Genres: Hard Rock, Proto-Punk, Punk/New Wave, New York Punk, American Punk Active: 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's Formed: 1974 in New York, NY
The Beach Boys, The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones, New York Dolls, MC5, The Stooges, The Flamin' Groovies, The Amboy Dukes, Shadows of Knight, The Count Five, Alice Cooper, The Troggs, The Seeds, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Deep Purple, Jan & Dean, The Kingsmen Johnny Thunders, The Ramones, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, Dick Wagner, Jayne County, The Pagans, Tuff Darts, Rubber City Rebels, The Monks, Twisted Sister, The Stranglers, Social Distortion, The Sex Pistols, Redd Kross, The Only Ones, The Clash, Blue Öyster Cult The Devil Dogs, Circle Jerks, The Martinets, Fear, G.G. Allin, Plasmatics, Twisted Sister, Slickee Boys, Screaming Tribesmen, Texas Terri, The Eat, The Casanovas, Black Furies, The Hellacopters, Digger & the Pussycats, Turbonegro, Gizmos, D Generation, The Queers |  |
Formed in 1974, N.Y.C.'s Dictators were one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth. Alternately reveling in and satirizing the wanton excesses of a rock & roll lifestyle and lowbrow culture (e.g., wrestling, TV, fast food), the Dictators, whose worldview was defined by bassist/keyboardist and former fanzine publisher (Teenage Wasteland Gazette) Andy (occasionally Adny) Shernoff and renegade rock critic/theorist Richard Meltzer, played loud, fast rock & roll fueled by a love of '60s American garage rock, British Invasion pop, and the sonic onslaught of the Who. Driven by the guitar barrage of Scott "Top Ten" Kempner and Ross "the Boss" Funichello and fronted by indefatigable ex-roadie and wrestler Handsome Dick Manitoba (aka Richard Blum), it seemed that nothing stood in the way of the Dictators and mega-popularity. But that's not what happened.
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Release: January 8, 2008
Label: Norton
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Release: April 11, 2006
Label: Escapi Music
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