HARDWARES

Has it really been 25 years? In college, I was living through the heyday of heavy metal and just getting my moonlighting career in radio/photography/journalism off the ground. As a kid from Jersey, Sister was already well-known to me, handpicked to open for Motorhead and blew opening act Metallica off the stage with a high energy, diatribe-filled show at the Fountain Casino. Yes Virginia, they once were a lethal force. Then came Stay Hungry, whose MTV video success led to a watered-down cartoon-ish persona that ultimately split the band. While widely regarded as THE Twisted Sister album (it was, in terms of commercial success), for old-timers (what does that make us now?) it was a sell-out. OK, the title cut is alright and our rallying cry ‘SMF’ is on there, as is ‘Burn In Hell’, but little remains of the band that recorded ‘You Can’t Kill Rock n Roll’ (still the greatest Twisted video!) and all those profanity-laced nitro-fuelled ‘50s covers. The coeds in the dorm were bopping around to ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and two decades later it’s now a sports stadium anthem! So why the strong rating below? It’s the second disc of rarities. Sure, the band issued a couple of Club Daze CDs, documenting the days prior to fame (even prior to Dee Snider’s involvement, as it’s always been Jay Jay French’s band), but these are unearthed song ideas (most are less than two minutes into the development stage - maybe two verses and the chorus), demo versions of five cuts that ultimately made the album proper and ‘30’, a brand new self-decrepitating, tongue-in-cheek effort, about getting older, from the current lineup. There’s also a 25-second radio spot, where ‘SMF’ is morphed into the last three call letters of KMET, and 30 seconds of Snider fooling in the studio like a Wizard Of Oz munchkin. With hindsight, it’s interesting to hear these unfinished gems, some obviously too heavy/listener-unfriendly for the Atlantic execs (this being the first set of songs written specifically with major label suit and tie oversight, the same people who signed the likes of the Beatles and ‘60s/’70s peace and love hippie pop, now dealing with Twisted Sister - it’s almost laughable), most notably the “mf” vocal to the lively ‘We’re Coming On’. There was also the time limitation of vinyl, the prevalent music medium of the day. Shame as there’s some good stuff here. Better late than never I guess! Despite some overseas success at that time, these lyrics show a band still striving to make it, dying for (soon to be garnered) attention and fighting against the grain. Those were the hallmarks of Twisted Sister and once they achieved fame, the suckers came out to play! In retrospect, ‘Call My Name’ is a telling piece, as Snider sings, “I’ve got to be someone, the whole world wants to know. It might take a lifetime. It might even take ten. Baby nobody knows me. They all will in the end. I will be remembered, long after I’m gone. All you need is a memory. My name will care on.” Wonder how he feels about the price of fame today? ‘Prime Motivator’ begins with a funky Motown R&B vibe (can’t sell that to white teens in Middle America), but quickly becomes an upbeat TS standard about trying to score. ‘Death Ride’ revs right from jump, while ‘Death From Above’ is an AC/DC-style bass-heavy slice of ‘70s rock. ‘You Got To Fight’ starts by kicking into a staccato Kiss influence, then becomes one of the strongest tracks (“What’s the inscription on your tomb? ‘Here lies a man who tried, to live before he died’ Or is it social suicide? You’ve got to fight.”) You can almost hear the tie-dye-loving honchos asking, “What’s all this death and fighting about?” ‘Pay The Price’ was probably too close to another title on the album, not that it couldn’t have been re-christened. A rollicking ‘This One’s For You’ (the title is a play on the Bud slogan of the era) regards revenge and utilizes the line, “You should have listened to your momma’s advice. Never do unto others what you shouldn’t do.” Can you imagine music stars of today attempting such adherence to parental logic? The only I-need-you song in the bunch, ‘What’s Love Without You’, is infinitely more rock/metal than the era of power ballads was soon to dawn, still with Twisted viewpoint. ‘Our Voice Will Be Heard’ (“Raise you fist in the air”) threatens to be another self-proclaiming anthem in the vein of ‘I Am, I’m Me’. Sadly, these are over all too quickly, but since this isn’t merely a vault-robbing nostalgia trip (the band has returned to performing live since ‘03), this is icing on the cake. Enjoy.