Scott "Top Ten" Kempner was asked to join, and the trio rented a house in Kerhonkson, New York, where they lived and rehearsed with various drummers.
for Epic Records,[3] produced by manager Sandy Pearlman, and Murray Krugman (best known for their work with Blue Öyster Cult).
[7] Sandy Pearlman was also instrumental in crafting the image of the Dictators, where roadie and "secret weapon" Richard Blum, who also joined the lineup of the band, was named Handsome Dick Manitoba.
Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Go Girl Crazy's junk-generation culture and smart-aleck sensibility did provide an essential blueprint for '70s punk.
"[9] In a 2006 book, The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's, Steven Beeber argued that this all-Jewish band was an early musical expression in rock music of the New York sarcasm and toughness found among this alienated population, who significantly contributed to punk rock (humor of Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Richman, Suicide, Lou Reed, Hilly Kristal (founder of CBGB), Danny Fields, the Ramones).
[3] This line-up soon secured a contract with Asylum Records (at least partly due to the notoriety the group had developed following a well-publicized brawl between Manitoba and Jayne County)[3][11][12] and released their second album, Manifest Destiny, in 1977.
Andy Shernoff observed the growing fanbase of the band, and employed a commercial sound in Manifest Destiny, stating that it was necessary to not "fuck things up".
[2] "Handsome" Dick Manitoba later recalled that in Manifest Destiny, the commercial sound, which he described as "zero punk" and "overproduced" did not reflect what he considered the ethos of the Dictators, "rock and roll snotty".
[13] Early in 1978, Mendoza had left the band (he soon joined Twisted Sister), and Shernoff had returned to his original position on bass guitar.
"[citation needed] The album's "Baby, Let's Twist" was a minor hit on a number of East Coast radio stations, but the lack of mainstream success caused the band to split again the following year.
[13] The members of the band began reuniting occasionally and in 1981, ROIR released the cassette-only Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke produced by Andy Shernoff, which featured numbers from all three of the group's studio albums,[3] covers of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" and Mott the Hoople's "The Moon Upstairs," plus two new Shernoff numbers, "Loyola" and "New York New York".
- a brief 25 minutes in length - received excellent reviews, with Rolling Stone calling it "the first great punk rock album of the '90s."
It was not the first time members of the band (most of whom were Jewish) had been associated with charges of this sort since Go Girl Crazy had featured the songs "Master Race Rock" and "Back to Africa."
[citation needed] However, the group - first with Frank Funaro on drums, then again with Patterson - began recording a new Dictators album written and produced by Andy Shernoff in the late 1990s, which was eventually released as D.F.F.D.
Kempner and the rest of The Del-Lords re-united in early 2010 for a successful tour of Spain and began working on an album of all new material.
[19] In July 2017, it was announced that the band name would be changed back to Manitoba, "due to legal threats by ex-bandmates, Andy Shernoff and Scott Kempner".
Critic Mark Deming wrote "the man is still writing excellent songs and singing them straight from the heart, which is what his best work has always been about, and it's great news that well over three decades into his career, he's still got fresh and worthwhile things to say.
[23] Former member Richard Teeter, who played drums for The Dictators between 1976 and 1979, died on April 10, 2012, due to complications from esophageal cancer.