Happy birthday, Rock'n'Roll High School!

Today it's 34 years since the premiere of the movie Rock'n'Roll High School in Los Angeles, CA. The Roger Corman-produced movie went through several title changes before the Ramones was involved in the project. The initial title was Disco High, followed by Heavy Metal Kids and Girl's Gym. The film wasn't a big success back in 1979 but is today considered by many as a cult movie.

There are two versions of he the song, both released as a single. The first recording was made on november 26, 1978 with Ed Stasium as the producer. Phil Spector remixed the song before it ended up on the movie soundrack to Rock'n'Roll High School.

The second version is from the End of The Century-album, produced by Phil Spector. According to the legend the producer forced Johnny Ramone to play the opening chord to Rock'n'Roll High School for a couple of hours straight. Johnny went mad and finally left the recordings and took the next plane to New York. The Spector-version starts with a school signal and ends with an explosion. 19 seconds longer than the original recording from the movie soundtrack.

US:

 

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Do You Wanna Dance? (Live)
Format: 7"
Number: Sire SRE 1051
Year: 1979
Country: USA

Notes: The Ed Stasium-version. 

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Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Rock'n'Roll High School

Format: 7"
Number: Sire SRE 1051
Year: 1979
Country: USA
Notes: Promo, mono and stereo. The Ed Stasium-version. Same sleeve as the stock version.

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Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/I want you around//C'mon Let's go

Format: 12"
Number: Sire PRO-A-805
Year: 1979
Country: USA
Notes: Promo, radio sampler. The Ed Stasium-version.

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Canada:

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Do You Wanna Dance? (Live)

Format: 7"
Number: Sire SRE 1051
Year: 1979
Country: Canada
Notes: The Ed Stasium-version. 

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Do You Wanna Dance? (Live)

Format: 7"
Number: Sire SRE 1051
Year: 1979
Country: Canada
Notes: The Ed Stasium-version. White label promo.

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UK:

 

 

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School//Rockaway Beach/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Live)

Format: 7"
Number: Sire SIR 4021
Year: 1979
Country: UK
Notes: The Ed Stasium-version. 

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France:

Songs: Rock'n'roll High School/Danny says

Number: Sire 2 C008-64253

Year: 1980

Country: France

Notes: The Ed Stasium-version. 

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Australia:

Songs: Rock'n'roll High School/Let's Go

Number: Sire SRE 0255

Year: 1980

Country: Australia

Notes: The Phil Spector-version. 

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Holland:

Songs: Rock'n'roll High School/Danny Says

Number: Sire WB 17.568

Year: 1980

Country: Holland

Notes: The Phil Spector-version. The time is missprinted, 3:28 should be 2:38...

The dutch I Wanna Be Sedated

Here's another unique picture sleeve from the Netherlands. This single was released in 1979 and the sleeve is made of thin, textured paper.
Even though I Wanna Be Sedated is one of the most wellknown Ramones songs ever it was only released as a single to promote the album Road To Ruin in two countries whorldwide, Norway and Holland. In the UK was I Wanna Be Sedated only the B-side of She's The One.
Later on, in 1980, the song was issued as a single from the Time Square movie soundtrack.

 

Songs: I Wanna Be Sedated/I Don't want you

Number: Sire SRKS 602

Year: 1979

Country: Holland

More info about the norwegian Baby I Love You

I thought the search for a correct company sleeve for the norwegian Baby I Love You was over here. But thanks to Hannu from Finland I have got new information. Hannu got his copy with the same kind of company sleeve you see on the picture above. According to the site 45-sleeves.com this is  norwegian and it was used until 1980 by Phonogram. Even if Phonogram lost distribution when Warner took over in 1978 it seems like it didn't include Scandinavia. The scandinavian press of End Of The Century have no signs of Warner, same with Pleasant Dreams. Maybe Phonogram still had something to do with the distribution in Scandinavia in 1980 – and this is the company sleeve this single was distributed in.
You find more info about the norwegian singles here.
Front above, back here:

Pet Sematary – without Dee Dee...

