"Teenage Lobotomy" is a song by the American punk rock band

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

. It was released on their 1977 album ''

Rocket to Russia ''Rocket to Russia'' is the third studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones, and was released on November 4, 1977, through Sire Records. Its origins date back to the summer of 1977, when "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" was released as ...

'', and became one of their most popular songs. The song's lyrics are about a teenager who had a

lobotomy A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections to ...

because of the brain damage caused by overexposure to

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

. The lyrics also outline how this procedure can cause serious consequences to the brain, with the line "Gonna get my Ph.D, I'm a teenage lobotomy." The composition features more complex melodies than that of other songs from the album, with the album's engineer

Ed Stasium Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Motörhead, the Smithereens and Living Colour. History Stasium began his recording career in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine. ...

proclaiming it to be a "mini-Ramones Symphony".True 2005, p. 94. "Teenage Lobotomy" has been released as downloadable content for the

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

''.

Personnel

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the R ...

– lead vocals *

Johnny Ramone John William Cummings (October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004), better known by his stage name Johnny Ramone, was an American musician who was the guitarist and a founding member of the Ramones, a band that helped pioneer the punk movement. ...

– guitar *

Dee Dee Ramone Douglas Glenn Colvin (September 18, 1951 – June 5, 2002), better known by his stage name Dee Dee Ramone, was an American musician. He was the bassist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. Throughout the band's existence, he w ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Tommy Ramone Thomas Erdelyi (born Tamás Erdélyi; January 29, 1949 – July 11, 2014), known professionally as Tommy Ramone, was a Hungarian American record producer and musician. He was the drummer for the influential punk rock band the Ramones for ...

– drums, producer

Production

Tony Bongiovi Anthony C. Bongiovi (born September 7, 1947) is an American record producer and recording engineer. He is the cousin of musician Jon Bon Jovi. Career Bongiovi has produced records by Gloria Gaynor, Talking Heads, Aerosmith ('' Classics Live''), ...

– producer *

– engineer * Don Berman – assistant engineer * Greg Calbi – mastering

References

{{Ramones Songs about teenagers 1977 songs Lobotomy Songs written by Dee Dee Ramone Ramones songs Song recordings produced by Tony Bongiovi Song recordings produced by Tommy Ramone Songs written by Joey Ramone Songs written by Johnny Ramone Songs written by Tommy Ramone