performance at the Roundhouse

Despite Sire’s high hopes for it, Ramones was not a commercial success, reaching only number 111 on the Billboard album chart. The two singles issued from the album, ” Blitzkrieg Bop ” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, failed to chart. At the band’s first major performance outside of New York, a June date in Youngstown, Ohio , members of Cleveland punk legends Frankenstein aka the Dead Boys were present and struck up a friendship with the band. It was not until they made a brief tour of England that they began to see the fruits of their labor; a performance at the Roundhouse in London on July 4, 1976, with The Stranglers supporting the Flamin’ Groovies , organized by Linda Stein, was a resounding success. T. Rex leader Marc Bolan was in attendance at the Roundhouse show and was invited on stage. Their Roundhouse appearance and a club date the following night—where the band met members of the Sex Pistols and the Clash —helped galvanize the burgeoning UK punk rock scene. The Flamin’ Groovies/Ramones double bill was successfully reprised at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles the following month, fueling the punk scene there as well. The Ramones were becoming an increasingly popular live act—a Toronto performance in September energized yet another growing punk scene.