Leisure Class is an American

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

. Formed in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

in 1977 as Mr. Unique & the Leisure Suits, the band got their start as the opening act for The Mumps (featuring

Lance Loud Alanson Russell "Lance" Loud (June 26, 1951 – December 22, 2001) was an American television personality, magazine columnist, and new wave rock-n-roll performer. Loud is best known for his 1973 appearance in ''An American Family'', a pionee ...

) and local favorites like Flirt and

Destroy All Monsters is a 1968 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film, which was produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, is the ninth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and features eleven monster ...

. They released their debut record, the four-song EP, "''Mr. Unique & the Leisure Class"'' in 1983. Dennis Loren, reviewing it in the ''

Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. History and content Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed f ...

'', found "something to offend everyone",. The band moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, making their debut at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

in 1984. Venues for the band during this period included CBGB, 8BC, SNAFU, the

Henry Street Settlement The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founde ...

the Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founde ...

, the Gas Station, the Lone Star Roadhouse, Under Acme, Woody's, Beowulf, and Tramps. Their performances featured, at various times, writer

Herbert Huncke Herbert Edwin Huncke (January 9, 1915 – August 8, 1996) was an American writer and poet, and an active participant in a number of emerging cultural, social and aesthetic movements of the 20th century in America. He was a member of the Beat ...

, impaled goat heads, and a two-story prison (designed and built by conceptual artist and photographer Misha Gordin. The limited edition two-CD compilation, ''Leisure Class Recordings 1979–1994'' was released in 2004. The following year, Leisure Class was profiled on the

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

show, ''

Day to Day ''Day to Day'' (''D2D'') was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio (NPR), and produced by NPR in collaboration with ''Slate''. Madeleine Brand, Alex Chadwick, and Alex Cohen served as hosts. Topics ...

''. Lead singer and lyricist Dimitri Mugianis was the subject of the 2009 documentary film by Michel Negroponte, ''I'm Dangerous With Love''. The 2010 compilation ''Parents Night at the Leper Colony'' was called "a splendid one hour introduction to this criminally overlooked band".

Lineups

1977–1978

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson (

Wild Man Fischer Lawrence Wayne "Wild Man" Fischer (November 6, 1944 – June 16, 2011) was an American street performer known for offering erratic, a cappella performances of "new kinds of songs" for a dime on the beaches and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. ...

) – Drums, Vocals * Jeff Mullins – Guitar * Brian Garwood – Bass * Ted Moniak (Kevin Renick, Randy Herman and the Sceptre of Benevolence) – Mandolin, Guitar, Vocals

1978–1979

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Organ, Vocals * James Myers – Guitar, Bass * Dave Rice (Algebra Mothers,

L-Seven L-Seven was an American post-punk band from Detroit, Michigan, United States. The band existed during 1980–1983. Some band members had been formerly active in Detroit punk bands The Blind, Algebra Mothers, and Retro.Detroit Punk Archive: L-Sev ...

, The Blind) – Guitar, Bass * Ted Moniak – Mandolin, Vocals

1979–1980

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Vocals * Howard Glazer aka John E. Louder – Guitar * Bob Godwin aka Scotch Hiballs – Bass

1981

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Percussion, Piano, Vocals * Dan Porvin – Guitar * Michael Tudor aka Sal Monella – Guitar * Greg Gilmore – Bass * Dan Matuszczak aka Matthew J. Karp – Saxes, Flute, Bass Clarinet * Stan Johnson – Trumpet

1981–1983

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Percussion, Piano, Organ, Harmonica, Tin Whistle, Vocals * Dan Porvin – Guitar * Michael Tudor aka Sal Monella – Guitar * Chris McGorey (Dog Latin) – Bass * Dan Matuszczak aka Matthew J. Karp – Saxes, Flute, Bass Clarinet * Stan Johnson – Trumpet * Guy Zublin – Trumpet

1984–1989

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Percussion, Piano, Organ, Synthesizers, Tin Whistle * Dan Porvin – Guitar * Sal Monella (Michael Tudor) – Guitar * Marc Dannenhirsch – Guitar * Chris Hunt – Guitar * Dave Boonshoft ( John Phillips, Naked Music, Aguilar Amplification) – Bass * Ric Frank (Jambalaya Brass Band) – Tenor Sax and Flute * Mike Walters – Tenor Sax and Flute * J. J. Silva (

Ten Wheel Drive Ten Wheel Drive was an American rock band which existed from 1968 to 1974. History In 1968, after the final break-up of the all-female rock band Goldie & The Gingerbreads, Genya Ravan was looking for a new band, as were two New Jersey musicians ...

) – Trumpet, Trombone * Leonard Belota – Trumpet * Leif Arntzen – Trumpet * Pat McCarty – Trombone * Paul Romero – Vocals * Kevin Weist (The Lemmings, The Groove Barbers) – Vocals * Melissa Schaffer – Vocals * David Lawton – Vocals

1990–1995

* Dimitri Mugianis – Vocals * Glenn Johnson – Drums, Percussion * Dan Porvin – Guitar * Al Korosy ( Dion) – Guitar * Dave Boonshoft – Bass * Bob Marx – Tenor Sax and Flute * Russ Johnson – Trumpet * Pat McCarty – Trombone * Paul Romero – Vocals * Kevin Weist – Vocals * David Lawton – Vocals * Angel Jemmott (Angela on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'') – Vocals

Discography

* ''Mr. Unique and the Leisure Class'' (Leisureco LC 1) 1983 * ''Leisure Class Recordings 1979–1994'' (Leisureco LC 002) 2004 * ''We Went and Recorded It Anyway: The Best of Pop-Punk and Power Pop 1977–84'' (Brutarian: BRUT CD-009) 2009 * ''Parents Night at the Leper Colony'' (Leisureco LC 003) 2010

References

{{reflist

External links

Official Leisure Class website

Glenn Johnson interviewed November 15, 2009 on Outsight Radio Hours

''Parents Night at the Leper Colony'' review, I-94 Bar, December 2010

* ttp://motorcityrocks.com/2011/06/album-review-leisure-class-parents-night-leper-colony.htm ''Parents Night at the Leper Colony'' review, MotorCityRocks, June 20, 2011
''I'm Dangerous With Love'' page from the Internet Movie Database

Dimitri interviewed on ''Crimetown'' podcast, Episode 9, 2019.
Rock music groups from Michigan Musical groups from Detroit 1977 establishments in Michigan