This next album has been dear to
my heart for over thirty years. The fact that Tipper Gore doesn’t like this
band makes it even better. If you’d like to see lead singer Dee Snider and her
go at it head to head, here it is. Spoiler alert: Dee wins.
Disc 945 is….Stay Hungry
Artist: Twisted
Sister
Year of Release: 1984
What’s up with the Cover? Frontman Dee Snider crouches in
the corner of a house (that is apparently undergoing renovations). Dee has a
large bone and judging by the look on his face, he is not interested in sharing.
It’s all yours, Dee. I’ll happily stay hungry.
How I Came To Know It: I grew up with this album. It
came out when I was 14 and I bought it (on record) and played the living hell
out of it. I only recently bought it on CD, getting inspired after hearing “Burn in Hell” on a radio show in my
buddy Spence’s car on a trip to Seattle.
How It Stacks Up: Twisted Sister has seven studio albums but
I’ve only got this one, so I can’t stack it up.
Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4
1984 was
the height of eighties metal, and “Stay Hungry” is one of the quintessential
albms of the time. If you were a teenage metal head in the eighties, chances
are you owned this record or knew someone who did.
This is
also one of those records (like Kiss’ “Destroyer”) where I have a hard time
being objective about. I’ve owned it too long and heard it too many times to
properly separate my critical voice from my fan voice. Maybe that’s for the
better.
With
disclaimers aside, “Stay Hungry” is a solid metal album and a fine example of
its genre. Power chords, songs of rebellion and a dynamic frontman that walks
the line between theatrical performance and street protest leader.
Of
course, I’m talking about Dee Snider, that crazy guy seen on the cover above.
Only Snider is far from crazy, he is a smart marketer of his brand and (more
importantly) a natural and charismatic lead vocalist. Snider’s style is
theatrical and he sings each song with the full commitment to the role, whether
he is raging (“We’re Not Gonna Take It”,
“I Wanna Rock”, sad (“The Price”) or just plain creepy (“Captain Howdy”).
Snider
doesn’t have huge chops but he uses it well and he knows well enough to write
songs that fit well within his vocal range.
Musically,
these guys play tight together, but they don’t blow me away with their
virtuosity. Drummer A. J. Pero is the best of them, hitting with the correct
combination of snap and power that eighties metal demand. There are two
guitarists, Jay Jay French and Eddie “Fingers”” Oyeda, but this pair is no Glen
Tipton and KK Downing. Both French and Oyeda are good rhythm guys but neither was
born to play lead.
The solo
for “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is
particularly sad. Soloists for metal sometimes commit the sin of losing the
core of the melody while noodling around. Here, we have the opposite problem,
with a note for note match for the vocal melody. It is like listening to Snider
sing, but without the benefit of his showmanship. This is too bad because “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was a huge hit
and one of my favourite songs of rebellion growing up. While it is still good
fun, the guitar solo is impossible to overlook.
Fortunately,
the album’s other hit “I Wanna Rock”
is still as kick ass as the first day I heard it, with Snider’s triumphant cry
at the beginning and one of metal’s most iconic riffs. The drums on the song
are the best on the record and hearing Snider refusing to turn the volume down
takes you back to all the glory of your teenage years. It feels good as an
adult too. Even the guitar solo is solid.
Both “I Wanna Rock” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” benefited from hilarious videos featuring
Mark Metcalf reprising his role as Niedermayer from the 1978 classic movie
“Animal House.” The videos are basically just scene after scene of a rock and
roll hating Niedermayer, (who six years after “Animal House” is now a father
and a high school teacher), getting pummeled and embarrassed by the band.
As I’ve
gotten older, I still love this record, but my favourite tracks have shifted a
bit. As a teenager I loved “We’re Not
Gonna Take It’ but it feels like a novelty song now. Nowadays I love the
heaviness of “Burn in Hell” and the
creepiness of “Captain Howdy” which is
one half of a song called “Horror-Teria
(The Beginning)” about a child-killing clown (it is never suggested he's a clown, but I always imagine him that way based on the name) who is brought to justice by the townsfolk after getting acquitted on a technicality. Captain Howdy is the stuff of nightmares, abducting
and terrorizing kids, with troubling elements reminiscent of Alice Cooper.
Tipper Gore would not approve. The only part that falls flat is this line from
the second half of the song (“Street
Justice”):
“The man’s description did little
good
A local stranger from the
neighbourhood.”
What the
hell is a ‘local stranger’? The guy is either a local, or he’s a stranger. Does
the guy live in the neighbourhood or not? If he does, no one can describe him?
Because I’m pretty sure he’s a clown.
Or is he a stranger, which would mean he isn’t local at all. But I digress…
My
favourite song (then and now) is “The
Price,” a rock ballad bemoaning how nothing in the world comes for free and
life is a constant struggle. Whether you are 14 or 40 we all have our moments,
and “The Price” lets us wallow in it for
four minutes before we (hopefully) dust ourselves off and get on with whatever
needs doing.
My CD
copy of this record was inexpensive, but it is also one of those records
transferred to CD early on, and the recording volume suffers for it, taking
away some of the impact. I’ll keep an eye out for a remastered version in my
music shopping future.
Nevertheless,
this is a solid rock album from a band that doesn’t always get the street cred
they deserve.
Best
tracks: Burn in
Hell, Captain Howdy (the first half of Horror-Teria), I Wanna Rock, The Price,
S.M.F.
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