Twisted Sister

Formed in 1976, this New York quintet's original purpose was to provide the antidote to the disco music that was saturating the airwaves during the mid-70s. Featuring Dee Snider (vocals), Eddie Ojeda (guitar), Mark ‘The Animal’ Mendoza (bass; ex-Dictators), Jay Jay French (guitar) and Tony Petri (drums) they had a bizarre image that borrowed ideas from Kiss, Alice Cooper and the New York Dolls. Musically they combined sexually provocative lyrics and dumb choruses with heavy-duty, metallic rock 'n roll. A.J. Pero (ex-Cities) took over on drums before the recording of their debut, UNDER THE BLADE. This was picked up from the independent Secret label by Atlantic Records, following a successful UK appearance at the Reading Festival and a controversial performance on The Tube television show in 1982. They never lived up to their initial promise, with successive albums simply regurgitating earlier ideas. Their greatest success was STAY HUNGRY, which cracked the Top 20 album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It also included the hit single, I Am, I'm Me, which peaked at number 18 in the UK. Their audience had become bored with them by the time COME OUT AND PLAY was released and the tour to support it was also a flop. Pero quit and returned to his former outfit, Cities; Joey ‘Seven’ Franco (ex-Good Rats) was drafted in as replacement. Snider steered the band in a more melodic direction on LOVE IS FOR SUCKERS. The album was still-born, Atlantic terminated their contract, and the band imploded in 1987. Snider went on to form Desperado, with ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme (subsequently evolving, more permanently, into Widowmaker). Looking back on his days dressing up with his old band, Snider would conclude: ‘All that flash and shit wears thin. There's gotta be something beyond it. And there wasn't with Twisted Sister’.