Road to Ruin (The Mr. T Experience album)

Background

Being heavily influenced by the Ramones, The Mr. T Experience had previously released a song about them called "The End of the Ramones" on their 1989 EP Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood.

The Mr. T Experience version of Road to Ruin, released in 1998, between the albums Revenge is Sweet, and So Are You and Alcatraz, marked the first appearance of the band name abbreviated to "MTX" on an album cover. It was also the first album since the 1988 Rough Trade release Night Shift at the Thrill Factory, to not be released through Lookout Records. Although Night Shift at the Thrill Factory, and its predecessor Everybody's Entitled to Their Own Opinion would see later re-issues through Lookout Records, Road to Ruin carries the distinction of being the only album to never see a release through the label.

According to the liner notes, the album was originally released as a tour edition of 300, pressed on half-blue, half-yellow marbled 12" vinyl. The original tour edition also featured a felt, cloth-like front and back cover, separated into two 12" squares. The album was later re-issued on black vinyl with a standard album jacket, limited to a pressing of 1700 copies. To date, it is the only Mr. T Experience album to not see a release on compact disc.

The album is one of several covers of Ramones albums released by punk rock bands in the 1990s. Screeching Weasel released their version of Ramones in 1992, a complete cover of the Ramones first album, and in 1994 The Queers released Rocket to Russia. Both bands are contemporaries of the Mr. T Experience, having played numerous shows together throughout each other's careers. Later, in 2000, the Mr. T Experience EP The Miracle of Shame would include another Ramones homage entitled "Mr. Ramones."

Personnel