Don’t Worry About Me by Joey Ramone

Don't Worry About Me, Joey Ramone's first solo album, reached the shops on Sanctuary on February 19, 2002, less than a year after lymphoma took him. Daniel Rey, who had produced three Ramones records between 1987 and 1995, produced this one too and played most of the guitar, so the buzzsaw is right where you'd hope to find it.

The surprise is how warm it all is. Joey's big-hearted croon rides on top of punk rock that's all melody and no sneer, and the two covers tell the story: the Stooges' "1969" gets torn through at full tilt, and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" becomes a buzzing, grinning farewell. That one also turned up over the end credits of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine and on the Freaky Friday soundtrack, with a video directed by Debbie Harry.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.