Go Girl Crazy!

Go Girl Crazy! is the debut album by American punk rock band The Dictators. It was released on March 1975 and is considered one of the first examples of punk rock.[1][2][3]

Go Girl Crazy!
Cover photo by David Gahr
Studio album by
The Dictators
ReleasedMarch 1975
Recorded1975
StudioCBS Studios, New York City
GenreProtopunk, punk rock
Length34:48
LabelEpic
ProducerMurray Krugman, Sandy Pearlman
The Dictators chronology
Go Girl Crazy!
(1975)		 Manifest Destiny
(1977)

Response

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal9/10[6]
Entertainment WeeklyA[7]

The album has been well-received critically and is considered a precursor to punk rock. In its retrospective review, AllMusic notes that while the album was confusing to audiences at the time of its release, it became inspirational for dozens of groups to follow.[4] Trouser Press also enthuses that the band deserves "scads of credit" for "blazing a long trail, melding the essentials of junk culture...with loud/hard/fast rock'n'roll and thus creating an archetype".[8] According to a 2001 article in the Village Voice, the album's "blueprint for bad taste, humor, and defiance" has been replicated in the work of such bands as the Ramones and Beastie Boys.[9] Trouser Press lauded the album a "wickedly funny, brilliantly played and hopelessly naïve masterpiece of self-indulgent smartass rock'n'roll".[8] Entertainment Weekly wrote "Go Girl Crazy's junk-generation culture and smart-aleck sensibility did provide an essential blueprint for '70s punk. With its TV references and homely vocals, this ground-breaking and long-unavailable album continues to inspire underground groups everywhere."[7] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff enjoyed the album and considered the Dictators "more obviously comedians than musicians", "with a sense of self-deprecating humor poking sticks at the seriousness of heavy metal".[6]

Influence

In addition to musicians, the album was also one of two factors influencing the creation of Punk magazine by John Holmstrom and music journalist Legs McNeil. In Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, McNeil said that the album so resonated with him and his friends that they started the magazine strictly so they could "hang out with the Dictators".[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Andy Shernoff, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Next Big Thing" 4:20
2."I Got You Babe" (Sonny & Cher cover)Sonny Bono4:08
3."Back to Africa" 3:35
4."Master Race Rock" 4:13
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Teengenerate" 3:24
6."California Sun" (Joe Jones cover)Henry Glover, Morris Levy3:04
7."Two Tub Man" 4:08
8."Weekend" 4:00
9."(I Live For) Cars and Girls" 3:56

Personnel
The Dictators
Additional musicians
  • Handsome Dick Manitoba – additional lead vocals (Credited solely as "Secret Weapon")
  • Allan Lanier (credited as Alan Glover) – keyboards on "Teengenerate" and "Cars and Girls"
Production

References
  1. Nicholas Rombes (2009). A cultural dictionary of punk: 1974-1982. 80 Maiden Lane, New York City, New York 10038: The Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 20. go girl crazy.CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. Steve Waksman (2009). This ain't the summer of love: conflict and crossover in heavy metal and punk. University of California Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-520-25310-0. go girl crazy.
  3. Mary Montgomery Wolf (2007). "We accept you, one of us?": Punk rock, community, and individualism in an uncertain era, 1974--1985. ProQuest. p. 317.
  4. Mark Deming. "Go Girl Crazy!". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  5. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: D". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  6. Popoff, Martin (October 2003). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 978-1894959025.
  7. Ira Robbins (22 February 1991). "Go Girl Crazy". Entertainment Weekly (52). Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  8. Ira Robbins. "Dictators". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  9. Jack Lefelt (9 October 2001). "Manifest Destiny". villagevoice.com. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  10. John Holmstrom; Legs McNeil (2006). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk (10th Anniversary ed.). U.S.: Grove Press. p. 286. ISBN 0-8021-4264-8.

Further reading
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