Leafing through New York magazine, I came across an excerpt from Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone, likely the book of the season for old punks not yet dead. Featured alongside the excerpt was a sidebar where Johnny rated the Ramones albums as he heard fit, with a few comments as well. You'll have to buy the book to read Johnny's thoughts, but I have included his grades here, along with my own feelings about each album, which are less biased, since I never had a falling out with Joey Ramone.

I never had a falling in with him either, so my professional distance is assured.

It should also be noted that Joey Ramone passed away 11 years ago this past April 15. May all the Ramones who have passed rest in peace and may those still alive live peacefully.

Listening through, especially to those in the lower depths, I'm struck by how listenable and likable most of it is. Truthfully, I'm more inclined to listen to those much-maligned albums than the classics at the top of the list. Only because the early records are worn out on my brain like so many old Rolling Stones albums. Let that be a lesson kids! Don't wear your records out. Ration your listening pleasure! Or else!

It eventually had to happen. No one stays young forever. That said, a list of musicians turning 70 is supposed to be a list of guys from the Swing Era. But now rock 'n' rollers are turning the Senior Circuit into a place where you no longer have to hike your pants up to your nipples. While I'm personally disappointed that my dream of being "The Waver" when I get old, sitting on my front lawn in plaid slacks and waving to traffic is now considered that of a bygone era, it's probably all for the best.

With that in mind, though, Frank Bonner -- Herb Tarlek on WKRP in Cincinnati -- who valiantly stood for the suits in The Suits vs. The Dungarees battle on the show, turned 70 on February 28. Howard Hesseman and Richard Sanders, who played Johnny Fever and Les Nessman respectively, turned 70 in 2010! All my heroes collect Social Security!

Here's a list of 25 Musicians still living (as of this blogging) who turn 70 in 2012! Barbra Streisand turns 70 on April 24 but she does not rock, so is excluded from this list. Same for Wayne Newton, whose 70th birthday was this April 3. What exists in Vegas, stays in Vegas. And/or in Branson.

With so much punk rock around, it's time to compile a list of 25 albums that should be in any sincere punk rocker's collection. One album per band, in order to spread the wealth around and to throw in a few "influences", though I passed over early touchstones like The Stooges' Fun House and Raw Power, the MC5's Kick Out The Jams and the Shaggs' Philosophy of the World to make more room for albums that happened during the late 1970s-early 1980s when the music was in its "golden age."

There are still plenty of bands missing and more albums to collect, for sure. Some punk bands weren't good for more than a single or two, or never released a definitive album during their brief -- or not too brief -- careers. Most great punk rock was done by single, however, the truly great bands did manage at least one album.

Back in the 1980s, before they discovered the joys of young people living together in various cities, in Winnebagos and on the Jersey Shore, MTV played music videos -- all the time. They even advertised it as 24 hours around the clock.

Reading through I Want My MTV, a recent book by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, I learned that being an MTV Executive was nearly as much fun as being an actual rock star. While MTV turned an audio medium into a visual one, they managed to alert young people to the fact that there were new bands out there, something the kids wouldn't learn from commercial radio where it wasn't unusual to feel like you'd stumbled into a world where stations were apparently designed to make you hate music.