Twisted Sister - Fighting For The Rockers (2023)

This excellent in-your-face live broadcast was transmitted from a mid-summer gig at the Detroit Club, in Port Chester, New York, in 1979. Long Island radio station WLIR was clearly right on the ball early on and recognised raw rock n roll talent when they heard it - at this time Twisted Sister had yet to get anywhere near signing a recording contract and wouldn t get to issue their debut album for another three years! Twisted Sister s genesis lay in a band called Silver Star. Motivated by Kiss, The New York Dolls and David Bowie s then-current Ziggy Stardust persona, John Segall (aka Jay Jay French) was looking to join a Glitter band . He ran into Mell Anderson (aka Mell Starr, Twisted Sister s first drummer) and was offered a gig with New Jersey band Silver Star. Jay Jay had few reservations: We would be wearing dresses, going the whole female impersonator route. I asked if he was sure we d get girls that way, and he said it was the best scam on the planet. So I moved into their house right away. By early 1973 the band had re-christened themselves Twisted Sister and worked up a set of Bowie, Lou Reed and Mott the Hoople covers. Original vocalist Michael Valentine decided to quit though and the band broke up in 1975 - although it was quick to reform with new members guitarist Eddie Ojeda, singer Daniel (Dee) Snider and, eventually, drummer Tony Petri joining guitarist Jay Jay and bassist Kenny Neill. By now the guys were covering some heavier material - songs by Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, Rainbow, AC/DC, Ted Nugent and even The Tubes White Punks On Dope were included in their live set. Summing up the band s striking visual appearance, Dee Snider claimed: Twisted Sister aren t glam, that implies glamour and we re not glamorous. We should be called hid, because we re hideous. Nevertheless, they always seemed to have little trouble getting a large number of local gigs (the original line-up claimed to have played live 600 times by December 1974). They soon graduated to larger clubs around the Tri-state area - New York, New Jersey and Connecticut - and built up a legion of fans, collectively known as S.M.F.F.O.T.S. (Sick Motherfucking Friends Of Twisted Sister). In October 1978, Mark The Animal Mendoza (previously of The Dictators) replaced Kenny Neill on bass. The next year Twisted Sister released their own single I ll Never Grow Up, Now c/w Under the Blade on their own label, Twisted Sister Records. These recordings were produced by the renowned Eddie Kramer (whose astonishing track record as studio engineer and producer includes working with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and a host of other first division acts). A different version of the song Under the Blade was included as title track of Twisted Sister s debut album, finally released in September 1982, on small UK label Secret Records. Live versions of both songs are included in this broadcast. In addition to the two tracks released as a single, Twisted Sister had the nous to book studio time to record a batch of their own material (eventually released many years later on Club Daze Volume 1: The Studio Sessions , in 1999). Several of these numbers are played during this broadcast. There is a pair of Jay Jay s songs: Can t Stand Still and Follow Me, and Sniders s: Saviors of Rock n Roll, Come Back and Pay the Price. Another of Dee s numbers, Lady s Boy, was issued a year later as the second independently-released Twisted Sister 7 single. During the first half of the 1980 s, Twisted Sister went on to huge success - releasing a string of gold ( You Can t Stop Rock n Roll , 1983, and Come Out And Play , 1985) and platinum selling albums ( Stay Hungry , 1984). This great live recording marks a pivotal moment in their riotous journey to stardom...