The Ramones: Live at Winterland, 1978

By the end of 1978, punk was rapidly approaching popular culture in America, and the Ramones were leading its charge. Weeks before The Clash would make their US debut, and less than a year after the Sex Pistols famously imploded on the same stage, the Ramones played San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom at the height of their powers. They'd just finished shooting the film Rock 'n' Roll High School, were set to enter the studio with legendary pop producer Phil Spector and were touring behind their recently released fourth album Road to Ruin, with its signature hit "I Wanna Be Sedated."

"Rockaway Beach" The Ramones

This show, which comes from Wolfgang's Vault -- the personal live recording archives of concert promoter Bill Graham -- features the band's classic live lineup, with touring drummer Marky Ramone filling in for road-weary founding member Tommy Ramone. The set includes the group's catchy punk rock classics, as well as covers like the Trashmen's inane 1963 earworm "Surfin' Bird" (which modern listeners might know better from its pivotal role in an episode of Family Guy). The songs are short and sweet, the playing is fast, loud and sloppy—a recipe for punk as iconic as the band's leather jackets, long hair and shades. – Eric Grandy, Google Play

"Rockaway Beach" The Ramones