Founded by Jay Jay French in 1972, it wasn’t until the 1976 incarnation of Twisted Sister – featuring guitarist Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda, bassist Kenneth Harrison Neil, drummer Kevin John, and vocalist Dee Snider – that the band started making waves in the industry. Following a series of record-breaking live shows, in May 1978 Twisted Sister recorded a prodigious amount of new material, which wouldn’t surface until “Club Daze” in 1999. Sensing the death of glam rock and with the arrival of ex-Dictators bass player Mark Mendoza, the band cemented their hard rock and heavy metal appeal in this period.
In 1980 Twisted Sister released their debut single “I’ll Never Grow Up Now” on their own Twisted Sister Records. The same year the subsequent single “Bad Boy of Rock’n’Roll” appeared after which the band signed with the independent label Secret Records. Following the release of their debut EP “Ruff Cuts”, the band headed to England to work on their debut full length. “Under the Blade” arrived in 1982 earning a devoted, underground following despite the inexperience and mediocrity of producer Pete Way. Twisted Sister’s subsequent release, the polished “You Can’t Stop Rock ’n’ Roll” was issued in 1983, the lead and title track of which became the band’s first charting single.
Infused with pop sensibilities and pockets of commercial appeal, the band’s third full-length “Stay Hungry” took the charts by storm in 1984. Album sales rocketed to multi-platinum certification aided by the knock-out hits “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”, and led Snider et al. to become household names in the U.S. However, the gimmicky, tongue-in-cheek nature of the record led the label, radio, and MTV to over-represent Twisted Sister in the media and the band struggled to retain their original audience. 1985’s “Come Out and Play” marked this disparity between their roots in hard rock and more recent pop appeal.
By this point audience numbers at shows began to dwindle and rumours were rife indicating a strife between Snider and French. Twisted Sister marched on until sales for their fifth full-length “Love Is for Suckers” proved particularly uninspiring and members went their separate ways. Snider appeared in the late ‘90s as a cross-appeal radio DJ, and also contributed to film production, notably his writing and starring in the 1998 horror film “Strangeland”.
The classic “Stay Hungry” Twisted Sister lineup returned in November 2001 alongside Anthrax, Overkill, Sebastian Bach, and Ace Frehley at a tribute to service men and women following the September 11, 2011 attacks. Popularity for the band grew exponentially in this time and the band embarked on a huge worldwide tour. In March 2004 the band re-recorded their “Stay Hungry” album entitled “Still Hungry” complete with seven bonus tracks, followed by the Christmas album “A Twisted Christmas” in October 2006.
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