Behind the Music

Episode Synopsis

Twisted Sister ruled the world of Heavy Metal Hair in 1984 and when the "Animal House" based parody video "We're Not Gonna Take It" hit the MTV airwaves, the make-up laden head-bangers were catapulted to superstardom. The album "Stay Hungry" sold nearly 4 million copies that year making an indelible impression on rebellious teens worldwide. However, eighteen months later Twisted Sister disappeared from view - dismissed by critics as a flash in the pan. What few people know is that Twisted Sister was nearly a decade in the making - they rose to the top by playing rock clubs in the New York City area almost every night and were a major hit in Europe before they broke in the U.S. In this episode of Behind The Music, Dee Snider and the rest of Twisted Sister speak candidly about their fall from grace: how the fight to label albums with explicit content left the band stigmatized with a reputation of being violent; how Dee became so dominating that he alienated the rest of the band; and how a video that was supposed to just be fun branded the band as nothing more than a bad cartoon. Dee also discusses how success and money doused the anger that gave him the passion to write those rebellious teen anthems.