If You Like The Ramones - Peter Aaron

I was unfamiliar with this series (with other titles ranging from If You Like Led Zeppelin to If You Like The Terminator) before I came across Aaron's contribution, though its doubtful that I would have much interest in reading any of the others. Peter was the frontman for the legendary Chrome Cranks as well as a music writer, editor and promoter and in this well-researched book he outlines a (large) number of different pop culture items that any lover of the bruddahs from Queens should be familiar with.

Obviously, the subject for this book means that the topics within are fairly music-dominated, with styles ranging from those proceeding the boys (rockabilly, 60's sounds [obviously], glam, Detroit pre-punk, heavy metal, power pop and plenty more) to their peers to those that they influenced. But there are also numerous TV shows, movies, artists and what-have-you that either owe some allegiance to the Ramones or who the Ramones owed a debt.

Also included is a nice listing of the many projects each member was involved in and while I was familiar with many of the musical entries, there are documentaries and even fictional films that I was not aware of (that are now on my Amazon wish list!).

For someone of my advanced age, who was listening to underground music for most of my life, a lot of this is more reaffirmation rather than revelation, but younger fans will discover plenty here and even those you have heard - or heard of - are given nice write-ups, good recommendations of starting points, and reasons for inclusion. I truly enjoyed Peter's style and appreciate his passion and enthusiasm as he writes about many different types of music and media. A super fun read! Get it!