The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!

Infobox Album
Name = The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!
Type = studio
Artist = The Dictators


Released = March 1975
Recorded =
Genre = Rock, proto-punk
Length = 34:48
Label = Epic
Producer = Murray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gvfixql5ldje link]
*Robert Christgau (B+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=3577 link]
*Piero Scaruffi rating-10|7 [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/dictator.html link] (Italian)
Last album =
This album = "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!"
(1975)
Next album = "Manifest Destiny"
(1977)

"The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!" was the influential 1975 debut album of the New York-based proto-punk band The Dictators. "Trouser Press" lauded the band's first—and arguably best [Hoard, Christian. (October 16 2006) [http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/10/16/alas-poor-cbs-we-knew-you-well-saturday-1014/ Alas poor CB’s, we knew you well: Saturday 10/14] Rolling Stone's "Rock Daily" online. Accessed October 12 2007] —release as a "wickedly funny, brilliantly played and hopelessly naïve masterpiece of self-indulgent smartass rock'n'roll".Robbins, Ira. [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=dictators Dictators] Trouser Press. Accessed October 12 2007.] Originally released on the Epic label on 1975, the album has been re-issued on CD and LP by Epic, Norton Records and Sony Music Media.

Influence

In its review, Allmusic notes that while the album was confusing to audiences at the time of its release, it became inspirational for dozens of groups to follow, with its blend of punk rock and heavy metal.allmusicguide |id=10:gvfixql5ldje~T0 |label=The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!] Trouser Press also enthuses that the band deserves "scads of credit" for "blazing a long trail, melding the essentials of junk culture...with loud/hard/fast rock'n'roll and thus creating an archetype". According to a 2001 article in the "Village Voice", the album's "blueprint for bad taste, humor, and defiance" has been replicated in the work of such bands as the Ramones and Beastie Boys. [Lefelt, Jack. (October 10 – 16, 2001) [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0141,lefelt,28870,1.html Manifest Destiny] . The Village Voice. Accessed October 12 2007.]

In addition to musicians, the album was also one of two factors influencing the creation of "Punk Magazine" by music journalist Legs McNeil. In "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk", McNeil said that the album so resonated with him and his friends that they started the magazine strictly so they could "hang out with the Dictators". [McNeil, Legs and Gillian McCain. (2006) "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk": 10th Anniversary Edition. Grove Press: USA. ISBN: 0-8021-4254-8. page 268.]

Track listing

"Except where otherwise noted, all tracks composed by Andy Shernoff."

#"The Next Big Thing" – 4:20
#"I Got You Babe" (Sonny Bono) – 4:08
#"Back to Africa" – 3:35
#"Master Race Rock" – 4:13
#"Teengenerate" – 3:24
#"California Sun" (Henry Glover, Morris Levy) – 3:04
#"Two Tub Man" – 4:08
#"Weekend" – 4:00
#"(I Live For) Cars and Girls" – 3:56

Personnel

Performance

*Ross "The Boss" Funicello – guitar, vocals
*Scott Kempner – guitar
*Stu Boy King – percussion, drums
*Handsome Dick Manitoba – vocals
*Andy Shernoff – bass, keyboards, vocals

Production

*Greg Calbi – mastering
*David Gahr – photographer
*Tim Geelan – engineer
*Murray Krugman – producer
*Sandy Pearlman – producer
*Ed Sprigg – mixing
*Lou Waxman – engineer

References