Dec 29, 2025
48 years ago
The Dictators supported by The Dead Boys, CBGB, New York City, December 28, 1977.
Photos by Ebet Roberts
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48 years ago
The Dictators supported by The Dead Boys, CBGB, New York City, December 28, 1977.
Photos by Ebet Roberts
the dictators at cbgb sept 28 1977
Application for people looking to contribute to the 70s Punk Rock Zine! The 70s Punk Rock Zine (working title) is a 'zine that will cover a
contributor applications finally open for my 70s punk rock zine! :D
applications open till 22nd of march, after which contributors will be added to the discord server and discussions/brainstorming about various details will begin!
Handsome Dick Manitoba of The Dictators, Mark Perry of the punk fanzine Sniffin Glue and Joan Jett of The Runaways in London - '77. Photo by Bob Gruen
Manowar_Ross the Boss
The boss diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Keep goin warrior as far as u can!!
WE LOVE YOU
The Dictators - Sleepin' with the TV On (1977) Andy Shernoff from: "Manifest Destiny" (LP)
Power Pop | Power Ballad
Tumblr (left click = play) (256kbps)
Personnel: Ritchie Teeter: Lead Vocals / Drums Handsome Dick Manitoba: Backing Vocals Ross "The Boss" Friedman: Lead Guitar "Top Ten" Kempner: Rhythm Guitar Andy Shernoff: Keyboards / Backing Vocals Mark "The Animal" Mendoza: Bass
Produced by Murray Krugman / Sandy Pearlman
Recorded: @ The Record Plant in New York City, New York USA 1977
Album Released: July, 1977 Asylum Records
"50 Years of PUNK tour" - by John Holmstrom
This will be a very busy summer for me!
CREEM Magazine had a huge influence on the creation of PUNK Magazine.
This cover from 1973, naming Alice Cooper as “Punk of the Year” was a turning point, since I was a huge Alice Cooper Group fan back then. (Not his solo stuff at all!).
Creem magazine (my other biggest influence when it came to starting PUNK Magazine) once said it was the best punk rock LP ever, and I have to agree: Back in 1975? Before the Ramones? The Dictators set the stage for this new music movement, similar to how the New York City glam scene had created a new rock ’n’ roll aesthetic in the early 1970s.
A few years before punk rock started at CBGB, the New York Dolls influenced a lot of bands on New York City music scene: The Magic Tramps, The Brats, The Harlots of 42nd Street, Ruby and the Rednecks, Sniper, Teenage Lust, even KISS! The Dictators? Apparently the only band they had an effect on was the Ramones. And sadly, the Ramones didn’t influence any New York bands until hardcore came along. Instead, punk rock bands started up all over England and the west coast! And they usually followed the Ramones formula. Not the Dictators.
Okay, just my opinions here, but as the editor of PUNK I am speaking from experience: This is why I still think of the Dictators as “The First New York City Punk Rock Band.” Their songs were so politically-incorrect, so much the exact opposite of glam rock, their lyrics were so offensive, and the music was so accessible that I thought we could develop a new rock music movement together.
It was all in good fun! PUNK took its inspiration from bands like The Doors, Alice Cooper, Suicide and whoever were so offensive that they could empty a club in a few minutes. That was the formula for success from the 1950s to the early 1970s.
Elvis swinging his hips was censored by early TV shows. The Beatles haircuts shocked the nation after “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” was released. The Rolling Stones were much scruffier and ugly, which helped sell records. Hendrix? “Purple Haze” freaked people out, and the hippie bands outraged the country with their long hair, drug use and communal living.
Alice Cooper and David Bowie shocked people in the early 1970s by promoting the gay lifestyle. Unfortunately for us? The way rock ’n’ roll relied on public outrage and offensive looks and lyrics had outlived its usefulness by the time post-Watergate America happened. We lost the Vietnam war (although our government still refuses to admit it). The USA wanted “normalcy” in 1975: “Happy Days” TV, mindless disco music etc. Anything but more rock bands being outrageous and testing cultural norms.
The promoters of the event bought an advertisement for this event but it never happened. Can you imagine the Dictators and the Ramones on the same bill as The Cramps? Those were the days… But yeah, I always thought Ross and Mark Mendoza (who later joined Twisted Sister) were the soul of the band. Andy and Scott were always the heart.
Ancient Punk Rock History 101: Over the summer of 1975, I was working for Ged Dunn, Jr. in Cheshire, Connecticut for his painting business. On weekends, we worked with Eddie McNeil on his short film The Unthinkables. I went back to Brooklyn (where I shared an apartment with a Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers fan) to pick up The Dictators Go Girl Crazy album I bought a few weeks earlier. When I explained to Ged Dunn, Jr. and Eddie McNeil that punk rock was going to be “The Next Big Thing” they bought into it. (Sort of: they weren’t into punk rock as much as I was… Another story for another day
