Acid Eaters - Overview

Overview

Acid Eaters was not the first time that the Ramones had played or recorded cover songs. In the past, the Ramones had placed cover songs in almost every album to translate their favorite songs to the punk rock sound. Covers had always formed a minor part of the Ramones' act, and a version of Chris Montez's hit "Let's Dance" (written by and credited to Jim Lee) even appeared on their debut album. Other notable covers previously performed by the group include The Searchers' "Needles and Pins" (written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche, originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon), "Baby, I Love You" by The Ronettes, "Take It As It Comes" by The Doors, "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen, "California Sun" by The Rivieras (originally recorded by Joe Jones) and Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance?". Acid Eaters, however, was the first complete set of covers, and the songs it contains are much more significant than the seemingly randomly distributed covers on the Ramones' other works.

Covers such as "Surf City" by Jan and Dean—which was performed live by the Ramones in the early 80's—can easily be related to the Ramones' previous surf-rock influenced songs such as Rocket to Russia 's "Rockaway Beach". Pete Townshend supplies backing vocals on The Who cover "Substitute", while Tracy Lords sings on "Somebody to Love".