I’d be hard-pressed to find a website that I publicize more than Terminal Boredom. And why, you ask? Well, despite the power-pop prima donnas and jerky Wisconsinites that can pollute their message board from time to time, Terminal Boredom is the number one place to turn for real, honest coverage of what is happening in underground punk and rock in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. And I hate to be a ball-tickler here, but the reason why is that the coordinator Filthy Rich K. AKA Chuck Barrels keeps the webzine grounded, honest, and well-maintained (if not timely, but I can think of another website that should be updated a lot more than it is, maybe even two). I count Rich as a friend and a dude, and with the new crop of reissue reviews published today he spells out why, though his language is more Hemingway than Bangs, he knows his rock n’ roll better than almost anyone and obviously should be the one to govern over his gaggle of miscreants that contribute.

As I was saying, in the new Re-Issue Reviews Rich spells out a lot more than I can say today about rock n’ roll using as his example, those lovable Manhattan scamps, The Dictators. Cruise the links I posted, but read on here:

I was ready to write a three page dissertation on the magnitude of The Dictators and their place in the rock’n'roll pantheon when I sat down for this review. Then I realized that I really shouldn’t have to. Rock’n'roll doesn’t get much better or American than the three LPs worth of cuts The ‘tators managed to lay down during their glory days. Many will try to convince you that ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘Bloodbrothers’ are marginal releases, but those people just don’t know what they’re talkin’ about. ‘Go Girl Crazy’ is admittedly the high-point of their oevure, that much I will agree upon, and if you don’t at least dig that record heavily, I have serious issues with you as a person. That LP is one of those records that honest-to-goodness changed my life, or least my outlook on what is or isn’t cool. In what may seem cornball in this day-and-age, the Dictators managed to embody everything that is (and still remains) righteous about rock’n'roll and life in general: cars, girls, drugs, booze, wrestling, hamburgers, TV, sleeping all day, partying all night….No matter how WEIRD PUNK you are or how “sophisticated” tastes these days seemingly are, when it comes down to nuts and bolts, you are either on board with the lifeblood of rock’n'roll that courses through the veins of The Dictators and their music or you are honestly (and I’m loath to use this word) posing. It’s just that simple. You like The Dictators or you don’t like rock’n'roll. They were punk before it was cool to be punk, a true rock band when it was uncool to be a rock band, they bridged the gap between Stooges/MC5/Groovies pre-punk and Ramones first wave (and some could even say were proto-metal), were innovators in the smartly dumb department of cool tuneage…their larger-than-life legacy is something I feel not enough people recognize. Everything from CBGB’s punkola, to the Crypt Records roster (yes, I’m looking at you Devil Dogs and New Bomb Turks), to the Angry Samoans (and thusly the entire budget-rock and Rip Off Records pantheon) to anyone who has ever taken a picture of themselves eating a hot dog wearing a Goner Records t-shirt owes at least a nod of influence to the Dics whether they realize it or not

Sounds like he’s talking about someone you may know…

That reminded me of the only piece I’ve had on TB to date, my review of the Busy Signals/MOTO/Spits show I caught in Chicago in 2006. Blast from the not-so-distant past here. More this weekend, got some cool stuff coming up… dig?