• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

the dictators

#6
Pdaddy1978 said:
I remember reading about them in Circus and Rave magazines in the 70s. It wasn't easy to find their records. Wild stories abounded. Lots of better known artists liked having their picture took with Hansome Dick!
Click to expand...
I don’t know about “better known”, but here’s a sloppy selfie I took with Dick almost 10 years ago outside their show at the Casbah in San Diego. The guy in the back with the Throbbing Gristle shirt was their bass player at the time(Adny wasn’t touring)…
IMG_5305.png

Also saw them in Long Beach in ‘91 with the original band intact save for a newer drummer.
sonic boogaloo said:
this could quite possibly be the best thing i've seen on YouTube.

maximum rock 'n roll!

Click to expand...

The Manifest Destiny line-up! I was on to them from the start, as I was a huge fan of very early Blue Oyster Cult, and they shared management/production with them.
The ‘Tators always seemed a bit out of synch with things; while they certainly were part of the MC5/Stooges mindset, they were a few years later, but then they arrived before The Ramones really kicked things off, and also, while they were part of the CBGB’s scene, they might have come off as a little too “metal”. Nonetheless, Bloodbrothers was a classic album, “Faster And Louder” an anthem.
In the 2000’s, Scott Kempner briefly worked at this giant music media store I was at. I didn’t really get to know him, it was kind of weird for me after being a fan. That he died at a relatively young age from early onset Alzheimers was so sad, and now Ross is gone as well.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: sonic boogaloo and Pdaddy1978
#9
I once got to spend a good hour killing time in the CBGB annex before a gig chatting with Ira Robbins, creator of Trouser Press, about the Dictators and their performances there, at Max's Kansas City and others. A friend turned me on to Manifest Destiny when it came out, and they were my favorite of the 70s NYC bands. Never got to see them live but I got to play CBGB at couple of times, experience a bit of what that was like (this was the early 90s) and hear stories about the band from an informed source. Wish I could remember more than I do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SpyderX and Nebadon2000
#11
Michedelic said:
The ‘Tators always seemed a bit out of synch with things; while they certainly were part of the MC5/Stooges mindset, they were a few years later, but then they arrived before The Ramones really kicked things off, and also, while they were part of the CBGB’s scene, they might have come off as a little too “metal”.
Click to expand...

Most people didn’t get them because they were a very satirical band, way more than the Ramones, who shared their love of surf music. Just song titles like “Back to Africa”, “Teengenerate” and “Master Race Rock” made that pretty obvious. Bassist Andy Shernoff did most of the lead vocals and wrote most of the songs.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Michedelic, 31HZ, Guitalia and 1 other person
#19
Nebadon2000 said:
I went to Mott The Hoople show and opening act was Queen:)
Click to expand...

Lotsa oddball concert bills back in those days.

A friend went to see Grand Funk Railroad in New Haven, CT and the opener was Yes :wideyed:

I saw Dr. Hook…yes, the guys who did “Sylvia’s Mother” and “Cover of the Rolling Stone”…open for Emerson Lake and Palmer :woot:

I saw Dr. John, still in his Night Tripper days, open for Alice Cooper back in 1972.
A show I missed was Captain Beefheart playing at Yale University with a trained monkey act as the opener :hyper:

Back in the 1990s I played some shows in Cambridge, MA booked by a guy named Billy Ruane. He told me when deciding on a bill while he hired only bands he liked, the most important thing was how the names looked on the posters!!!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back