The Dictators - Al Muzer

Sometimes it takes a while for the history books to catch up with what really happened.

Witness: America's God-given right to populate the West corrected to read as the shameless land theft it really was; the Mexican-American War, once considered a righteous border protection move, now reflects the bullying of a race living here long before we set foot on the big boats; and the music books that once touted the New York Dolls, MC5, the Ramones and Iggy as the earliest progenitors of punk finally include The Dictators on the list.

Well, actually, that last part hasn't happened yet, but it will.

Punks before punk was cool, junk culture freaks before the rest of us realized there was such a thing as junk culture, wrestling fanatics at a time when most of America didn't even know who Andre The Giant was and the Hulkster was just a muscle-bound gleam in some pharmacist's eye - New York's Dictators were cranking out loud, hard, fast, fun, dumb and obnoxious years before a market for loud, hard, fast, fun, dumb and obnoxious even existed.

Originally a quartet featuring drummer Stu-Boy King, guitarists Ross The Boss and Scott "Top Ten" Kempner and vocalist/songwriter/ bassist/former rock-critic/music 'zine publisher Adny (or Andy, it varied) Shernoff; the group's early, sloppily-enthusiastic performances garnered the band local fame not only for the intensity and jet-engine volume of their music - but for the occasional appearances made by wrestling fanatic, "secret weapon" and equipment destroying band roadie, Handsome Dick Manitoba.

"We formed The Dictators mostly because we had no other choice," said Shernoff during a recent phone call. "We were all friends before we formed the band, but, the band was formed mainly because we didn't seem to fit in anywhere else. Music was the only place we all felt comfortable. I, personally, didn't know what else to do with my life."

Somewhere along the line, music journalist Richard Meltzer (immortalized on "Borneo Jimmy") took a shine to the group and began championing The Dictators' cause until Epic Records finally signed the band.

"People were aghast," laughs Manitoba as he recalls the initial reaction to the Dictators. "We were just so hysterically horrible!"

"They hated us!" chortles Shernoff. "The world hated us! Everyone hated us! We were dropped by Epic within, like, six months. There was absolutely no outlet back then for what we were doing."

"I remember we threw White Castle hamburgers at the audience once," Manitoba chuckles. "All of us loved White Castle hamburgers, so, naturally, we thought our audience would love 'em, too."

"Unfortunately," he laughs, "we forgot that we were opening for Rush at a club in Atlanta and this wasn't exactly our audience. There I was, this 210-pound guy with an afro and a wrestling outfit throwing hamburgers at a crowd of Rush fans staring back at us in horrified shock. I don't think the world, or that part of it, at any rate, was ready for us yet."

From Handsome Dick's bellowed ("I don't have to be here, 'ya know? This is just a hobby for me, you hear? A hobby!") rant at the beginning of the band's classic 1975 debut, Dictators Go Girl Crazy, through '77s excellent (if somewhat uneven) Manifest Destiny and 1978s should'a hit, Bloodbrothers (the latter two on Asylum) - The Dictators on record were generally a good five to six years ahead of their musical time.

"Groups like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Who and 'Stones were really big early influences on The Dictators," comments Shernoff. "But, we were also fans of The Flamin' Groovies, The Stooges, MC5, Television and the New York Dolls. You know, all that good stuff happening around the area when we were starting out."

"You gotta remember that back when we recorded our first album," he continues, "there was no Ramones, there was no Nirvana, CBGB's was just getting started and the Sex Pistols hadn't even met each other yet. There was, however, stuff like Kansas, Yes and ELP all over the radio."

A brilliant first effort, Dictators Go Girl Crazy predicted punk rock with "Master Race Rock," "Two Tub Man," "Back To Africa" and "(I Live For) Cars And Girls"; punk-pop with "Next Big Thing," "Weekend" and "Teen Generation"; and new wave quirk-pop as well as David Lee Roth's future solo career with campy covers of "I Got You Babe" and "California Sun."

Within minutes (or so it seemed) of the record's release, however, Stu-Boy took off for parts unknown and the group was unable to immediately promote the album on tour.

It didn't matter. Despite the quality of the debut and a half-hearted push from Epic, The Dictators were, by and large, ignored by America (busy, at the time, gettin' down with K.C. And The Sunshine Band and "Jive Talkin' " with The Bee Gees) and ...Go Girl Crazy went absolutely nowhere.

