Andy Shernoff (born April 19, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote nearly all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards, and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the R ...

's first studio album, ''

Don't Worry About Me ''Don't Worry About Me'' is the debut album released by Joey Ramone as a solo artist. It was released posthumously on February 19, 2002, by Sanctuary Records, less than a year after his death. The album was produced by Daniel Rey, who also did m ...

.'' He additionally co-wrote four

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United St ...

songs with Joey. Shernoff's current projects include garage rock band The Masterplan, featuring members of

The Fleshtones The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York, United States, formed in 1976. History 1976–1979 The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York, by Keith Streng (born September 18, 1955, New York City) an ...

and the Waxing Poetics. In the fall of 2009, he embarked upon a series of solo shows playing songs he wrote or co-wrote and telling the stories behind them. In the spring of 2010, those shows would become "When Giants Walked the Earth - A Musical Memoir" with 50 tour dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Shernoff sang "California Sun" in the official Major League Baseball promotional video for the 2010 All-Star Game. On March 24, 2012 Andy played the Reason Rally, the largest secular gathering in American history, on the National Mall in Washington DC. He released his first solo EP ''Don't Fade Away'' in October 2012. A follow-up EP, ''On The First Day Man Created God'', was released in February 2013.

Career

Shernoff grew up in New York City, in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights. He attended elementary school with

Johnny Thunders John Anthony Genzale (July 15, 1952 – April 23, 1991), known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played wit ...

and

Flushing High School Flushing High School is a four-year public high school in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education. As of the 2020-21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1, ...

with Peter Zaremba and Keith Streng of the Fleshtones. After high school, he attended the

SUNY New Paltz Music Department The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ac ...

. There he started the music magazine ''The Teenage Wasteland Gazette,'' known for its sarcastic, wise-guy attitude. The publication's contributors included famed rock critic

Lester Bangs Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs (December 14, 1948 – April 30, 1982) was an American music journalist, critic, author, and musician. He wrote for '' Creem'' and ''Rolling Stone'' magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock music ...

, who invited Andy to write for ''

Creem ''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is a monthly American music magazine, based in Detroit, whose main print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. Influential crit ...

'' magazine. Shernoff's early profession of choice was rock journalist. As both a journalist and a musician, Andy Shernoff is often credited as "Adny Shernoff," a deliberate typo transposing the second and third letters of his name. Shernoff has never explained the reasoning behind this stylistic quirk.

The Dictators

While at SUNY New Paltz, Shernoff met Ross Friedman, aka

Ross the Boss Ross Friedman (born January 3, 1954), also known as Ross the Boss, is a guitarist, known as a founding member of both the punk band the Dictators, and the heavy metal band Manowar. History Friedman was born in the Bronx, New York, and formed ...

and they started a band with

Scott Kempner Scott "Top Ten" Kempner (born February 6, 1954, Bronx, New York, US) is the American rhythm guitarist with The Dictators since they formed in 1974 (only leaving the band for a few years starting in 2002). He is also a founding member of The Del- ...

. (Later members included roadie turned singer

Handsome Dick Manitoba Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba (born Richard Blum; January 29, 1954) is an American punk rock singer and radio personality, best known as the original lead singer of New York City-based band The Dictators and the reunion singer of MC5. Bac ...

and several different drummers.) The band then linked up with

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...

's management/producers

Sandy Pearlman Samuel Clarke "Sandy" Pearlman (August 5, 1943 – July 26, 2016) was an American music producer, artist manager, music journalist and critic, professor, poet, songwriter, and record company executive. He was best known for founding, writing for, ...

and Murray Krugman to record the first Dictators album, '' The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!'' for Epic in 1975. Shernoff penned the vast majority of the songs, a pattern that would continue throughout the group's career. Lauded by ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' as a "wickedly funny, brilliantly played and hopelessly naïve masterpiece of self-indulgent smartass rock'n'roll," the album nonetheless failed to connect with the general public at the time and Epic dropped the band. Disillusioned, Shernoff left the Dictators for a short time and was replaced on bass by Mark "The Animal" Mendoza before returning to the band, on keyboards. The group was signed to

Asylum Records Asylum Records is an American record label, founded in 1971 by David Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts. It was taken over by Warner Communications (now the Warner Music Group) in 1972, and later merged with Elektra Records to become Elektra/Asylu ...

and released its second album, ''

Manifest Destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special virtues of the American people and th ...