In 1988 the Ramones got an offer to write the theme song for the upcoming movie Pet Sematary based on the book by Stephen King, a big fan of the band.
The members accepted the deal and the legend says that Dee Dee wrote the song while King was sitting in the next room waiting.
Soon after, in december 1988, the band recorded the track at Sigma Sound Studios in New York along with Joeys song Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight).
Jean Beuvoir and Daniel Ray (who co-wrote Pet Sematary with Dee Dee) produced the recordings and the engineer was Fernando Kral.
"I was pleasantly surprised by the Ramones", Kral told Sound on Sound in 2008. "I liked them, I was a fan of theirs, and on this occasion they were certainly disciplined, in that they came in and did the job that they needed to do. There wasn't any kind of fooling around".
The engineer also reveals that Dee Dee didn't play on the recording!
"He'd been at the rehearsal and the band had sounded tight. But, having written the song with Daniel Rey, he must have thought he'd done his job", Kral says.
Jean Beuvoir played the bass part on the recording.
"Pet Sematary would end up being included on their Brain Drain album," says Kral, "but at that stage there was no album in the works". 
The recording took place between 15th and 17th of december and was a higher-end production for the Ramones.
"I remember after it was all done and everybody was happy with the record, I heard the comment, 'We ended up spending more than twice the cost of the first album on this one song'", Fernando Kraal told SOS.

Pet Sematary was released as a single in 1989 and there are two versions of the song:
1. The original recording produced by Jean Beuvoir and Daniel Ray. Used on most pressings. The U.S. promo 7" has a radio-version on one side and a LP-version on the other – but I can't hear any difference.
2. A version produced by Bill Laswell who got the job for the Brain Drain-album that was released the same year, 1989. The Laswell-version has more and heavier guitars, less synth and a different drum sound. And a intro with the sound of thunder. I don't know if Laswell did a new recording or if it is a remix of the recording made by Jean Beuvoir. This version was used on the first single-release in the UK in september 1989. On the back of the sleeve you can read that it is "The original version of "Pet Sematary" available on the forthcoming Ramones album on Chrysalis". But when Brain Drain finally came out the record company used the Beuvoir-mix. Maybe that's why Chrysalis re-released the single in UK a few months later with that version.
And on the sleeve to the german single Bill Laswell is credited as the producer although it is the Beuvoir-mix that is used on the record!

Here is the complete Pet Sematary single discography:

UK:

Songs: Pet Sematary/All Screwed Up

Format: 7"

Number: Chrysalis CHS 3423

Year: 1989

Country: UK

Notes: The Bill Laswell version of Pet Sematary

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Songs: Pet Sematary//All Screwed Up/Zero Zero UFO

Format: 12"

Number: Chrysalis CHS 3423

Year: 1989

Country: UK

Notes: The Bill Laswell version of Pet Sematary

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Songs: Pet Sematary/Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight)

Format: 7"

Number: Chrysalis CHS 3483

Year: 1989

Country: UK

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir version of Pet Sematary. Front of sleeve same as CHS 3423.

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Songs: Pet Sematary/Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight)//All Screwed Up/Zero Zero UFO

Format: 12"

Number: Chrysalis CHS 3483

Year: 1989

Country: UK

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir version of Pet Sematary. Front of sleeve same as CHS 3423.

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US:

 

Songs: Pet Sematary/Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Format: 7"

Number: Sire 7-22911

Year: 1989

Country: US

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir mix of Pet Sematary (Single version). 

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Songs: Pet Sematary (LP version)/Pet Sematary (Single version)

Format: 7"

Number: Sire 7-22911-DJ PROMO

Year: 1989

Country: US

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir mix (Single and LP version). The sleeve is the same as the stock version.

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Songs: Pet Sematary (LP version)/Pet Sematary (Single version)

Format: 7"

Number: Sire PRO-S-3569

Year: 1989

Country: US

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir mix (Single and LP version). No PS, plain white sleeve.

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Songs: Pet Sematary//Sheena Is A Punk Rocker/Life Goes On

Format: 12"

Number: Sire 0-21182

Year: 1989

Country: US

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir mix of Pet Sematary (Single version). Promo copies have a gold stamp on the sleeve.

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Germany:

Songs: Pet Sematary/Don't Bust My Chops

Format: 7"

Number: Chrysalis 112 489

Year: 1989

Country: Germany

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir version of Pet Sematary. Incorrect credits on sleeve.

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Songs: Pet Sematary//Can't Get You Outta My Mind/Don't Bust My Chops

Format: 12"

Number: Chrysalis 612 489

Year: 1989

Country: Germany

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir version of Pet Sematary. 

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Australia:

This is how the single was sold, in a company sleeve. I have also 

seen the single in a blue version of this sleeve.

Title: Pet Sematary/Palisades Park

Format: 7"

Number: Liberation Records 102100 7

Year: 1989

Country: Australia

Notes: The Jean Beauvoir version of Pet Sematary. The PS has incorrect writing credits and got withdrawn. The single was sold in a australian CBS company sleeve. Read more about this release here.