Dropped by Epic quicker'n you can say "disco ball," the Dictators spent the next two years searching for a new label and integrating drummer/backing vocalist Ritchie Teeter, bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza (with Shernoff switching to keyboards) and Handsome Dick Manitoba (now a full-fledged member) into the lineup.

"Basically, the band thought it'd be safer and cheaper to have me as a frontman rather than their roadie," laughs Manitoba. "I misplaced things, lost a couple'a amp heads, and then there was the time I ripped a metal awning out of a building when I ran into it with the top of the van. Anyway, stuff like that always seemed to be happening to me, so, it was pretty much a decision based on band economics that, I think, worked out well for everyone."

"It was a lot cheaper for us that way," recalls Shernoff. "Although Dick kept losing equipment and destroying trucks on us, he was just too much fun not to have around. Besides, his skills as a frontman were obvious - he's a guy who can definitely get people's attention."

Finally connecting with Asylum Records (the home of Jackson Browne and The Eagles), the reconstituted Dictators released Manifest Destiny at about the same time "Hotel California" took over the Top 10 charts in the same year the Sex Pistols released the "shot heard 'round the world."

Although poorly mastered, the album featured enough radio-worthy pop hits in "Exposed," "Hey Boys," "Heartache" (later 'borrowed' by Bram Tchaikovsky), "Steppin' Out" and "Sleepin' With The T.V. On" (title and concept used by Billy Joel on 1980's Glass Houses) and enough wild-ass Manitoba rants ("Science Gone Too Far," "Young, Fast, Scientific," "Disease" and a blistering cover of Iggy's "Search And Destroy") to qualify as a major disappointment when no one seemed to notice its release.

"Who really knows why?" ponders Manitoba when asked about the album's lack of success. "I don't. I could give you a variety of good reasons, and the real reason would probably wind up being a little bit of all of 'em and a lot of some of 'em." "The record didn't sound right for its time, America wasn't ready for us, we weren't marketed right, we weren't brought along right, we were, man," he adds after a long, thoughtful pause, "I could go on, but that leads nowhere."

Losing Mendoza to a just-forming Twisted Sister not long after Manifest Destiny hit the racks; Shernoff dusted off his bass and The Dictators continued to play at legendary New York City clubs such as CBGB's, Mother's and Max's Kansas City alongside bands like the Ramones, Television, the Dead Boys and the Talking Heads.

"It always seemed like The Dictators sort'a fell between the cracks," considers Manitoba. "Ya' know, like we were just in-between the solidness of whatever was hot or happening at the time. But, then again, that's the way it goes for 98-percent of the records that come out."

Toughened by performing for jaded, but enthusiastic, crowds of extremely vocal pre- and proto-punks, The Dictators' sound grew leaner and sharper while Shernoff began writing some of the hardest-hitting songs of his career.

Edgier, crunchier and more powerful than anything the band had waxed to date, "Faster & Louder," "Stay With Me," "Baby, Let's Twist," "What It Is," "No Tomorrow," "Minnesota Strip" and "I Stand Tall" were raw, amped-up, pogo-punk tunes that came across like the bastard offspring of a mean, hungry, disgruntled group of leather 'n' jeans wearin' slobs caught-up in the heady energy of the punk movement.

Despite producing what was, in retrospect, one of the all-time classic punk-rock albums of the late-'70s, Bloodbrothers failed to find its audience and, after being unceremoniously dumped by Asylum, the band fell apart several months later.

"The biggest problem we had, I think, was that our records were never that well recorded or produced," laments Shernoff. "_Bloodbrothers was, essentially, a reaction to Manifest Destiny, which, we thought, was a little overdone."

"We'd spent a lot of time in the studio working on the second album, trying to make a strong, clean pop record," he recalls, "while Bloodbrothers was basically recorded live in the studio. We just banged it out. It's a little lo-fi, but..." "It's kind'a funny," observes Manitoba. "We were a part of what eventually became something pretty important; but, we never really sold a lot of records in 'our time.' It's sort'a like The Dictators name and reputation, especially now, is much bigger and more popular than anything we ever achieved commercially or as a band."

"It's nice to get recognition, though - anyhow and anyway you can," he adds sincerely. "And, sure, I'd love to've made a million dollars and sold a million records and had millions of people loving us - but, things work out the way things work out. Better a little recognition late than obscurity forever."

"People have always said that about us," laughs Shernoff when the phrase, "years ahead of their time" is used to describe The Dictators. "I think it's mostly because no one could ever figure us out or 'fit' us anywhere."

