European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Of twisted sister All decked out in group photo guitarists Jay Jay French left and Eddie fingers Ojeda Lead Singer Dee Snider drummer a. J. Pero and bassist Mark the animal Mendoza. The quintet is one of America s toughest Nastiest and most outrageous heavy Metal acts. By Anita Gosch staff writer it was t Long ago four years to be exact that a Raunchy looking quintet called twisted sister was beating Down the portals of America record companies in Pursuit of the Ever elusive record contract. The group s Femini Nely grotesque costumes and Garish makeup and Lead Singer Dee Snider s rapid fire succession of four letter words backed by Bone crunching heavy Metal just did t Appeal to the makers and Breakers of the Rock n Roll dream. But twisted sister Hung on eking out a living on the new York new Jersey club circuit and earning a reputation As the toughest Nastiest and most outrageous act of the heavy Metal wave. Twisted sister is like a bad car Accident Snider said in an interview in 1983. You go by you Don t want to look but you have since then Rock fans across America have done More than just look. The group s third album stay hungry turned Platinum Selling in excess of three million copies and their headlining Tours sold out concert Halls from coast to coast. Twisted sister emerged As one of the More successful bands of the heavy Metal Boom and Snider burst Forth As Rock s newest one Man phenomenon. His name became a household word and his screaming a ? ,.""i 4 Jutt i became known to parents As the face of All that us wrong with heavy Metal. They think i m some tort of evil these people working in the government Are no better than i am no smarter than i am and in Many cases not As smart and not As Sroi Otford s8.s by to tester 1984 3 a the states i became accepted. I Don t want to be totally accepted. I want people to always feel a Little face a nightmarish vision to parents across the nation last september when he was called upon to join Singer Frank Zappa in a Senate hearing Over Rock Lyric censorship. Last week Snider swept through Frankfurt prior to the band s current european tour their first headlining tour this Side of the Atlantic and talked about the hearing about the band s new album come out and play and about their stage show still As outrageous As Ever. Question on come out and play several Well known non heavy Metal artists appear As guests like Billy Joel and Clarence demons. Why did you choose to work with them Dee Snider i be had this commitment to try and expand the Bounds of heavy Metal expand people s acceptance of heavy Metal and get them to see that like with any other music there s Good Metal and bad Metal. When i came up with the idea of the song be Crool to your Scull i wanted to make it a real 50s extravaganza Complete with horns backing vocalists and piano. I said maybe if i enlist the efforts of Well known non Metal artists it will make people say wow you mean there is a common ground where All music meets heavy Metal is looked at As if it s a separate musical entity from Rock n Roll. People should be aware that heavy Metal is part of Rock n Roll. Alice Cooper appears As guest vocalist. How did that come about be Crool to your Scull was written for Alice and me to do. I had thought of the title and said boy if i Ever meet Alice Cooper that would be a song for us to one Day he had his manager get in touch with my manager to Tell him that he really liked me and wanted to meet me. We became friends and i told him about my idea. He said Man i love it. You write it and i la sing that was thrilling. But the real thrilling part was we did a video for the song and Alice appears in it in his makeup. Meeting and singing with him in his Normal face was great but it was t until he put on that makeup that i said this is Alice Cooper Tell us about your appearance at the Senate hearing. It was weird. At first i was honestly a Little nervous. You re brought up with the idea of government being greater than we Are they All sit up at their desks and they re High above us. But when i got there i discovered that these people working in the government Are no better than i am no smarter than i am and in Many cases not As smart and not As Good. Then it was one on one me against Albert Gore me against Rockefeller me against All these senators and i was Loving it. I said this is Beautiful this is an away game for a Dir bag. I was totally out of my Home court but Here i was really kicking ass. I proved everything they accused me of was wrong and i made " some valid Points. When i finished my speech the audience burst into applause because 1 said what needed to be said on a very Basic level. I did t get crazy which Zappa did i did t get Heady did t get cosmic just kept it Plain and simple it was censorship and it was wrong. In an excerpt of the