identities in the band." Joey went on to say that, while this method had worked well in the beginning of their career, it began to annoy him, since "everything (he) wrote, the band would take credit for."
Even though he expressed dissatisfaction with the album, working with Graham Gouldman, Johnny admitted, "was easy—he was always a gentleman. He changed a lot of the songs: "Here's a nice chord for the bridge, you should be playing a minor chord instead of a major chord," things like that." Gouldman also had ideas for vocal harmonies, guitar overdubs, and melodic basslines. If he suggested a guitar part, it had to sound like it came from Johnny, "or he wouldn't play it," Gouldman said. Gouldman also revealed that there were certain tracks he actually played guitar on. "I'd show (Johnny) and he'd say, "You play it," but I had to play very restrictive, nothing fancy at all." He went on to say that there wasn't much work to do with the songs. "We changed arrangements slightly, but it was basic stuff, like, "Let's put and end on this song rather than fade it, let's double up on the chorus at the end." Dee Dee recalled that "Graham really produced. He put something into the album, some harmony ideas."
During early stages of the album's development, Joey was dating Linda Daniele. After the album was released, however, Daniele left Joey and became Johnny's girlfriend. Ramones' road manager Monte Melnick relates: "Joey was devastated. It affected him deeply. Johnny knew it was bad and kept Linda totally hidden from that point on. She didn't come to many shows and if she did he'd hide her in the back; she wouldn't come backstage. He'd run out to meet her and leave as soon as they were done." While Johnny would eventually marry Linda, Joey held a strong grudge against them both, and, though they continued to perform and tour together, the two rarely talked to each other. Joey explained that Johnny had "crossed the line" once he started dating Daniele, and noted that "he destroyed the relationship and the band right there". Johnny defended himself by stating that had Daniele not left Joey for him, "he wouldn't have even been talking about her and saying how much he loved her because he wouldn't have been obsessed about it."
The album opens with "We Want the Airwaves", which has instrumentation that strays from traditional punk rock and more towards hard rock. Music journalist Chuck Eddy described the song as "a sort of Black Sabbath punk rock". Though it was long rumored that the album's third track, "The KKK Took My Baby Away", was written about Johnny stealing Joey's girlfriend, the song was reportedly written some time before Joey had found out about this. Joey's brother Mickey Leigh relates: "The fluky connection between Johnny and the KKK raised a specter that keeps friends and fans speculating to this day. At the time, though, it had to be an unusual situation for him being that, as often happens with song lyrics, his words now took on a whole new meaning." The following track, "Don't Go", was described in Musician, Player, and Listener as "Spector-ish", likening the song's production values to those of music producer Phil Spector, the infamous producer of the band's previous record, End of the Century. According to the magazine, the lyrics detail "an archivist's sense of young love by the book and how innocent rock 'n' roll is supposed to sound." Everett True, author of Hey Ho Let's Go: The Story of the Ramones (2005), explains that the album's fifth track, Dee Dee's "You Sound Like You're Sick", "returns to the bassist's traditional institutionalised theme." Side A ends with "It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World)", which was described by music critic David Fricke as "driven home" by drummer Marky's "feisty, Bo Diddley-style" drum beat, noting that it borrows the middle eight (of thirty-two-bar form) from the Who song "Whiskey Man".
Side B of the album begins with "She's a Sensation", which was said by author Dave Thompson to have a 1960s melody which "melts through the hard rock". The next song, "7-11", deals with dating at a young age, where the couple goes on dates to places like convenience stores and record swaps. The lyrics follow a boy who meets a girl by a Space Invaders arcade machine, who eventually has to let her go after she dies in a car crash. True relates: "You can lose your heart within the singer's torched '7-11'. Joey details in time-honoured girl group fashion the beauty of young love that takes place among the most mundane, humdrum of surroundings." "You Didn't Mean Anything to Me", written by Dee Dee, reflects the desolation and vacillation that the bassist was feeling in his personal life, as well as within the band. This is evident through lines like "Every dinner was crummy/Even the ones for free." The pop-oriented song "Come On Now" was described by True as a "sparkling rush of blood to the head from the 'comic book boy'," with True adding that it was comparable to songs by The Dave Clark Five and 1910 Fruitgum Company. The eleventh track on the album, "This Business Is Killing Me", was written by Joey about how everyone expects him to please others but how he simply cannot please everyone all the time. Pleasant Dreams concludes with "Sitting in My Room", which David Fricke quoted in the conclusion of his review of the album, saying: "'It's us against them,' sneers Joey ... 'They just wanna worry ... /They just wanna be so lame/Maybe they should try and sniff some glue.' Or put Pleasant Dreams on the box and crank it up to ten."
Personnel
Ramones
Joey Ramone – lead vocals and backing vocals
Johnny Ramone – electric guitar and backing vocals
Dee Dee Ramone – bass, lead vocals and backing vocals (track 18)
Marky Ramone – drum and backing vocals
Additional musicians
Vic Emerson – synthesizers
Dave Hassell – percussions
Graham Gouldman – rhythm guitar and backing vocals
Russell Mael – backing vocals
Ian Wilson – backing vocals
Debbie Harry – backing vocals (track 15)
Kate Pierson – backing vocals (track 15)
Cindy Wilson – backing vocals (track 15)
Production
Graham Gouldman – producer
Lincoln Y. Clapp – engineer (Mediasound)
Harvey Goldberg – engineer (Mediasound)
Chris Nagle – engineer (Strawberry North)
Keith Bessey – engineer, mixing (Strawberry South)
Harry Spiridakis – assistant engineer (Mediasound)
Andy Hoffman – assistant engineer (Mediasound)
John Dixon – assistant engineer (Strawberry North)
Mark Cockburn – assistant engineer (Strawberry North)
Steve Cooksey – assistant engineer (Strawberry South)
Melvyn Abrahams – mastering
Michael Somoroff – photos
M & Co. – design
Guy Juke – uncredited cover art
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Pleasant Dreams
Ramones Lyrics
7-11 I met her at the 7-11 Now I'm in seventh heaven Tell…
All's Quiet on the Eastern Front Watch the watch the way I walk Can't you think my…
Come On Now Come on now Come on now We got no wheels to race Come…
Don't Go Hey, daddy-o I don't want to go down to the basement There's…
It's Not My Place (In the 9 to 5 World) My mom and dad are always fighting And it's getting very…
She's a Sensation She's a sensation She's a sensation She looks so sweet She'…
Sitting in My Room Sitting in my room Record player on Sitting in my room Hummi…
The KKK Took My Baby Away She went away for the holidays Said she's going to L.A. But…
This Business Is Killing Me I'm sick to death I'm a nervous wreck This business is killi…
We Want the Airwaves Nine to five and five to nine Ain't gonna take it,…
You Didn't Mean Anything to Me Skies were cloudy everyday Nothing wanted to grow We had our…
You Sound Like You're Sick Well I can't understand Anything about you Help you if I can…
Racheal Plymale
on I Wanna Be Sedated (Live)
My Alltime favorite band!!!!!!!!! Joey Ramone was yummmy!!!!!