# Twisted Sister **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844 "2011-04-27T01:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/21 "2011-04-27T23:47:26Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That kid is clearly caught up in some sort of kooky time travel hi-jinks. He’s probably actually Adam Sandler or, posisbly, Vince Vaughn. That would explain a significant amount of his behavior in that class, now that you mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/22 "2011-04-27T23:58:57Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > I still contend that “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is one of the greatest pop songs of all time. It crystallizes teen rebellion perfectly. > > Joe Funny - this song came on over the weekend, and I was listening to it like I never listened to it in High School and I was struck by what a wonderful little bit of pop it really was. The progressions, the production, everything is very cleverly done. It’s rebellion calculated by an almost mathematical precision. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/23 "2011-04-28T00:12:43Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m not a big fan of Twisted Sister, but let me point out a few things, in their defense: > > Twisted Sister was around for a LONG time, a LOT longer than MTV fans ever knew. And they realy paid their dues. When I was a kid in New York in the early/mid-Seventies, Twisted Sister was playing every dive in the Tri-State area. I used to hear ads for their gigs on the radio constantly. They really WANTED to break through and become hugely successful, and they worked their butts off to do it. But they could never get any radio airplay even in their hometown. I never saw them live in those days, but I’m told they would curse and insult the local New York City rock deejays mercilessly onstage. > > They were sort of like April Wine in that they were “the next big thing” in hard rock for what seemed like forever. Say this for them: they made a living without having any big hits, and that’s HARD to do. > > When they finally got a few videos on MTV and experienced a bit of commercial success, I think their attitude was “It’s about freaking TIME!” They’d watched other bands from their circle become successful for years, and it galled them. Well I knew they spent years and years on the club circuit before “Stay Hungry” became popular. And it is cool to hear that Dee is pretty humble. Still, I look at bands who achieved a similar level of popularity like Quiet Riot, and I don’t see Kevin Dubrow all over VH1 and every 80’s music retrospective program on television. As much as I despise Metallica, I have to admit they were one of the most influential bands of their day. Twisted Sister had some solid anthem type tunes and funny videos and they definitely deserved their moment in the sun but I don’t think too many people would choose them to represent the 80’s. [QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] Don’t you fucking DARE make fun of Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda! :mad: [/QUOTE] I’m not making fun of him, really! Just wondering why everyone else wears dresses and makeup and he…doesn’t. :dubious: He’s just got those 2 cheek stripes. I think I remember reading that he had native american ancestry or something? But the fact is everyone else in the band looks like a really ugly transvestite and he just looks kind of like Eddie Van Halen with war paint. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/24 "2011-04-28T00:40:43Z")
Saw Twisted Sister in the Hamptons (Long Island, NY) in the summer of 1974. They played outside at some seedy bar on a Sunday afternoon. Never heard of them before that and since they weren’t my type of entertainment never followed them. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/25 "2011-04-28T01:07:52Z")
Saw Twisted Sister many times in small clubs because my friends liked them. Not my favorite type of music, but they knew what they were doing and fulfilled all the requirements of the genre. My recollection is that Kiss only had one hit record and people still go crazy for them today. Same audience, young boys who favor loud androgynous men. Would have been Liberace fans in an earlier day. I expected Dee and Frank to put up a fight before Congress and wasn’t impressed by their appearances. I had great respect for John Denver’s testimony although I’ve never like his music. There should have been more mainstream performers there. And I’ll say this, the PMRC is the reason that Al Gore didn’t get my vote. The thought that he let that happen or worse, agreed with it. That’s not who I want running the country. His opponent was a fool too, but I digress. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/26 "2011-04-28T01:08:27Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > Well I knew they spent years and years on the club circuit before “Stay Hungry” became popular. And it is cool to hear that Dee is pretty humble. Still, I look at bands who achieved a similar level of popularity like Quiet Riot, and I don’t see Kevin Dubrow all over VH1 and every 80’s music retrospective program on television. Kevin Dubrow died several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/27 "2011-04-28T01:24:46Z")
I love me some Twisted Sister. Stay Hungry is one of my favorite albums, top 5 and has been for years. I’ve seen both Twisted Sister and Dee perform a few times and they’ve always put on a good show. While you may not like them I can say that back in 98 or 99 Dee and his band drove the normally four hours from Jersey to Frederick Maryland to perform, in a nasty ice storm. It was some dive and a lot of the tickets were free. He still put on a hell of a show and said the weather wasn’t going to stop him from being there. I really respected that. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/28 "2011-04-28T03:45:56Z")
