971. Twisted Sister / Stay Hungry. 1984. 5/5

As one of the longest overnight sensations in the music industry, Twisted Sister had fought tooth and nail to get themselves a recording contract and then a distribution that would allow them to get their music out to the world. While their eventual debut album had finally found the light of day, it was the follow up, “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” that really showed the kind of music the band could produce, and the talent that they band contained. Though they were still struggling to have an impact in their home country of the US, their success in the UK and Europe gave them the encouragement to find that next step.
The subsequent recording of the album became somewhat of a battleground. The band had brought in producer Tom Werman to head the album, on the basis of his success with bands such as Blue Oyster Cult and Motley Crue. During the writing and recording process, Werman apparently brought to the studio four songs by the band Saxon, and was pushing them on the band. This led to conflict with lead singer and songwriter Dee Snider, who took this as Werner wanting to replace one or several of his songs with Saxon cover songs. In an article by Jason Fisher on The Gauntlet website in 2009, guitarist Jay Jay French said, "We lost two songs on the album because of all this. We lost "Blastin' Fast and Loud" and "Never Say Never" as concessions to Tom so that he'd stop bugging us to do covers of Saxon songs. He wanted us to do 4 or 5 Saxon covers. Tom would deny he ever said that but he did. Dee was insulted as he was a song writer. That created problems and no one got along." In response in the same article, Werner was quoted saying. "I did bring them three or four songs from Saxon" stated Tom, "not wanting them to cover them, but just suggesting to them they listen to these songs because I loved them. That is my job. I didn't tell them that they were going to record them. Did they end up recording any, no. If I had the authority to pick songs as Dee has said I did, why didn't I force it on them?"

The title track “Stay Hungry” is, in my opinion, one of the greatest opening tracks on an album of all time. It grabs you from the start, the pounding drums and rhythm line, with Dee immediately grabbing you with his recruiting call, announcing the lines of the song in a demand that you sing along with gusto. It’s a fantastic song, an anthem in every sense of the word, and for me is still the outstanding song of Twisted Sister’s career. Whenever I made a mixed tape, or now whenever I make a playlist, this song is almost always a part of it. This is followed by the song that got everyone in, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, that still evokes a chorus of singing whenever it gets played, especially in my house. I loved the video and song when it was released, and my kids still love it today, forty years later, so it shows how entertaining it is generationally. From here we move in to “Burn in Hell”, where the star of the show is the chorus, with the chanting between the main lines in the background taking centre stage, such as ‘HEAR no evil, don’t you SEE no evil, don’t you LAY no evil down on ME!” Still great after all these years.
The two parter song that makes up “Horror-Teria (The Beginning)” is terrific for completely different reasons. “Captain Howdy” is the slow, almost chanting track that reeks of doom, the forbidden and gleeful trappings of Captain Howdy himself, which then morphs into the faster paced and harder rock of “Street Justice”, for the vigilantes to take justice into their own hands. You will probably either love or hate this dual barrelled song. I think it’s great and follows up the hard core start to the album perfectly.
The second side of the album opens up with the second single, the hard core “I Wanna Rock”, which gets the adrenaline running to the right levels once again, another great anthem to sing along to. And while the following track “The Price” can be considered to be a power ballad, it has the right amount of grunt and emotion in it, perfectly sung by Dee, that it doesn’t feel like it is intruding upon the party. I enjoy the sing-along aspects of “Don’t Bring Me Down” as well, all played at a good pace and filled with the right paraphrases. “The Beast” slows itself down in much the same way as “Captain Howdy” does, which just possibly comes at the wrong time of the album for such a change in momentum. It’s a small thing, but by the time we reach this section of the road I am looking for a continuation of the speed, rather than what is effectively just putting the brakes on instead. This is rectified by the closing track “S.M.F.” which charges at you and is then finished abruptly, concluding what is still a terrific forty minutes of hard rock.
Perhaps this album is rooted in the 1980’s, but that is not to say it has overly dated. In fact, I really think for what is effectively a glam metal album it is as fresh now as it was when it was released. Let the kids laugh at the video clips, then expose them to songs such as “Stay Hungry”, “Burn in Hell”, and “S.M.F.” and I reckon you’ll have them hooked. If you are one of the doubters, or one of the haters, then that is fine. Everyone’s musical tastes and desires are flavoured differently. But much like Quiet Riot’s “Metal Health” album, which had a similar success to this album the previous year, is thrown into the same basket in the modern age, of an album that is pigeonholed in the times and is unrelatable in the modern age, "Stay Hungry” is far more than that.

