In the long, sad history of Rock censorship, few days can compare with September 19th, 1985. That’s when Dee Snider, frontman for Twisted Sister, a group singled out by the Parents Music Resource Committee (PMRC) as being particularly vile (are you kidding?), testified before a Senate committee to defend his group, Rock in general, and by extension, the First Amendment. Oddly, he was addressed formally by the committee counsel as “Mr. Sister.”
The twisted Twisted Sister saga begins in New York with guitarist Jay Jay French. Back in ’73 he was known as Johnny Heartbreaker, a man who auditioned for Wicked Lester, a forerunner of KISS – but failed to make the cut.
Twisted Sister members came and went with only marginal success until Snider joined in ’76. The group’s local releases and shows built a notable following. Finally, in ’81, the group’s line-up solidified – Snider, French, Eddie Ojeda (guitar), Mark “The Animal” Mendoza (bass) and A.J. Pero (drums).
Twisted Sister’s full-length album debut “Under The Blade” dropped in ’82. The following year, the band moved to Atlantic Records and issued “You Can’t Stop Rock N’ Roll.” The track “I Am (I’m Me) managed to crack the UK Top 20.
The set’s initial success encouraged Atlantic to promote the group more heavily. Those efforts included making a comical video of the title track. MTV bit and the dye was cast.
Their next effort, “Stay Hungry,” was the long-anticipated breakthrough. The ’84 release had more commercial polish than previous efforts and sold a couple million copies thanks to tongue-in-cheek videos for “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (an anthem if ever there was one) and “I Wanna Rock.”
Their next effort, “Stay Hungry,” was the long-anticipated breakthrough. The ’84 release had more commercial polish than previous efforts and sold a couple million copies thanks to tongue-in-cheek videos for “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (an anthem if ever there was one) and “I Wanna Rock.”
MTV played the videos into the ground. Meanwhile, Twisted Sister went on tour opening for Metallica. They even did a cameo in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure filming a fictional video for “Burn In Hell.”
Well, success and their rebellious nature (if largely comic) earned them the wrath of the publicity seeking PMRC and other conservative groups. But that was nothing compared with what came next.
“Come Out And Play” hit in ’85. The video for the lead track, “Be Chrool To Your Scuel,” was banned by MTV on the grounds it was offensive; hard to believe considering the other videos airing in those days.
The album went gold (500,000 copies) but no further.
Subsequently, Pero bailed and Snider became involved in a series of solo projects but only one was released, “Love Is For Suckers,” and that was passed off as a Twisted Sister album. It died a well-deserved death.
Later in the year, Snider left and it only became a matter of time before Twisted Sister was completely finished. Of course, the band was revived and toured.
Sadly, ’15 saw the passing of Pero who was with the band during their ’82 – ’86 ‘glory days’ as well as subsequent editions. He died on 3/20 of an apparent heart attack at age 55.
Drummer Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Adrenaline Mob) signed on to perform with Twisted Sister for the remainder of the year.
Seven years later, Twisted Sister‘s classic lineup was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame (1/26/23).
The sixth annual charity gala induction ceremony was hosted by guitar virtuoso Steve Vai and Portnoy. They shared stories of how Twisted Sister influenced them.
