Twisted Sister

Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band that implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands. Although the band was formed by guitarist Jay Jay French in December 1972, all of their songs were written by Dee Snider from 1976 onward.

Twisted Sister's most well-known hits include "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both popularized in the USA by regular airplay on MTV in the 1980s. Many of the band's songs explore themes of parent vs. child conflicts and criticisms of the educational system.

The band's original line-up was lead singer Micheal Valentine, guitarist Billy Diamond, drummer Mell Star, bass play Kenneth Harrisn Neill and Johnny Heartbreaker (Jay Jay French). The band followed a glam rock direction, influenced by David Bowie, Slade, Mott the Hoople, Rolling Stones, and New York Dolls. It played at local clubs but floundered in relative anonymity.

In February 1976, at the suggestion of the band's agent urged Jay Jay to hire Danny Snider (Dee Snider). At this point, the band's popularity began to soar as the band, especially Dee and Jay Jay started to talk (rap) to the audience about current topics of the day between songs. These raps started to take on a life of their own and pretty soon the band could get away with playing one song per set and talk the rest of the time.

Having audience participation in the "Sweet Jane Gong Show" and the "Death to Disco" stage routines became legendary. The band would start its own T Shirt company and record label. They released two singles which eventually made it over to the UK.

In June 1982, the group released its first EP, Ruff Cuts, on the Secret Records label. This was followed shortly by their first studio album, Under the Blade,. Despite rather low production quality, the album was an underground hit in the UK, providing the band with sufficient name recognition to open for such metal acts as Motörhead. The album had an overall raw metal sound and included "Tear It Loose", a very fast speed-metal song featuring a guitar solo by "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead. Another single, the future hit "We're Not Gonna Take It", was planned for release, but Secret Records went out of business before Snider was able to complete the lyrics. "We're Not Gonna Take It" later became one of its top singles.

Around this time, Twisted Sister updated its feminized image with a more grotesque look that distinguished them from other glam metal bands of the era. The group was now regarded more as a weird-looking heavy metal band because its look and music, although still reminiscent of pop/glam styles, were growing closer to heavy metal's leather and chains image. After an appearance on the music TV program The Tube, Atlantic Records approached the band and signed them.

Their first LP under Atlantic, You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll, was released in 1983 and included the UK #19 hit "I Am (I'm Me)". A music video was made for the title track of You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll, which was to become the first of a series of comedic videos that popularized the band.

Twisted Sister released their third LP, Stay Hungry, in May 1984 which included heavy songs such as the title track and "Burn in Hell". During a successful tour, a young Metallica supported the band. Stay Hungry sold more than two million copies by the summer of 1985, and went on to sell more than three million in subsequent years. It remains the band's biggest success.

Videos of hit singles "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" ran almost constantly on MTV. Their pervasive slapstick comedy proved a change of pace for the genre and gave the band a distinctive appeal. The acclaimed surreal comedy film Pee-wee's Big Adventure took this further with the band having an appearance making a fictional video for "Burn In Hell" on the Warner Bros. backlot only to be interrupted by Pee-wee Herman passing through.

Despite being comedic in nature, the videos featured violence against parents and teachers, which placed the band under heavy criticism by conservative organizations. They were singled out by the PMRC in 1985. Twisted Sister songs "Under the Blade" and "We're Not Gonna Take It" were specifically mentioned in the associated Senate hearings. Snider was one of the few musicians to testify before a Senate committee in these hearings on September 19, 1985. In May that year Ojeda took part, on behalf of the band, in the recordings for the Hear 'n Aid project, "Stars", although the single was not released until the following year.

In November 1985, the band released its fourth studio album, Come Out and Play. It was not nearly as successful as its predecessor, although it did earn the band a gold album for sales of 500,000 copies. Some speculate that the failure was partly due to MTV banning the video for "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" on the grounds that it was graphically offensive. The song featured such guests as Alice Cooper, Brian Setzer, Clarence Clemons and Billy Joel. The tour supporting the album was a near fiasco, with low attendance and many cancelled dates. Not even Atlantic's re-release of a remixed Under the Blade helped the band recover its popularity. Come Out and Play was one of the first CDs to go out of print.

In 1986, Snider embarked on a solo project. He recorded an album with Franco programming the drum machine and featuring several session musicians as Love Is for Suckers. Commercially, the album was a complete failure and many of their metal fans were disappointed with the pop sound. In October 1987, almost two months after the release of Love Is For Suckers, Snider left the band, the record label cancelled its contract, and Twisted Sister disbanded. The public announcement of the band's demise came in January 1988.

After the band's break-up, former members were involved in different projects: Snider formed Desperado, Widowmaker, and SMFs. He also wrote and starred in the movie Strangeland. Ojeda went on to join Scarecrow and then formed Prisoners of War. French stopped performing except for some guest appearances. He formed French Management and produced the alternative metal band Sevendust's first self-titled album.

In 1999, Spitfire Records re-issued the group's back catalog, supplemented with previously unreleased tracks. This was followed by Club Daze Volume 1: The Studio Sessions, an album containing demo recordings from the pre-Under the Blade era and Club Daze Volume 2: Live In The Bars, a live counterpart.

In 2001, Koch Records released a tribute album under the name Twisted Forever: A Tribute To The Legendary Twisted Sister. The album featured a wide range of artists and bands who had been influenced by Twisted Sister, including Lit, Motörhead, Chuck D, Anthrax, Overkill, Cradle of Filth, Joan Jett, Sebastian Bach, and HammerFall.

In November 2001, the reunited Twisted Sister joined fellow New York metal artists Anthrax, Overkill, Sebastian Bach, and Ace Frehley to headline a benefit concert for NYPD and FDNY Widows and Orphans Fund in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. New York Steel raised over $100,000 for the charity, and the reaction to the first Twisted Sister set in 14 years was overwhelming. The demand for more live dates was immediate, and the band took the first steps toward returning to the concert stage.

In 2002, a remastered "best of" compilation named Essentials was released. Fans generally consider this to be a better compilation than the one previously issued by Atlantic.

In March 2004, they entered the studio to completely re-record their Stay Hungry album for Demolition Records. They reported that they were not happy with the original album's production, so this time they produced it themselves. The re-recording was released under the name Still Hungry and contained seven bonus tracks.

In October 2006, the band released a CD of heavy metal Christmas music called A Twisted Christmas which was a commercial success. Twisted Sister was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

The group is still together and occasionally makes small tours around the world, in full makeup. Before each of these mini-tours, it performs as Bent Brother, practising its set and appearing without makeup. In 2011, the band announced a five-disk DVD set of live performences over their entire career entitled From The Bars To The Stars

Music Videos

 * Be Chrool to Your Scuel
 * I Wanna Rock
 * We're Not Gonna Take It