Go Girl Crazy

Dictators | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sbme Special Mkts.
• ASIN: B0012GMX88
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,099 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #55 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > American Punk
  • #78 in Music > Alternative Rock > Hardcore & Punk > Proto Punk

Track Listings

1. The Next Big Thing

2. I Got You Babe

3. Back to Africa

4. Master Race Rock

5. Teengenerate

6. California Sun

7. Two Tub Man

8. Weekend

9. (I Live for) Cars and Girls

Editorial Reviews

York's finest trying to bring both sides together in a brave, prescient, and (at least at the time) futile gesture. The band's "smart guys who like dumb stuff" humor, junk-culture reference points, and '60s cheeze rock covers ("California Sun" and "I Got You Babe" on one album) would seem tailor made for the crowd at CBGB digging the Ramones and the Dead Boys, but their sludgy and stripped down hard rock (and Ross "The Boss" Funichello's neo-metal guitar solos) were something else altogether. And at a time when the arena rock audience had not yet embraced the less-than-subtle humor and theatrics of Sparks or Cheap Trick, the Dictators' ahead-of-their-time enthusiasm for wrestling, White Castle hamburgers, and television confused more kids than it converted. Heard today, the album is a hoot and a half; if the tempos could often stand to be a bit livelier, Adny Shernoff's songs are still great (especially the absurdly anthemic "Two Tub Man," "I Live for Cars and Girls," and "Weekend"), the jokes still register (while the contemporary Political Correctness brigade might blanch at "Back to Africa" or "Master Race Rock," they're merely absurd in the Mad Magazine tradition), and "secret weapon" Handsome Dick Manitoba was truly a find. Dozens of groups borrowed wholesale from Go Girl Crazy! later on down the line, but the original is still the greatest ... and the funniest. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AND THE PUNK ROCK FORBEARER AWARD GOES TO....., February 5, 2003

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Go Girl Crazy (Audio CD)

The Dictators, for their light years ahead of their time debut "Go Girl Crazy." I remember reading an article about them in CREEM magazine as a 15 year old and thinking, "man, I gotta have this album." It wasn't till a school field trip to NYC that I managed to find it in some Times Square record store, and I couldn't wait to get back home and listen to it...and sometime after midnight, as I recall, I had an epiphany. Or was I laughing my...off? It hardly makes any difference, because this was an outrageously great album!

The problem was, my friends did not agree. I loved The Dictators' goofy patter about professional wrestling, White Castle hamburgers, and their brilliantly 'stoopid' version of "I Got You Babe." I wanted to be a "Two Tub Man," even if I had absolutely no idea what the heck it meant. This was big dumb fun that couldn't have been made by anyone but a bunch of bored smart-arsed adolescent guitar slingers, and I loved its every nutty second. The Dictators were 'Politically Incorrect' long before the phrase was uttered; songs like "Go Back To Africa" and "Master Race Rock" mocked 70's conventional serious rock with so much gusto, it's hard to believe that so few got the joke.

Somehow, despite being once written up as Epic records' worst selling lp ever, it has managed to stay in print. That's amazing, considering that "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!" falls stylistically somewhere between Blue Oyster Cult and The Ramones. (By the way, The Ramones were still one year away from releasing their classic debut, compare The Dictator's "California Sun" to The Ramones' on "Leave Home" for an influence check.) Tough, smart, and funnier than just about anything before or since, "The Dictators Go Girl Crazy" is for headbangers with a funny-bone, and for anyone with a sense of rock and roll history.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A hilarious middle finger to the 70's, June 4, 2006

By 

Brad Brain - See all my reviews

This review is from: Go Girl Crazy (Audio CD)

It's funny to imagine some trendy hippie finding this at a record store in the 70's and seeing song titles like "Master Race Rock" and "Back to Africa". It's even funnier to imagine some white supremacist buying this album for exactly those songs only to hear "They didn't know we were Jews" on the first track. It's hilarious to hear the way they make fun of the Beach Boys with the harmonies on "(I Live For) Cars and Girls" or the even more hilarious Sonny & Cher cover. They send up everything from the transience of rock stardom to hippies to the idiocy of 70's hedonism. But for a band that plays it up for laughs, they're a lot smarter than they let on. You have to be in on the joke to enjoy this band, but enjoy them you will!

What about the music? It's somewhere between early Alice Cooper or Kiss and the New York Dolls or MC5, with chunky riffs and guitar leads and pounding rhythms. The punk elements of the band are more in their attitude on this album because they have a definite 70's hard rock vibe. But hey, it was 1975, "fast and loud" sounded totally different back then. It's quintessential rock n' roll -- music for unpretentious dudes who just want to raise hell and have a good time.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic album., May 25, 2008

By 

Alex Nennig "al27" (Oshkosh, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Go Girl Crazy (Audio CD)

If you've never heard "Go Girl Crazy" its a real treat. The Dictators were doing the whole "big dumb hard rock that pokes fun of big dumb hard rock" thing long before Spinal Tap ever made it cool. The album is hilarious and catchy and well performed and everything else you'd hope it to be.

But the real reason I'm writing this review is this: I thought this album was a remastered release. Kind of along the lines of recent remastered re-releases of "Manifest Destiny" and "Bloodbrothers" a few years ago.

So I'm warning fans right now:

This is NOT a remastered edition of the album.

Its the same edition Elektra released in the 90's. It's just extra-budget priced now.

Is it a great album? You bet! But if you already own the original CD version, don't buy this, its literally the exact same thing.