'', in 1977. The album, also produced by Pearlman and Krugman, featured a more mainstream sound than ''The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!'' but once again the band failed to find an audience. Shernoff was back playing bass in 1978 after Mendoza left the band, and the Dictators recorded their third album with Pearlman and Krugman, '' Bloodbrothers''. Mainstream success continued to elude the band, and the members took a long break, reuniting occasionally for live concerts. Live recordings during this time were captured in the cassette-only ''Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke'' (

ROIR ROIR (pronounced "roar"), or Reachout International Records, is a New York City-based independent record label founded in 1979 by Neil Cooper. Background ROIR was founded the same year that the Sony Walkman launched, and initially, the label ex ...

, 1981), later released on CD as ''The Dictators Live, New York, New York'' (ROIR, 1998). In the late 1990s, the Dictators began recording a new album, which was eventually released in 2001 as ''D.F.F.D.'' The album was named on several critics' Top 10 lists for the year, including the Denver Post'' and the ''Boston Globe''. The band later released the live album ''Viva Dictators'' (2005) and the rarities compilation ''Every Day Is Saturday'' (2007).

Manitoba's Wild Kingdom

In the late 1980s, Shernoff formed Manitoba's Wild Kingdom with his Dictators bandmates Handsome Dick Manitoba and Ross the Boss. He wrote and produced the band's 1990 MCA Records debut, ''...And You?'' which received warm reviews, national radio airplay and regular airplay on MTV for the video "The Party Starts Now!!".

The Master Plan

Shernoff's side project with the Waxing Poetics' Paul Johnson and Fleshtones Keith Streng and Bill Milhizer, the Master Plan, released its first album, ''Colossus of Destiny,'' in 2003. The band's second album, entitled ''Maximum Respect,'' was released in November 2009 in Europe by Nicotine Records and released in the U.S. in May 2010 on Steel Cage Records.

Solo artist

As a solo artist, Andy has focused on creating videos for his YouTube channel. He has produced videos for "Are You Ready to Rapture", "Let's Get The Band Back Together", "F*ck Christmas" (an

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broad ...

song), "Laugh and Walk Away", "A Good Night to Say Goodbye" (a collaboration with

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

), a tribute to

called "Sweet Joey" and a song parody of Blondie's " Dreaming" entitled "Streaming". He has also released two 7" singles and two CD EP's (listed below).

Other bands

Shernoff has also been a member of the bands The Resistance with Joey Ramone, The David Roter Method with Albert and

Joe Bouchard Joseph J. Bouchard (; born November 9, 1948) is an American musician. He was the bassist and one of the lead singers of the hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult during their most successful period. He is the younger brother of original Blue Öyster ...

, Andy Shernoff's Maximum R&B and The Bel-Airs. He has appeared as a guest musician on albums by the

and the Fleshtones, as well as Joey Ramone's solo album.

Producer

As producer he has worked with The Dictators, The Master Plan, Manitoba's Wild Kingdom, The Figgs, Sin City Six, The Kowalskis, The Golden Horde, The Barracudas, The Untamed Youth,

D Generation D Generation (also known as DGen) are an American glam punk band formed in 1991 in New York City. They released three albums and several EPs, to much critical acclaim, before breaking up in 1999. In 2011 the band reunited for a series of show ...

, The Connection, Skrap, Adrenalin OD, The Electric Playboys,

The Smithereens The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (drum ...

, Prisonshake, Guided by Voices, The Waldos, The Connection, Daddy Long Legs, Amphetamine Discharge, The Bonzos, The Blue Chieftains, The Blood Drained Cows, Metadona, Alter Boys, Riff Raff, Stop, David Roter Method, Sibling Rivalry with Joey Ramone & Mickey Leigh, The Zantees with Billy Miller and

Miriam Linna Miriam Linna (born October 16, 1955 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian-American drummer who has run the Brooklyn-based independent record label Norton Records since 1986, originally with her husband, the late producer and singer-songwriter B ...

, Tongue Fu, Wheelers and Dealers, Sic F*cks with Tish and Snooky, and The Cyclones.

Songwriter

Andy wrote all the original songs for The Dictators and Manitoba's Wild Kingdom. His songs have also been recorded by

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United St ...

