Adventures in the scream trade
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Dee Snider looks back on 25 years of Twisted Sister mayhem and his battles with Tipper Gore over censorship of
Dee Snider is a rock 'n' roll animal who 25 years ago recorded the album Stay Hungry and took glam metal to the Alice Cooper extreme. After selling millions of records, facing off against Tipper Gore about censorship and living through the '80s clean, sober and married to the same gal, Snider is now a horror film director and a radio host. We asked him to take us on a journey back to 1984.
Q: Twenty-five years after the release of Stay Hungry, how does the record hold up?
A: I go through a lot of changes in what I think. When I first saw the album cover I was like, 'Yeaaaah, bad-ass! That's metal! A year later and I'm like, 'I look a bit like a clown.'
Q: And today?
A: It captured a moment. It's really representative of what was going on and where I was at and where metal in general was at the time. There was a new wave of metal happening around then.
Q: Stay Hungry is interesting because you have anthems, I Wanna Rock and We're Not Gonna Take It, then a ballad and some vaguely satanic songs in the middle of the album. Did you set out to make heavy metal stew?
A: That's just more reflective of what bands did back then. We came out in the '70s when a band like Zeppelin or Aerosmith or Queen could have lots of different styles on an album. Zeppelin could do a metaly song like Immigrant Song and on the same album have a banjo and folk song like Braun-Y-Aur-Stomp. Queen did Bohemian Rhapsody and My Best Friend on the same record. We just grew from there.
Q: Do you think bands today switch up their styles enough?
A: Albums today are just solidly one sound with rare exceptions. Take Alice in Chains. I love Alice in Chains, but by the sixth track I want to start shooting heroin. Same goes for Slipknot, but bands get defined by a record. Look what happened to Extreme. That was a great metal band, good, proficient players, but they do one acoustic song and it's the end of their career. They're known for tender love ballads.
Q: You guys have played a bunch of hair metal reunion festivals. What's that experience been like?
A: I kind of hide. I never had a problem with anybody, but I was always an outcast. I don't do drugs or drink, never did, and even back then I was married and had kids. They looked at me as an alien and I was like, "You don't see your future, but it ain't attractive." At 54, everything is a surprise. I had no idea I'd be in makeup and costumes bounding around onstage in front of an audience that's a third my age.
Q: What was it like playing I Wanna Rock live in 1984?
A: You see reaction of the audience at the speed of sound, it's like a wave has taken over them. It's physically amazing and you see it the minute you go, "I Wanna Rock!" as sound travels and the ears start hearing it, the smiles come over the faces. Faces just light up from the front to the back at the speed of sound. It's an amazing feeling, but it's a drug and once that stops, once people stop caring, I stopped writing. When you're young it's, "Dude, I don't care if nobody shows up, I just want to write songs."
Q: You were also outspoken about the censorship laws and had a very public battle with Tipper Gore. What do you remember about appearing before a Senate committee?
A: When I think of Tipper Gore I laugh because I was right and everything I feared came to be. Stickers are used to keep product out of stores and keep the public from having access to certain records. When you buy Metallica at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, you're not getting Metallica, you're getting an edited version of Metallica edited to the liking of a store.
Q: Lots of bands were appearing in court around that time.
A: Judas Priest was in court and Ozzy was under fire, but I was in court with Frank Zappa and John Denver and testified on behalf of music. It's 25 years since those Senate hearings and someone should do a retrospective and look where everyone's life is now. Look at the lives of those politicians. My kids are healthy, clean and sober, and I've been with same woman for 32 years. I know Al Gore's son was busted for possession. Everyone who was crucifying me, I'd just like to compare track records .
Q: It's like good vs. evil in reverse.
A: The scourge of society versus the good folks, right? Let's see who was better -- I know I win.
Dee Snider is a rock 'n' roll animal who 25 years ago recorded the album Stay Hungry and took glam metal to the Alice Cooper extreme. After selling millions of records, facing off against Tipper Gore about censorship and living through the '80s clean, sober and married to the same gal, Snider is now a horror film director and a radio host. We asked him to take us on a journey back to 1984.
Q: Twenty-five years after the release of Stay Hungry, how does the record hold up?
A: I go through a lot of changes in what I think. When I first saw the album cover I was like, 'Yeaaaah, bad-ass! That's metal! A year later and I'm like, 'I look a bit like a clown.'
Q: And today?
A: It captured a moment. It's really representative of what was going on and where I was at and where metal in general was at the time. There was a new wave of metal happening around then.
Q: Stay Hungry is interesting because you have anthems, I Wanna Rock and We're Not Gonna Take It, then a ballad and some vaguely satanic songs in the middle of the album. Did you set out to make heavy metal stew?
A: That's just more reflective of what bands did back then. We came out in the '70s when a band like Zeppelin or Aerosmith or Queen could have lots of different styles on an album. Zeppelin could do a metaly song like Immigrant Song and on the same album have a banjo and folk song like Braun-Y-Aur-Stomp. Queen did Bohemian Rhapsody and My Best Friend on the same record. We just grew from there.
Q: Do you think bands today switch up their styles enough?
A: Albums today are just solidly one sound with rare exceptions. Take Alice in Chains. I love Alice in Chains, but by the sixth track I want to start shooting heroin. Same goes for Slipknot, but bands get defined by a record. Look what happened to Extreme. That was a great metal band, good, proficient players, but they do one acoustic song and it's the end of their career. They're known for tender love ballads.
Q: You guys have played a bunch of hair metal reunion festivals. What's that experience been like?
A: I kind of hide. I never had a problem with anybody, but I was always an outcast. I don't do drugs or drink, never did, and even back then I was married and had kids. They looked at me as an alien and I was like, "You don't see your future, but it ain't attractive." At 54, everything is a surprise. I had no idea I'd be in makeup and costumes bounding around onstage in front of an audience that's a third my age.
Q: What was it like playing I Wanna Rock live in 1984?
A: You see reaction of the audience at the speed of sound, it's like a wave has taken over them. It's physically amazing and you see it the minute you go, "I Wanna Rock!" as sound travels and the ears start hearing it, the smiles come over the faces. Faces just light up from the front to the back at the speed of sound. It's an amazing feeling, but it's a drug and once that stops, once people stop caring, I stopped writing. When you're young it's, "Dude, I don't care if nobody shows up, I just want to write songs."
Q: You were also outspoken about the censorship laws and had a very public battle with Tipper Gore. What do you remember about appearing before a Senate committee?
A: When I think of Tipper Gore I laugh because I was right and everything I feared came to be. Stickers are used to keep product out of stores and keep the public from having access to certain records. When you buy Metallica at Best Buy or Wal-Mart, you're not getting Metallica, you're getting an edited version of Metallica edited to the liking of a store.
Q: Lots of bands were appearing in court around that time.
A: Judas Priest was in court and Ozzy was under fire, but I was in court with Frank Zappa and John Denver and testified on behalf of music. It's 25 years since those Senate hearings and someone should do a retrospective and look where everyone's life is now. Look at the lives of those politicians. My kids are healthy, clean and sober, and I've been with same woman for 32 years. I know Al Gore's son was busted for possession. Everyone who was crucifying me, I'd just like to compare track records .
Q: It's like good vs. evil in reverse.
A: The scourge of society versus the good folks, right? Let's see who was better -- I know I win.
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