Come on, Dee

[ack1961]

"Stranded" instantly brings me back to my childhood. We used to listen to those albums and stare at the covers for hours on end.
There was something wildly exciting about their approach to that song - the tempo/pitch changes and the overall feel made me want to play an instrument - any instrument.
I played tennis-racket back then and was damn good at it.

[nofi]

these days johansen seems to be  working his way through the alan lomax/harry smith song books. i have seen these reunion concets on tv and they don't even come close to the "real" dolls. too bad.

[Dave W]

The story has been clarified a bit. The cease-and-desist letter came from J.J. French and his attorney. Dee Snider was apparently criticized on Twitter, he says he has nothing to do with it, it's management. There are five other companies in the US and one in Serbia who have gotten letters. And the food truck owners plan to fight it.

Food Truck To Twisted Sister: 'We're Not Gonna Take It'

[ack1961]

The story has been clarified a bit. The cease-and-desist letter came from J.J. French and his attorney. Dee Snider was apparently criticized on Twitter, he says he has nothing to do with it, it's management. There are five other companies in the US and one in Serbia who have gotten letters. And the food truck owners plan to fight it.

Food Truck To Twisted Sister: 'We're Not Gonna Take It'

Dee Snider also said he had nothing to do with their lousy music...

[lowend1]

I spent a fair amount of evenings watching TS as a (mostly) cover band back in the late 70s and early 80s. They were always entertaining, even if it was largely about Dee singling out some mirror star from a less successful band standing in the back of the club with his arms folded, trying to be too cool for the room - and berating them until they either participated or left. They were loud, boisterous and literally demanded that you join the party. There were bands that were better-looking, more polished, superior musicians or whatever, but I don't think I ever saw one that worked as hard. Bottom line is that TS was around at the right time with the right gimmick to catch the brass ring, if even for a short period.
Yeah, the venues were tough. Parking lots in most of the bigger clubs were ripe for violent confrontations - and you didn't have to be actually involved to suffer damage. I've seen car windshields smashed, knives pulled, and in one case an ear bitten off by a guy who had just been hit in the head with a bat THREE times. Only one of those incidents came at a Twisted Sister show.

[Dave W]

Dee Snider also said he had nothing to do with their lousy music...

[uwe]

That comment about them working the audience very hard is apt, they indeed did.

But the music sometimes even let Kiss appear artsy and The Dictators (from where Mark "Animal" Mendoza came) like the second coming of The Beatles.

Snider has done better music with Bernie Tormé in the Widowmaker (not the seventies band)/Desperado project, but seems to have resigned to his fate of having to front TS forever.