, Dee Dee Ramone, Joey Ramone,

Mary Weiss Mary Weiss (born December 28, 1948) is an American pop music vocalist, best known as the lead singer of the Shangri-Las in the 1960s. She then vanished from the music scene for decades, returning in 2007 to record her first solo album with Norto ...

Dion DiMucci Dion Francis DiMucci (born July 18, 1939), better known simply as Dion, is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. His music has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially as the lead singer of Dion and t ...

and The Little Kings, The Master Plan, Blue Coupe, Carolyne Mas,

Turbonegro Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style. History Early years ...

The Hellacopters The Hellacopters are a Swedish garage rock band that was formed in 1994 by Nicke Andersson (vocals and guitar), Andreas Tyrone "Dregen" Svensson (guitar), Kenny Håkansson (bass) and Robert Eriksson (drums). Andersson (sometimes known as Nick ...

, Drivin 'N' Cryin, Baptized By Fire with Jesse Blaze Snider,

The Del-Lords The Del-Lords are an American rock and roll band that formed in New York City, United States, in 1982,Cocks, Jay; L., ElizabethMusic: Where the Lifeline Is ''Time''. August 4, 1986. Retrieved November 9, 2010 founded by The Dictators' guitarist ...

Toilet Böys Toilet Böys are an American rock and roll band from New York City, United States. The band's original line-up is made up of Miss Guy, Sean Pierce, Electric Eddie, Rocket, and Adam Vomit. Toilet Böys have toured world-wide supporting musical ac ...

Young Fresh Fellows Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

, The A-Bones, The Nomads, The Untamed Youth, The Connection, The Dahlmanns,

The 69 Eyes The 69 Eyes are a Finnish rock band. It was founded in 1989 in Helsinki by vocalist Jyrki 69 (who also writes the band's lyrics), guitarists Bazie, Timo-Timo and bassist Archzie, joined in 1992 by drummer Jussi 69; the lineup never changed sin ...

, The Sponsors, The Golden Arms, The Pleasure Fuckers, The Fastbacks, The Vikings, The David Roter Method, The Streetwalkin Cheetahs,

Teengenerate Teengenerate were a Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending fro ...

, Texas Terri, Tom Clark, The Screaming Tribesman, The Smugglers, The Meatmen, Sex Museum, The Sons of Hercules,

Electric Frankenstein Electric Frankenstein is an American punk revival band from New Jersey, founded by Sal Canzonieri in 1990. The band relocated to North Carolina in 2021. Their style is a mixture of punk rock, hard rock, garage rock, glam, and heavy metal. It is ...

, The Prissteens, Park Central Squares, The Alter Boys, The Hudson Falcons, Metal Mike, Tesco Vee, The Mighty Ions, Sismicos, Lawn Vultures, The Statics, The Persuaders, The Scared Stiffs, Furious George, Powder Monkeys, Parasites, Wanda Chrome & The Leather Pharaohs, Los Vivos, The Phanthom Fliers, Labanak, The Wretched Ones, Government Cheese, Angel Corpus Christi, Rick Blaze & The Ball Busters, Asteroid B612, Fifi & The Mach III, Jeff Dahl, The Loved Ones and Shock Treatment. His songs have been in the following movies and television shows: ''

Kindergarten Cop ''Kindergarten Cop'' is a 1990 American action comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and distributed by Universal Pictures. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as John Kimble, a tough police detective working undercover as a kindergarten teacher to apprehe ...

,'' '' Boys Don't Cry,'' '' Billions,'' ''

Garage Days ''Garage Days'' is a 2002 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Alex Proyas and written by Proyas, Dave Warner and Michael Udesky. ''Garage Days'' is the story of a young Sydney garage band desperately trying to make it big in the competitiv ...

,'' Shot! the Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock, ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although the events of the film are not consid ...

,'' '' We Are Twisted Fuckin Sister,'' '' Ticket to Write: The Golden Age of Rock Music Journalism,'' ''

Knife Fight A knife fight is a violent physical confrontation between two or more combatants in which one or more participants is armed with a knife.MacYoung, Marc, ''Winning A Street Knife Fight'', (Digital format, 70 min.), Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, (J ...

