As if April 15 didn't suck enough already for being Tax Day, it also happens to be the day that we lost Joey Ramone to cancer back in 2001.
It seems longer ago than that for some reason.
Perhaps it is because many of us subconsciously link his death to the end of the Ramones in 1996.
For seven long years, we die-hard, buy-anything-with-the-word-Ramones-on-it fans were left with little to spend our cash on, all the while wondering when Joey would resurface. Before many of us were even aware an album had been in the works, Joey Ramone passes away before it can be finished.
Joey was supposed to grow old and become the elder statesman of punk that he was meant to be. He was meant to witness each new generation embrace the music of the Ramones, which is now prominently used in film, tv, and commercials, generating millions for the Ramones' heir.
Listening to Don't Worry About Me for the first time months after Joey had passed was going to be a heavy experience, no matter which songs you placed in what order, but did they really have to open the album with Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World"?
To this day, I have never listened to the album's next track, "Stop Thinking About It", without puffy eyes and wet cheeks.
While one tends to be suspect of posthumous projects where the music is added after the artist's death, one gets that the project was about 75% finished and that those involved thought it'd be a shame to see the album shelved.
Where does it rank among Ramones albums, you ask?
First off, I can't believe you would ask such a question, but since you have, and there's certainly no taking it back now, I'd put it above Brain Drain, but below Halfway To Sanity.
Wherever you are, Joey, thanks for giving rock & roll the kick in the pants that it needed.