I do like Dee Snider as a person. I enjoy his interviews. He seems like a down to earth, smart guy and good family man, but I saw Twisted Sister open up for Iron Maiden back in the 80’s and I have to say they were the worst band I ever saw live. They played their two hits, which was ok, but then talked to the audience ALOT. They were trying to rile up the crowd, saying stuff like, “Are ya ready to rock??!!”, but didn’t actually play anymore songs. The crowd grew impatient, bored and booed them until they left the stage. I almost felt sorry for them, except I paid hard earned money to see a concert, not a pep rally. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/29 "2011-04-28T04:56:54Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That kid is clearly caught up in some sort of kooky time travel hi-jinks. He’s probably actually Adam Sandler or, posisbly, Vince Vaughn. I think that it’s clearly Dee Snider himself. One of his descendants had obviously perfected time travel in the future, went back to Snider’s childhood days, gave young Dee the technology, and young Dee decided to come to 2009 to see if people would still remember him. Then his descendant sold the technology to [Skynet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(Terminator)). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/30 "2011-04-28T05:30:50Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Kevin Dubrow died several years ago. That never stopped Keith Richards. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/31 "2011-04-28T06:39:03Z")
Nobody _TOLD_ Keith Richards that he’s been dead for the last 30 years, though. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/32 "2011-04-28T14:46:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > **Dolores** remembers the right part about [why Dee Snider is a rock god](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pvmyNnepTk). He carried our flag into battle and he kicked their asses. **ALL** their asses. I assume that is a clip of his prepared statement before the PMRC, where he was very articulate and really pushed past all the chirping and silliness Tipper & Friends were engaged in. He is a hero and thoughtful guy for that. But I would put him on a level with Sir Bob Geldof - a guy who acted on principle and stood for good things, but their music is more of a side note. And in the case of Twisted Sister - they are a meh band at best. Their shtick was too shticky and their look was more than a little silly and the songs were plodding shout-alongs. But more power to 'em regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/33 "2011-04-28T17:10:23Z")
I saw Twisted Sister around 1980 opening for Jefferson Starship without Marty Balin or Grace Slick. Kind of mediocre although “We’re Not Gonna Take it” is a great song. Also one of the members Mark “The Animal” Mendoza once asked to be introduced to one of my brothers because he had the highest score on a video game at a club where TS played. He said Mendoza was a pleasant guy. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/34 "2011-04-28T17:33:20Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > the songs were plodding shout-alongs. > . Sometimes you just want to headbang and have fun, why do people insist that everything has to have deep inner meaning? /me goes off to bop to Girls just want to have fun … ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/35 "2011-04-28T18:08:38Z")
Reminds me of a memory from my high school days … one halloween in the '80s, a friend and I dressed up as “evil priests” and, to make the costume complete, we “borrowed” some soaked-in-formadehyde rats from the bio lab and tied them upside-down to crucifixes. We then paraded up and down in our finery (basically, raggy robes and crucified rats) on Yonge St. in Toronto. Well, we met on the street a HUGE guy dressed exactly like the lead singer of Twisted Sister (very popular at the time). He looked sort of like a pro wrestler in drag … he asked us “what you got there, boys?” and I said “crucified rat, soaked in formaldehyde”. He said “cool”, reached out, and took it from me - then took a huge bite out of it, and handed it back. I can’t imagine it did him any good. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/36 "2011-04-28T18:12:13Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Sometimes you just want to headbang and have fun, why do people insist that everything has to have deep inner meaning? > > /me goes off to bop to Girls just want to have fun … Oh - to be clear: I loves me some Big Dumb Rock. The more rawk-ing and meaningless, the better, when that is what was called for. I would just argue that bands like AC/DC do it better… ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844/37 "2011-04-29T01:44:28Z")
Amen, dude. I like the anthemic-type songs out there in the HM library (from many different bands), but Twisted Sister, AC/DC, KISS… There are so many of these bands that put an anthem song on their new release to balance out all the “hits”. Oh, and a power ballad. It became a formula. (That’s how I understand it.) I think Dee knew they were doing a schtick, but they did work pretty hard. I liked the music they played, cheesy or not. They do a wonderfully funny version of _The Twelve Days of Christmas_ as well. It is pretty funny. When I graduated HS, \*We’re Not Going To Take It \*came in 2nd when the student body voted that year on our choice of class song. I also think it was one of rock’s proudest moments when Dee testified at the Hearings. I made my mom watch that because she assumed (as many do) that all rockers are just jobless burnouts. He was quite articulate. (I believe I stole this quote off these boards recently, but don’t remember where: “Fast forward 25 years- I’m still married to my first wife and none of my kids have ever been arrested. Can Al and Tipper Gore say that?” - Dee Snider) Did anybody bother to watch **Growing Up Twisted,** his short lived reality show at his Long Island home. I liked it, but I’m pretty sure it got cancelled. All in all, amongst all the talk around the biz, I hear the entire band are a bunch of good guys. No serious drug problems or arrests. Just a bunch of guys who wanna rock. There’s my two cents. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twisted-sister/579844.md?page=1)