,'' ''

Dance Me Outside ''Dance Me Outside'' is a 1994 Canadian drama film, directed by Bruce McDonald. It was based on a book by W.P. Kinsella.Rob Salem, "Dance Me Outside struts a lively two-step". ''Toronto Star'', March 10, 1995. The film premiered at the 1994 To ...

,'' ''

Mondo New York ''Mondo New York'' is a 1988 Mondo film directed by Harvey Nikolai Keith. The documentary film was inspired by the 1963 movie '' Mondo Cane''. Overview ''Mondo New York'' examines the lives and activities of Manhattan performance artists, and fe ...

,'' '' Lillyhammer,'' '' Final Rinse,'' The Sex O'Clock News, ''Convenience Store,'' ''Alone in the Dark'' and ''The Way of the West.'' His song "Faster and Louder" was used in the video game, '' Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare''.

Film appearances

* Shernoff is interviewed in the 2000 rockumentary DVD about the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

, ''

The Filth and the Fury ''The Filth and the Fury'' is a 2000 British rockumentary film directed by Julien Temple. It follows the story of punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols from their humble beginnings in London's Shepherd's Bush to their fall at the Winterland Ballr ...

,'' directed by

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including '' The Great Rock 'n' Rol ...

. * He performs in the movie ''TV Party,'' which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2005. * He appears in the movie ''Final Rinse'' as a member of The Dictators 1999. * He is interviewed in the Fleshtones documentary "Pardon Us For Living But The Graveyard Is Full" 2009 * He performs in the documentary about the Reason Rally, "March of Reason" 2012 * He appears in numerous photos from the Rock Critics Convention in the Big Star documentary, "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me" 2013 * He is interviewed in the movie "Looking For Johnny, The Legend of Johnny Thunders" 2014

Books

Shernoff is quoted in the following books: * ''From The Velvets to the Voidoids'' by Clinton Heylin (1993) * ''Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk'' by

Legs McNeil Roderick Edward "Legs" McNeil (born January 27, 1956, in Cheshire, Connecticut, United States) is an American music journalist. He is one of the three original founders of the seminal ''Punk'' magazine that gave the movement its name; as well as b ...

and Gillian McCain (1997) * ''Hey Ho Let's Go - the Story of The Ramones'' by Everett True (2002) * ''On the Road With the Ramones'' by Monte A. Melnick and Frank Meyer (2003) * ''The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's: A Secret History of Jewish Punk'' by Steven Beeber (2006) * ''Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band'' by

Joe Bonomo Joe Bonomo is an American essayist and music writer. Life Bonomo was born and raised in Wheaton, Maryland. He graduated from University of Maryland (BA) and Ohio University (MA and PhD). His books include ''No Place I Would Rather Be: Roger Ang ...

(2007) * "Andy Shernoff's Ten Rules for the Punk Rock Sommelier" appears in ''The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists,'' edited by Handsome Dick Manitoba and Amy Wallace (2007) – ''vide''

sommelier A sommelier ( or or ; ), or wine steward, is a trained and knowledgeable wine professional, normally working in fine restaurants, who specializes in all aspects of wine service as well as wine and food pairing. The role of the wine steward in fin ...

* ''I Slept With Joey Ramone'' by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil (2009) * ''All Hopped Up and Ready To Go'' by Tony Fletcher (2009) * ''American Fun" by John Beckman'' (2014)

Discography

The Dictators

Manitoba's Wild Kingdom

The Master Plan

Solo Artist

Guest musician

Songwriter (selected)

References

Other sources

The DFFD Blog, "The Dictators Finally Make the Big League" Fox promo video featuring "California Sun" (June 2010)

* ttp://thedictators.com/trouserpress.html ''Trouser Press'', "The Dictators Look for a Perfect Wave" Andy Shernoff and Scott Kempner interview by Ira Robbins (June 1978)
I-94 Bar, "Lou Reed is a Creep: Discourse with Two Dictators"

* ttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/09/1028158009174.html ''The Age'', "Rulers of Rock," Andy Shernoff interview by Steve Tauschke (August 2002)* allmusic, Andy Shernoff: Songs

External links

The Official Dictators Website

Andy Shernoff's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shernoff, Andy 1955 births Living people People from Queens, New York American music journalists Flushing High School alumni Jewish American musicians Musicians from New York (state) Protopunk musicians State University of New York at New Paltz alumni Jews in punk rock Journalists from New York City The Dictators members 21st-century American Jews American atheists