Milan

Barely Appreciated

MILAN

 
Milan  (also known as The Leather Boy) (born December 15, 1941 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia; died March 14, 1971 in New York City) was an enigmatic producer, songwriter and recording artist on numerous songs made throughout the 1960’s, mostly though not exclusively in the garage rock genre.  He released an LP and numerous singles for seven different national record labels and other independent labels (a total of more than 30 songs) under a variety of names.  Additionally, as the producer, arranger and/or songwriter, Milan oversaw many other releases by a variety of artists ranging from the pop singer Lou Christie, to the bubblegum pop band Ice Cream, to the psychedelic rock band the Head Shop.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The second and third paragraphs in the post on Dead Hippie come from an article which I wrote on Milan that is set to appear (in abridged form) in the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of Ugly Things magazine. 
 
(July 2012)
 
 *       *       *

There are even books that have been published and sold on hundreds of topics that consist entirely of Wikipedia articles.  My Wikipedia article on Milan the Leather Boy that I mentioned last month appears in one such book, on psychedelic rock artists; I have no idea whether it has sold more than 2 or 3 copies – I certainly haven’t purchased one. 
 
(August 2012)
 
*       *       *
 
One fascinating view of the whole story is the history of the British Invasion as told from a musician/fan’s perspective – Cyril Jordan, a founding member of the Flamin’ Groovies (whose roots go all the way back to 1965) – which is the cover story of the current issue of Ugly Things magazine that also includes my own article on Milan the Leather Boy.  
 
(January 2013)
 
*       *       *
 

What really made an impression after awhile, however, is that more than a few of these bands were completely unknown even to the people who put the Pebbles albums together.  

 

It didn’t always stay that way of course.  We have yours truly to thank for getting the word out about the mysterious rock artist Milan, also known as Milan Radenkovich, also known as Rick Rodell, also known as the Leather Boy, also known as Milan (the Leather Boy); copies of Ugly Things #34 with my article about Milan are still available! 

 

(July 2013)

 

*       *       *

 

One day, I was listening to a delightful psychedelic rock album by a band called the Head Shop and wondered what Wikipedia might have to say about it.  I had found a copy of the album a long time ago (probably at the semi-annual Record Convention in Hillsborough, NC) and was ecstatic when I saw the name of Milan as the producer of the record.  There was nothing in Wikipedia about the band, so after a few days, I started writing an article about the Head Shop.  Though there have been some additions and changes over the years, that Wikipedia article is still largely my work:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Head_Shop .  (I feel no need to restate what I have already written on Wikipedia, since those articles are more readily accessible on the Internet than these Facebook posts). 

 

*       *       *

 

 

 

A while later, I started scouring the Internet for information about Milan himself, and as I have written previously, that Wikipedia article became the genesis for the more complete article that I wrote about Milan for Ugly Things magazine.  I still haven’t updated the Wikipedia article on Milan with the information that was in the Ugly Things article, but I’m sure that I will get around to it one day.  That article can be found here:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_the_Leather_Boy .  

 

For whatever reason, the article on GONN took much longer to put together than most of the others.  I had also just had an extended fight with the powers that be at Wikipedia over whether Milan was “notable” enough to warrant an article. 

 

(September 2013)
 
*       *       *
 
Crystal Mansion had one more shot with a third self-titled album in 1979, Crystal Mansion (also called Tickets) that was released on 20th Century Fox Records, the same label that released Milan’s only LP in 1964, I Am What I Am.
 
(August 2015)
* * *
Mike Stax founded Ugly Things magazine in 1982 when he was just 21 years old in order to cover, as he put it, “Wild Sounds from Past Dimensions”. Whereas “fanzines” tended to be thin mimeographed or cheaply printed affairs, Ugly Things is published more or less annually as a slick package with high production values that looks a lot more like a book than a magazine. As an example, Ugly Things #34 that includes my article on Milan has 184 pages. 
* * *
The same “unbeknownst” thing happened with Milan the Leather Boy. After I wrote up my Wikipedia article on him, I was contacted by his sister Dara Rodell Gould, who along with her husband Ricky Gould had been trying to interest people in Milan’s music for years. They had no idea that Milan had attained a cult status in the garage-rock community, or probably that there was even such a thing as the garage-rock community. 
(June 2017)
*       *       *
 

My proudest achievement is my tribute to legendary underground rock musician Mick Farren, which appeared in March 2014.  I garnered a lot of praise that my friend Suzy Shaw of Bomp! Records forwarded to me – from past UARA and fellow bandmember in the Deviants, Andy Colquhoun (who posted a link on the band’s Facebook page), from Mike Stax of Ugly Things Magazine (who published my article on Milan year before last), and from Suzy Shaw herself. 

 

*       *       *

 

All of this started I suppose when I began noticing that I was over-writing a lot of my appraisal reports, so I tried to find a more satisfying outlet for my writing.  I joined Wikipedia in August 2006 and almost immediately started my first article there, on a 1960’s psychedelic rock band called the Head Shop.  Milan had been involved in their album as a producer and a musician, and I started trying to get to the bottom of who Milan was.  After meeting his sister Dara Gould on line, I not only had enough for Wikipedia, but it eventually shaped up into the article that got published in Ugly Things

 

*       *       *
 

With Milan though, I ran into one of the Wikipedia rules:  notability.  I fought hard for several months against other Wikipedians who threatened to delete the article that I had put so much into.  I had thought that a musician was automatically “notable” if they had an album released on a major record label, but actually the rule was two albums.  Eventually I was able to get over the hurdle by demonstrating that Milan had recorded more than 30 songs.  

But the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.  By now I had developed into something of a music historian; and as far as I am concerned, every great musician’s story deserves to be told, notable or not notable. 

 

(Year 5 Review)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021