Twisted Sister Biography
Formed in 1973, this New York, USA-based hard rock band's original purpose was to provide the antidote to the disco music that was saturating the airwaves during the mid-70s. Twisted Sister evolved from a band called Silverstar, but the line-up did not start to take shape until 1976 when founding members Jay Jay French (John Segall, 20 July 1952, USA; guitar) and Kenny Neill (bass) were joined by Dee Snider (b. David Daniel Snider, 15 March 1955, Massapequa, Long Island, New York, USA; vocals), Eddie Ojeda (b. 5 August 1955, USA; guitar/vocals) and Tony Petri (drums). Mark "The Animal" Mendoza (b. Mark Glickman, 13 July 1955, Long Island, New York, USA; bass, ex-Dictators) replaced Neill in 1978 to complete the first stable line-up.
Twisted Sister built up 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 (b. Anthony Jude Pero, 14 October 1959, Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA; ex-Cities) took over on drums before the recording of their 1982 debut album, 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. Twisted Sister never lived up to their initial promise, with successive albums simply regurgitating earlier ideas. Their greatest success was 1984's Stay Hungry, which cracked the Top 20 album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It also included the hit singles "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock". Their audience had become bored with them by the time Come Out And Play was released in 1985 and the tour to support it was 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 Tormé (subsequently evolving, more permanently, into Widowmaker), before finding belated success as a heavy metal DJ. Twisted Sister briefly reunited to record a new song for the 1998 movie Strangeland, which was written by and starred Snider. 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". Nevertheless, he continues to play with the band on an occasional basis, re-recording Stay Hungry in 2004 and releasing A Twisted Christmas two years later.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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