''Don't Worry About Me'' is the first album released by

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, songwriter, and the lead vocalist and founding member of the punk rock band Ramones, with Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone. His ...

as a solo artist. It was released

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

ly on February 19, 2002, by

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is, as of 2013, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest ...

, less than a year after his death. The album was produced by Daniel Rey, who also did most of the guitar work. Rey had previously produced three of the Ramones' albums, between 1987 and 1995. The album includes two covers: " What a Wonderful World," originally performed by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

, and "1969," originally performed by

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

. "What a Wonderful World" was used for the ending credits of

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's film '' Bowling for Columbine''. It also appeared on the soundtrack to '' Freaky Friday''. A

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version of the album was released on November 19, 2002. It included the album in the

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The ...

format, which is in 5.1

surround sound Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener ( surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to ...

, as well as the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "What a Wonderful World" (directed by

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

) and other material. ''Don't Worry About Me'' peaked at #109 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Critical reception

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'' wrote that "though Ramones neophytes would be best served by starting at the beginning, ''Don't Worry About Me'' is a must for card-carrying superfans." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called the album "a testament to the uplifting power of rock." '' Now'' wrote that it "boasts better songwriting and playing than the last few Ramones albums, with Joey singing strong, free of any ironic or goofy pose." ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' wrote that "pointless guitar solos are evident on several tracks, but Joey's goofy teenage romanticism still manages to carry the day."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. ; Musicians *

– lead vocals (all tracks) * Daniel Rey – guitars, backing vocals (tracks 1–7, 9 and 10) * Al Maddy – guitars, bass, backing vocals (track 8) * Mickey Leigh – guitars, backing vocals (track 11) * Andy Shernoff – bass, backing vocals (tracks 1–7, 9 and 11) *

Jerry Only Gerald Caiafa Jr. (born April 21, 1959), better known by his stage name Jerry Only, is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the Misfits and later the vocalist as well. He is the only member to appear in every Misfits lineup exce ...

– bass (track 10) *

Marky Ramone Marc Steven Bell (born July 15, 1952), better known as Marky Ramone, is an American drummer. He began playing in hard rock bands in the New York City area, notably Dust (band), Dust and Estus. He was asked to drum for punk rock band Richard Hell ...

– drums (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8) * Frank Funaro – drums (tracks 2, 5, 9 and 11) *

Dr. Chud David Calabrese, known professionally as Dr. Chud, is an American horror punk drummer best known for his work with the Misfits (band), Misfits. He has also been a member of Graves (band), Graves, Gorgeous Frankenstein, Doyle (band), Doyle and Bl ...

– drums (track 10) * Joe McGinty – keyboards (tracks 1, 5, 9 and 11) * Veronica Kofman – backing vocals (track 3) * Helen Love – backing vocals (track 3) * Captain Sensible – backing vocals (track 3) ;Technical *Daniel Rey – producer, engineer, mixing *Jon Marshall Smith – engineer, mixing *Joe Blaney – mixing ("Don't Worry About Me") *Noah Simon – assistant mixing engineer ("Don't Worry About Me") *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

– mastering *George Seminara – front cover photography *George DuBose – package design *Charlotte Lesher – executive producer *Mickey Leigh – executive producer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2002 debut albums Joey Ramone albums Sanctuary Records albums Albums published posthumously Albums produced by Daniel Rey