Whoever would've thought that, with forty-five years of hindsight, The Ramones' Rocket to Russia (released 11/4/77) would become so topically relevant? But all political and cultural issues aside, the prototypical punks’ third album both looks (in its black and hot pink color scheme) and sounds (in the comparative clarity of crashing guitars and drums) like their definitive work. And while it doesn’t quite render obsolete their eponymous debut or their resounding reiteration of that opening statement in the form of the sophomore album Leave Home, it certainly functions as a reliable benchmark for the genesis of punk.