Ramones Debut Album Cover — Outside CBGB, 315 Bowery, NYC

The cover of the Ramones' self-titled debut album (1976) was photographed by Roberta Bayley outside CBGB at 315 Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Bayley — who worked the door at CBGB and had unprecedented access to every band that played there — captured the four members of the band leaning against the brick wall beside the club's entrance in their uniform of leather jackets, ripped jeans, and sneakers. The image, shot in black and white, became one of the defining photographs of punk rock: four young men assembled from the streets of Forest Hills, Queens, projected against the decaying brick of the Bowery as if daring the viewer to find anything wrong with what they were. The photograph was taken in 1975 during the period when the Ramones were building their reputation through their CBGB residency, developing the sound that would define the genre.

The Ramones' debut album, released on April 23, 1976, on Sire Records, is one of the most influential recordings in the history of popular music. Twenty-nine minutes long and containing fourteen songs, it stripped rock back to its absolute minimum — power chords, a count-in, 180 beats per minute — and in doing so effectively invented punk as a genre. The Ramones' influence on British punk (the Sex Pistols, the Clash), American hardcore, and every subsequent wave of stripped-back guitar music is as direct as any in rock history. The record sold modestly on first release but has never been out of print and its reputation has only grown.

The building at 315 Bowery still stands. CBGB closed in October 2006 after a dispute with its landlord and subsequently became a John Varvatos clothing boutique, which preserved the original band stickers and graffiti murals covering the walls — the shop is effectively an accidental museum decorated with three decades of music history. The specific brick wall where Bayley photographed the Ramones is in the immediate vicinity of the entrance. Joey Ramone Place — a street sign at the corner of East 2nd Street and the Bowery, a short walk north — is a further point of pilgrimage for Ramones fans visiting the area.