In 1984 I was 10 years old, and during the winter of that year, I saw the video for a song called "I Wanna Rock" and it appealed to me for reasons MANY things did at that age- it was funny and tough and was the perfect introduction to what is now a long time favorite- Twisted Sister.
The video opens in a classroom with the teacher chastising an overweight kid with a mullet, I identified with this heavily, as I, too, was an overweight kid with a mullet who just wanted to rock. I started talking about how funny I thought that video was (and the We're Not Gonna Take It video from around the same time) and somehow my parents picked up on it, because that Christmas, the cassette of Stay Hungry by Twisted Siter was in my stocking. I entered 1985 feeling like I was part of a cabal of misfits and I listened to that tape nonstop for practically an entire year. My love for Dee and the crew was further emboldened by their appearance in the 1985 comedy Pee Wee's Big Adventure Every song on the record is a banger and the recording is perfect, speaking of which, THE ALBUM is perfect, and slowly in the year following I went back and got the albums prior, which I love to this day. Their late 1985 follow up Come Out and Play had a couple of songs I liked, but it didn't have the power of Stay Hungry or the stuff before it and by then I was exploring other avenues in the world of metal anyway. That being said, I never stopped listening to Stay Hungry, even buying a Twisted Sister shirt and sweatshirt in 1995 from a dying mall.
In 2004 I was 30 years old, and during the summer that year, Twisted Sister was announced to be playing for free in Niagara Square for the "Buffalo Bike Rally" on August 21st of that year. I remember a bunch of us went (and my ex-wife trying to fight my old Hot Topic manager, a girl she did NOT like) and the band DELIVERED on all levels to the crowd of about 20,000 packed into the square. They played flawlessly and with more energy than a band 1/2 their age (They are my fucking parents age for Christ's sake). This was during their initial reunion era, invigorated and set to kill.
This was the only time I was Twisted Sister a band I've loved for 42 years and the setlist was flawless.
Here's every song I've seen them play:
Under the Blade:
What you Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)
Under The Blade
Shoot ‘Em Down
You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll:
The Kids Are Back
Ride to Live, live to Ride
You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll
Stay Hungry :
Stay Hungry
The Beast
We're Not Gonna Take It
The Price
Burn in Hell
I Wanna Rock
S.M.F.
Come Out and Play:
The Fire Still Burns
Yes, I know I only saw them once (it was really my only opportunity) but I cannot express just HOW great they were. For reference, here is a video of the show exactly a week before