testimony published in Harper s Magazine it sounded As if senator Gore had a condescending attitude toward you. It was t condescending actually. Senator Gore was angry. I made his wife look like a fool and he was taking it personally which is Why one cannot have senators wives on these committees. A husband can t help but be defensive about his wife. But i attacked her legitimately. I accused her of having dirty things on her mind when she thought that under the Blade which i wrote about guitarist Eddie Ojeda s Throat operation was about bondage and rape. Then 1 lectured senator Gore at one Point. I suggested that parents spend the time and listen to the music. Realistically speaking if a kid is Lucky we re talking about the Purchase of an album a week. That s 35 minutes of music. Senator Gore said did t i think it was unreasonable to expect parents to spend 35 minutes a week listening to a record. At that Point i Felt like standing up and throwing my hands up. Because this is the problem senator Gore is not alone parents today Don t want to spend time with their kids. Were you surprised to find John Denver on your Side anybody who bad Mouths John Denver again i la kick the. Out of them. The Man was amazing. He came in or. American pie Rosy Cheeks and the senators were just falling Over themselves applauding his work for hunger and world peace. And Denver said gentlemen we can absolutely not have any form of censorship and this is he told them that he d been affected by this when Rocky Mountain High was banned As a drug song. You became the spokesman for heavy Metal during the hearing. Is that How you see yourself i was t self appointed they called and asked me to come speak. I think they wanted me because i m the most visibly recognizable artist not the most popular but to the average american Dee Snider of twisted sister is known. I think they also thought they could make a fool out of me. They did t know i could speak English fluently. But i think it backfired on me. I became known to parents As the face of All that is wrong with heavy Metal. They think i m some sort of evil monster. Some people paid close attention and said hey this Guy s pretty smart and he made made a lot of Points but the majority of people whenever they talk about rating records it s my face with All the makeup the screaming face. How do you feel about the outcome of the whole Issue we won the Battle but we re losing the War. We beat them that Day they backed off. But the effect they had with All the publicity they got is that they scared the. Out of parents. Parents think there s some sort of wild orgy going on at Rock concerts. Record sales Are Down for everybody. It s like the retraction of a front Page article when it says so and so did so and so. When they find out it was a mistake on Page 13, lower right hand Corner it says retraction by the Way so and so did t do but what do people remember they remember the accusation. My Point is the press played up the first part they did t play up what the end result was that this whole thing was overblown. Look at the stores. How Many rated albums do you see there Are none. It did t happen. But the scare is there. What s your private life been like since you be become a celebrity apparently you be had to move because your fans were bothering you at Home yeah. The kids were out in the Street chanting and looking in the windows. I got worried about my wife and kid. I really do love it All but once in a while you have to get away. You can t walk around being a Star All the time. You be got to come Home and have a Friend Call you an. And treat you like just one of the Guys. I spend a lot of time with my wife and kid and i m very close to my Brothers. They grew up with me so they Don t treat me like i m a Star. Even some of my friends treat me differently. They Don t talk to me the same anymore. I get the feeling they Don t want to say anything bad to me anymore. What s your stage show like this tour we re pretty Basic. We stay away from All the explosions and smoke because we feel it s overdone and Boring. The Only special effects we really have is the band. We re very physical and people can expect to party. We try to provide an escape from the reality of Day to Day living for a while and a Way to let off some steam. All right so Why did you have your front Teeth filed i did it because basically i like shaking people up. And i was t shaking people up anymore in most countries. Here in Germany i m a Weirdo again. People look at me and Giggle because i m not that famous Here. In the states i became accepted. I Don t want to be totally accepted. I want people to always feel a Little uneasy. Twisted sister Tours Germany april 9-16 and the . April 20-23. Check stripes Magazine for exact dates. Page 14 the stars and stripes Friday March 28, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 15