Every single person who grew up in my generation of the 1980’s, those that spent those middle years in high school and witness the birth of MTV as a phenomenon along with the other music video shows, were exposed to the wonderful film clips for those two hard rock anthems, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister. Some of the in-jokes of the videos may have passed over the head of those that didn’t also see the movie “National Lampoon’s Animal House”, but they were memorable all the same. Many of those people will have gone out and bought the album on the strength of those videos, and those that did will not doubt discover, just as I did, that there was much more to the band and the album “Stay Hungry” than just the outfits and humour that are the initial perspective.
As per the usual path, this album came to me by way of my heavy metal music dealer, courtesy of a cassette that also had Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” on the other side. A fun way to spend 90 minutes. And while those two singles had drawn me in to wanting the album, and were generally the only two songs everyone else at school knew, it was the rest of the album that I enjoyed much more. “Burn in Hell” and “Horror Terria”, especially the fast pace and fist pumping second section “Street Justice” were favorites for me, along with “Don’t Let Me Down” and “S.M.F”. But, as already outlined, the title track to me was the piece de resistance.
I can still put this on at any time and enjoy it still. I’ve had it going over recent days and sung along with every song. And it is one of those albums that reminds of those days when it was released, for me my middle years in high school, and things my friends and I used to do. I listen to “The Price”, and I’m transported back to athletics carnivals and school camps and the such, all where this song was played at the time and now acts as that time machine.
For Twisted Sister, this album was the high water mark of their career. After all the hard work they had put in to get to this point, it seemed to fall away very quickly on the other side of the peak. That story will no doubt come up down the track on another episode. But for now, let’s bathe in the glory that is the best that the band had to offer.

969. Twisted Sister / Under the Blade. 1982. 3.5/5

I was never really sure what all the commotion was about when, after the success of Twisted Sister’s third album Stay Hungry, there was a rush to re-release and go back in time with this, the debut album Under the Blade. Having said that, I had probably not heard this myself at the time, and was much more enamoured with You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll and felt it deserved a better audience. Still, in revisiting this album now, some 35 years after its release, there was probably more to it than I thought then.

While the sound is probably dated in this day and age, the basics of the band, and for the most parts of the album the songs themselves, are all in order and still make all of the right moves. The raw energy of songs such as “Tear it Loose”, whose song current flows along like a torrent while mixing in the duelling solos with Dee’s fighting vocals.
The opening track, “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You), starts off strangely and stagnantly, before finally getting into gear about halfway through and delivering a much more emphatic ending to the song. I laugh a little bit when Dee sings “We’re the Bad Boys (Of Rock ‘N’ Roll)”, because, well…it doesn’t SOUND bad! It sounds tame given the punk era that has just passed and the thrash metal era that is growing around them in 1982. But, it’s a catchy tune and vocal gathering which of course makes it fun, if not dangerous.
“Run For Your Life” drags its feet a little, slowing the tempo right down to almost nothing before busting out to a more enjoyable style – reminiscent of another song a couple of albums down the track. This jumps straight into “Sin After Sin”, which faithfully reproduces a similar riff progression and vocally melody line, which easily flows into “Shoot ‘Em Down”, another straight up hard rock anthem led by Dee’s vocals, which do seem somewhat strangely a tad in the background of the mix.
“Destroyer” goes back into the box of the slow moving hard riff sludging chant fest, the kind of song that needs to be a good one or else it can induce boredom. For me here it is more the boredom inducing variety. “Under the Blade” and “Tear it Loose” both redeem this, moving along at a gloriously fun pace, with “Teat it Loose” in particular giving the teenager in all of us some fun lyrics to sing along to.
“Day of the Rocker” is the final track on the album, and is one where it feels as though the wrong move was made. Following all of the energy and hard work put into earlier tracks, to decide on this as the song to finish on, a plodding AC/DC inspired soundtrack without the drive and desire of that bands’ music, makes this an unfortunate finale to what is a pretty enjoyable album.

As I probably made clear earlier, better albums were to come after this. As a starting point it is more than worthy of your attention, because it shows what a lot of hard work in cracking the market can produce. The fact that they found their niche in the 1980’s is not surprising and this starting point has all of the characteristics you will recognise.

Rating:   “I’m gonna live my dream, shout and scream!”  3.5/5

722. Twisted Sister / You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll. 1983. 4/5

Twisted Sister’s amazing career prior to the long awaited release of the debut album “Under the Blade” is a story already outlined on the episode reviewing that album in Season 3 of this podcast, and is worth revisiting if you are not fully aware of the band’s history. The impact of that album, mostly in the UK, brought about the band signing up with Atlantic Records, and the amazingly quick turnaround – just eight months in fact – for their second album to be released following that debut album.
The signing of the band to Atlantic Records on the surface appeared as though it would give them the ability to make headway in their home country of the US, and though there was a better distribution deal for their sophomore effort than their debut, it was still a hard road for the band to make the break away from being a New York band and spreading the word across the states. The album could only reach 130 on the US charts, while again in the UK they were seen to be a much better prospect, eventually rising to 14 on the UK charts.
“You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” saw the band begin to move in the direction that saw their success, with short sharp anthems that could be sung and chanted, along with great guitar licks and solos led by the indomitable vocals of Dee Snider. Looking back in retrospect, it appears to be the perfect album for the times, and the direction that hair metal music in particular was heading.

