A lot has been said and written over the years about the legitimacy of Bono’s claims that U2 is a punk band. I personally believe that although their do-it-yourself origins qualify as extremely punk-ish, most of their music doesn’t meet the hard and fast qualifications of punk rock. I say “most of their music” because in 2002, U2 recorded an extremely faithful cover of “Beat On the Brat”, the original of which was recorded and written by American punk icons The Ramones. If this track doesn’t qualify as punk rock, then neither does anything in the Ramones’ whole catalog. U2’s version of “Beat On the Brat” has a somewhat curious history. U2 first made a recording of the song in 2002 when they submitted a video of themselves (minus bassist Adam Clayton) to the NME Brat Awards, to be played as their acceptance speech for an award. Since Adam wasn’t available for the video, his tech Stuart Morgan played bass on this occasion (as he also did when Adam missed a gig in Australia in 1993), standing behind a cardboard cut-out of U2’s incumbent bassist. The following year, U2’s cover of “Beat on the Brat” was commercially released on the Ramones tribute album We’re a Happy Family. What is unknown is whether or not this is the same recording of the same that U2 made for the Brat Awards. Because Stuart didn’t receive a mention in the liner notes on the …Happy Family album, I believe that U2 re-recorded the song specifically for the Ramones tribute compilation, with Adam filling his regular position.

As I mentioned above, U2’s cover of “Beat on the Brat” is very similar to the Ramones’ original version of the track. Both versions of the song have aggressive guitar and tight rhythm tracks. Both versions of the song clock in at about 155 beats per minute, and both feature the same great vocal melody. What distinguishes U2’s version is the small touches, like Larry’s count in at the beginning, or like the throbbing bass-line between the first and second verses. My favorite minor detail that U2 used to dress up their version comes at about 2:04, when Bono stretches the word “do” into three syllables, paying homage to a whole generation of punk rock singers with one small artistic flair.

U2 have never played “Beat On the Brat” live, but they have demonstrated their love for the Ramones in other ways, like in 2000 and 2001, when they would occasionally cover “I Remember You” in remembrance of the recently passed Joey Ramone. On a related note, the Ramones singer was apparently a U2 fan, as “In a Little While” was apparently the last song he ever heard on this mortal plane. Later in 2001, U2 presented the surviving Ramones with an award at the MTV Video Music Awards. Finally, U2 again paid tribute to the Ramones with the first single from their 2014 record Songs of Innocence, a song titled “The Miracle (of Joey Ramone), which is all about the band’s personal experiences with music of the New York rockers at an early age. There’s no denying that the Ramones were an important group in music history, and I’m especially grateful to them for the inspiration that they provided to four lads in Dublin, Ireland.