"There's this section in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame on New York rock," he says with quiet pride. "And, we have our little display there. There's a Handsome Dick Manitoba jacket and a copy of our first album along with stuff from bands like the Ramones. It's pretty flattering that people cared enough about that era of music to include it in the museum. It was a pretty unique time in history."

While occasional one-off reunion gigs in the New York area resulted in a live, cassette-only Dictators album on ROIR in 1981 called Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take A Joke - with Ross The Boss sportin' a fur loincloth in Man O' War, Manitoba and Shernoff (with Ross) focusing on Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, Shernoff distracted by a variety of production gigs (most recently, Shake Appeal, Guided By Voices and D-Generation) and Kempner setting new standards for roots rock with Eric Ambel in The Del-Lords and, later, with Dion "Runaround Sue" Belmont, The Smithereens' Mike Mesaros and present Dictators drummer Frank Funaro in The Little Kings - full-fledged Dictators get-togethers came few and far between.

"I never consider them reunions," Manitoba says of the occasional Dictator regroupings. "Because I don't really think of us as ever having broken up. We started doing something a long time ago and our lifestyles still reflect that."

"It's not like we all gave up on music and got jobs on Wall Street," he laughs. "Our individual lifestyles enable us to do music and to come and go from jobs that are, uhm, let's just say, performer friendly."

"I know this is gonna sound really corny," Manitoba laughs, "but, it's sort'a like The Dictators are a way of life. They weren't just a phase we were all going through and then grew tired of. So, to me, it's not like, 'Let's go do a reunion show!' It's more like, 'Hey guys, let's get together and play this weekend!' "

And now, twenty-one years after Dictators Go Girl Crazy failed to make even a minor dent in the charts, Shernoff, "Top Ten," Ross, Funaro and Handsome Dick have returned to the fray louder and brasher than ever on their brand new Norton Records seven-inch, "I Am Right" b/w "Loyola."

"Who's song ya' like better?" demands Manitoba with a half-serious laugh. "Mine, or Andy's? Andy sings the pop song while mine is more of a loud, crazed, over-the-top Dictators sort'a thing."

"We wanted to include both a punk and a pop song on the single," offers Shernoff. "The pop thing is there to remind people that we've always considered ourselves a pop band. The punk track, which is actually more of a 'Detroit-rock' kind'a thing, is there because, especially attitude-wise, we've always been a punk band."

"I think we did a pretty good job for a bunch of guys who aren't really a band all the time," says Manitoba. "We didn't have time to do much besides get intense, serious and ferocious and cut the tracks. We had one day to record, mix and finish the songs, so we were really focused."

"It's a great package," he says of the new seven-inch single. "I'm just kind'a sorry it's not available in another format, ya' know? 'Cause I can't even listen to it. Hell, my turntable vanished a long time ago!"

In addition to cutting the new songs, the band recently finished a month-long concert tour of Spain while Shernoff and Manitoba are also busying themselves preparing a Greatest Hits package to be released by Rhino Records sometime this year.

"The way I look at it," reflects Manitoba on the tour, "everything we get now is just gravy. I really feel blessed that, 20 years later, without even trying to be a band, we can go to Europe for a month and people want to see us play. I think that's fantastic."

"As for my concept for the Rhino collection?" he asks. "It's to not do a 'pimples and all' history of The Dictators, ya' know? I'd much rather pick out 15 or 16 of the very best tracks we did, add one or two new Dictator songs - and then raid the archives for an unreleased rarity or two. You know, make this the one Dictators record that everyone needs to own."

"Rhino has thrown the ball back into our court," adds Shernoff. "They said that we could do whatever we wanted to with the 'Best Of,' so I'm going through a bunch of unreleased stuff - B-sides, demos and alternate takes - to see what's worth including."

With the recent Sex Pistols, Descendents, Circle Jerks and Fear reunions coming at a time when the punk rock torch is being held high by such "second-coming" groups as The Offspring, Rancid, Pennywise, Green Day, Ruth Ruth and Goldfinger - could it be that the ears of America are ready for the second coming of The Dictators?

"It's sort'a like The Dictators exist, and they don't exist, ya' know?" chuckles Manitoba. "Like, we don't actively exist anymore

"Next thing ya' know," he laughs, "we get a phone call and The Dictators are reborn again. It's sort'a like watering weeds, all of a sudden, what was considered dead exists again. Ya' just can't get rid of us."