The anthemic qualities of the album are immediately obvious with "The Kids Are Back", and "Like a Knife in the Back". Both are short and sharp, with a thumping drum beat from AJ Pero driving you to pump your fist in the air singing the choruses. Great stuff. “The Kids Are back” in particular in written and performed like a youth anthem in the same way Alice Cooper did a decade earlier. In fact, every song on this album is almost purpose-written to be played live, sung loud, and banged along with. And that is a pertinent point about this album, that it feels as though it is a live album, without the crowd noise. "Ride to Live, Live to Ride" fits this category perfectly, and is followed by the equally excellent "I Am (I'm Me)", which was the first single from the album.
"We're Gonna Make It" is another brilliant anthem, designed to turn up loud with your air guitar and sing at the top of your voice. It is still beyond comprehension that this song was not released as one of the singles from the album. Indeed, Dee Snider had been writing it for release not long after their debut album had been released, but their previous record company had gone bust before it could be completed. It’s a terrific song, with great guitars from both Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda leading the way. “I’ve Had Enough” continues in this vein, with Mark Mendoza’s bass and AJ’s hard hitting drums driving the beat of the song. "I'll Take You Alive" brings in a faster tempo to pick things up again. “You’re Not Alone” is the one song here that drags out a little, that for me doesn’t quite fit the template that had been set by the rest of the album, before the closing title track completes and complements the album perfectly.
There's nothing terribly extravagant or difficult about the songs on “You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll”. They follow the tried-and-trusted formula of simple drum beat, equally kicked-in bass line, Eddie Ojeda's wonderful lead licks and Dee Snider's proudly up front vocals, encouraging the teenager within to sing along with him. But it works! And this is how Twisted Sister had built themselves up to be over their decade in the business, playing the clubs of New York. The energy of the band from the live shows probably isn’t transferred to vinyl here, but you can understand exactly how it would translate once the shows began.

Like most people, my real initiation into Twisted Sister came with their follow up album “Stay Hungry”, and the worldwide phenomenon that it became. But once I got a copy of this album, I often wondered how this didn’t get more exposure, how it didn’t get more love, and how it didn’t have the same kind of dominance that that album eventually had. Because the ingredients are all here. The anthemic tracks which are the youth anthems are all great, especially as they are short and punchy, and the tracks that surround them are also fun. Hindsight shows that this album was the forerunner to their next album, and was indeed the set up for what came next.
40 years on, and “You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll” is still an underrated and to be honest forgotten and unknown album that deserves a lot more respect than it has received in the past. It had some pretty hot competition when it was released in 1982, as regular listeners to this podcast would be well aware of. But it is well worth your time to go back and find this album, and give it a spin from start to finish, because it still packs a punch. 

179. Twisted Sister / Come Out And Play. 1985. 3/5.

Given that it was always going to be a pretty tough ask to follow up an album like Stay Hungry, this is something that needed a little bit more.

To the band's credit, they have tried to mix it up here, and not follow the same formula that brought them the success on their previouos album. This is good – but it could have used a bit more of the inspiration that came from that release.
One thing that always puzzled me was the cover version of the 1960's song Leader Of The Pack. OK, they do it well, but does it have a place here? And why bother really?

My favourites from the album include Come Out And Play, Out On The Streets, Looking Out For #1 and Kill Or Be Killed.

Rating : Half of the album is a worthy follow up, the other half missed the boat. 3/5.

174. Twisted Sister / Club Daze. 1999. 2.5/5.

This actually comprises two albums, both of which are compiled from tapes of the very early days of the band, between 1978 and 1981. The first disc are studio recorded songs, the second disc has been culled from live performances during the period.

Taking that into consideration, it doesn't really work for me. Granted, the live CD is an improvement, and listening to the band performing is a joy. But overall, the songs don't do anything for me. It is before they hit it “big”, before their initial studio release, and it does show a little.

Rating : A little disappointing, though I'm sure lots of fans will love it. 2.5/5.

125. Twisted Sister / Big Hits And Nasty Cuts : The Best Of Twisted Sister. 1992. 4/5.

Twisted Sister are still considered in many circles as a one-hit wonder. Indeed, ask many pundits what they think of Twisted Sister's back catalogue, and they will swear blind that they released only one album.

As good as Stay Hungry was, and is, this album gives the novice TS fan a broader range of their hits, and would no doubt open a few eyes.
There is some great stuff on here. In fact, the mix of studio and live tracks gives the listener a terrific overview of the band in both scenarios.
In many ways, it is a shame that they didn't make more of their initial fame. But here for everyone is a chance to relive the best that was the freak of Twisted Sister.

Rating : Worthy of a listen or two. 4/5.