What do you think the odds are that these guys were KISS fans before they started their own band? The music scene in the 80’s used to be a spectacle. It was larger than life. It was music and performance art. Nirvana ruined this be being the poster child for the grunge movement. Up to then, acts like Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, and the like were just as interesting visually. With the rise of Nirvana, all that showmanship and spectacle was now ridiculed and all you got from a live show was a couple dozen Par Cans and 5 guys in their dirty laundry. We’ll get into this again when the 90’s come around.
With all that being said, I did feel that maybe Twisted Sister went in perhaps a smidge too deep. Stay Hungry became an early staple in The Metal Years but they were also one of the first to drop by the wayside. They were perfect for MTV and if I had been 8 or 10 years younger I might have been a bigger fan of Twisted Sister.
The songs on this album had the fast beat and distorted guitars with whammy bars. Dee Snider’s voice was perfect for the screaming delivery. Songs like We’re Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock were probably where a lot of 14 year olds made their way into their own Metal Years.
I don’t wish to demean Twisted Sister in any way. Listening to this album right now, I still like it. It takes me back in a pleasant way. I just can’t shake the feeling that they belong on Nickelodeon. I know they weren’t going for that, it just seems that way.
A few years later, I saw Dee Snider addressing the government in that whole Tipper Gore PMRC thing. I remember wishing that he had gotten some coaching from Frank Zappa before he went on. Snider was wearing denim, flipping the hair and letting it show that they were getting to him. By contrast, Zappa was in a suit, well manicured, stoic and elequent. In the public eye, I felt that Dee Snider was giving ammunition to the PMRC by reinforcing the stereotypes that were being presented.
Stay Hungry
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Burn In Hell – I remember seeing them do this song in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.
I Wanna Rock
The Price