A new Twisted Sister compilation celebrates their loudest hits as they celebrate their fourth decade together with one last tour.
Most know Twisted Sister--the Long Island-based quintet famously comprised of vocalist Dee Snider, guitarists Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda and Jay Jay French, bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza and drummer A.J. Pero--for their catchy riffs and over-the-top fashion sense (notably Snider's wild blonde mane and made-up face). This is, of course, what earned them constant rotation on MTV with teen-riot hits like "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock."
But, as recently outlined in the documentary We Are Twisted Fucking Sister!, the band was a hardworking fixture of their local club scene for nearly a decade before reaching mainstream acceptance with 1984's Stay Hungry. The band's larger than life presence (topped by Snider's raucous onstage "raps" addressing their fans) truly set them apart from the others. And what we saw in those classic videos--including Mark Metcalf, channeling his villainous "Niedermayer" persona from Animal House before getting hilariously owned by the members of the band--was a shiny extension of what they cultivated in the clubs.
Twisted Sister's rise and fall from the pop scene was brief; after the triple-platinum Stay Hungry, the group was mired in controversy after their music was targeted by Tipper Gore and the Parents' Music Resource Council in Washington, D.C. (Snider famously testified on behalf of the music industry, one of an interesting crew of artists that included Frank Zappa and John Denver!) The band dissolved by the end of the 1980s and the rise of the glam metal genre they helped influence, but the group reunited after a late '90s reissue and revival of their catalogue, re-recording Stay Hungry for its 20th anniversary (as Still Hungry) and a 2006 holiday album.
The Best of The Atlantic Years, a 19-track compilation containing their best '80s tracks (plus an unreleased cover of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild,") accompanies their "Forty and Fuck It" Tour, one last major touring trek with Snider, Ojeda, French, Mendoza and former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy (replacing A.J. Pero, who died of a heart attack in 2015).
This hard-hitting comp is in stores August 26!
Twisted Sister, The Best of The Atlantic Years (Atlantic/Rhino, 2016) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- What You Don't Know (Sure Can Hurt You)
- I'll Never Grow Up, Now!
- Sin After Sin
- You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll
- I Am (I'm Me)
- The Kids Are Back
- I Wanna Rock
- We're Not Gonna Take It
- The Price
- S.M.F.
- The Beast
- Burn in Hell
- Come Out and Play
- Leader of the Pack
- The Fire Still Burns
- You Want What We Got
- Hot Love
- Love is for Suckers
- Born to Be Wild
Tracks 1 and 3 from Under the Blade (Secret, 1982 - remixed and reissued Atlantic, 1985)
Track 2 from Twisted Sister single TS-1001, 1979 - remixed and released on Under the Blade
Tracks 4-6 from You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll (Atlantic, 1983)
Tracks 7-12 from Stay Hungry (Atlantic, 1984)
Tracks 13-16 from Come Out and Play (Atlantic, 1985)
Tracks 17-18 from Love is for Suckers (Atlantic, 1987)
Track 19 previously unreleased
Galley says
This looks great! Their previous compilation was awful!
AC says
I think the release date is the 26th, not the 28th. And, yes, this looks pretty good!
Galley says
This was remastered by Andy Pearce. I haven't done any comparisons, but the waveforms look good.