Twisted Sister

The Twisted Sister adventure began in 1972. Jay Jay French forms Silverstar and takes the place of guitarist. Less than 3 months after the debut, Silverstar became Twisted Sister. The band made few emules at that time, while the line-up stabilized with the arrival of Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda, French school friend, as a guitarist singer and former SPV member, as well as Kevin John Grace as drummer. Shortly afterwards Kenny Neill arrived at the bass and Twisted Sister took the Glam road, crisscrossing the local clubs.
Early 1976 saw Dee Snider as a singer and Tony Petri as a drummer, directing the band towards Hard Rock still as makeup. The shows are gradually getting a reputation for Dee Snider's performances, but no label agrees to sign the band. Not discouraged, the combo released its first single I'll Never Grow Up Now on its own label, followed in 1980 by the second Bad Boys (Of Rock&Roll). Multiple line-up changes are taking place, stabilizing around Mark Mendoza (The Dictators), Dee Snider, Jay Jay French, Eddie Ojeda and A.J. Pero. Finally, a small English label, Secret Records, signed the band in April 1982. A first EP released in June of the same year, Ruff Cuts , followed by Under The Blade , first album produced by Pete Way (UFO ). Although the success followed little, Twisted Sister opened for Motörhead and thought of releasing a new single. Unfortunately, Secret Records puts the key under the door. Meanwhile, Americans accentuate their look and sound. Finally, Atlantic Records (ACDC , Ray Charles , Keith Jarrett ) signed the band and offered them the opportunity to release its second album You Can't Stop Rock'N'Roll in 1983. A single of the same name is hammered all over and the LP is gradually gaining success.
The internationally renowned one arrives with Stay Hungry (1984), more accessible than the previous ones, followed by a rather extensive tour during which a young group named Metallica opens the festivities. 2 million copies are sold in a few months and many clips are released on MTV: We're Not Gonna Take It or I Wanna Rock, all with staggered images and quite outrageous reactions from conservative organizations. Nevertheless, like everything good at an end, Stay Hungry's successor, Come Out And Play, has less success and even sees a video being banned from MTV. The tour does not fill the rooms or little and many dates are cancelled. Pero took the opportunity to join Cities and was replaced by Joey Franco (Good Rats). Snider embarked on a solo project (with different musicians including some from Winger or Kix) which would eventually be sold under the name Twisted Sister Love Is For Suckers, although the band did not record anything. More makeup, less sales, less rock... Snider left the band at the end of 1987 and Atlantic broke the contract. This is the end of Twisted Sister.
Members do not escape the musical universe since various projects take shape: Desperado, Scarecrow, Blackfoot or Prisoners of War. In 1992, Atlantic, who still have the rights, released a Best Of and a Live story of having Twisted Sister talk again. Then, 6 years later, the combo recorded a song for a movie, Strangeland. Spitfire Records reissues discography with some unreleased and demos. A Tribute album with Hammerfall , Overkill or Cradle Of Filth slips a path to the ferry, with a cover of ACDC by Twisted Sister , Sin City . 2001 announces the return to the stage of the Americans at a concert in honour of the victims of September 11 and following numerous requests, the musicians start a tour, enter a studio to re-record Stay Hungry , which will become Still Hungry , provide CDs and DVDs live ( Live and Wacken ) as well as television appearances. Since then, the performances follow each other and are similar, while many rumors of a new album appear on the net...