Recently, former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider replied to a fan on Twitter asking him whether the band was ever approached to play “anything like an MTV Unplugged album.” However, it turns out that Snider isn’t exactly fond of the famous MTV show. The fan’s original comment reads:
“Have you ever considered, been approached, or performed anything like an MTV Unplugged album?”
“Thinking back to Alice in Chains and Nirvana… those are some of the most intimate & powerful concerts I’ve ever seen, and I would be totally down to watch a Twisted Sister version.”
Snider then replied:
“I have an incredible aversion to MTV’s Unplugged. It always suggested to me that somehow we weren’t “legit” if we couldn’t play our stuff acoustic.”
My answer to @mtv was, ‘When Paul Simon or Tracy Chapman plug into a Marshall stack and ride the lightning, I’ll unplug!'”
When another fan pointed out that acoustic stuff in rock music can be great (which is objectively true but we’ll leave that for some other time), and how “incredible aversion” seems like a bit too much, Dee even went a step further and said that he actually wanted to use the word “hate” instead, The singer replied:
“I was going to say “hate” but figured I’d class it up. I not only hated Unplugged, but believe it was partially responsible for the demise of metal in the early ’90s.
“I mean when you only put out power ballads & stop playing electric instruments…it’s not metal anymore, is it?”
When another fan then mentioned that some performances, like the ones by Alice in Chains and Nirvana were incredible, he said:
“Oh, no doubt people liked it. I personally found it insulting. Why? Scroll back on my feed to find the answer.”
You can find all the tweets lined up at Ultimate Guitar here.
Of course, neither Dee Snider nor his bandmate Jay Jay French are strangers to having very strong and somewhat controversial opinions in metal music. Whether one agrees with them or not, you have to admit that both sure know how to stir things up and get attention.
Not that long ago, in an interview for Ultimate Guitar, Dee was asked whether the band could potentially do another one-off performance, just like the one that they did for the Metal Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He replied:
“The band Twisted Sister, as an entity, can do it without me if they wanted to, but if they were to go out, no, I would not participate. I have an incredible love for the guys, and it was great to get up there with them the other night. It was fun to rehearse with them and hang out with them, and we’re still really close friends, but that chapter of my life is behind me now.“
He continued:
“I’ve also loudly denounced bands who do the farewell tour thing and then come back a few years later; I think it is such a pile of dogshit.“
“But to clarify my stance on all of that — you could stay forever. Please do stay forever. Never leave us. Stay on stage until you die. If you look at a band like Rush, they played until Neil Peart couldn’t do it anymore. God bless them.“
“Alice Cooper told me he’s looking forward to being on stage at 80 years old. God bless him. He told me that in person, and I said, ‘Dude, I love you for that, but that’s not for me.’ I said I was done, and I promise you, when it comes to Twisted Sister, I am done. I said that I wanted to move on to other things, and I meant it.“
“And you know what? Nobody took it seriously. And why would they? Everyone assumed because nobody else, like Motley and KISS, played by the rules, that I wouldn’t stay retired. They all said, ‘What? That’s not how the farewell tour rules work. Dee has got to come back.’“
“They think that because this whole other rule book was written where people ‘retire’ and then come back a few years later. But not me. Am I open to a quick song here or there or a fun one-off? Yeah, sure. But a whole tour with long sets? No way.“
Knowing that there are bands like Kiss and Mötley Crüe who are still doing tours, despite doing their “farewell” runs some years ago, Dee was asked about them, replying:
“Well, first of all, it’s about money, which is weird because it’s not like they don’t have any money. Certainly, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have plenty of money and don’t need it. Still, the desire for more money trumps all, right?“
“I guess it could be that some of these guys miss the stage and the rush, but I can tell you that I don’t. It’s funny; my dad, who is in his 90s, asked me the other day, ‘Dee, don’t you miss it? Don’t you miss the thousands of people cheering you on?’“
“So yeah, my dad asked me that, and I said, ‘No, I think I’m good.’ [Laughs] And that was the truth; I absolutely do not miss it. It’s not like I don’t get adoration from people. I have my moments, whether it’s public appearances or going out and doing a few solo things here and there.”
“So, I’ve got my moments where I get my ego trip here and there. I don’t know, though; maybe other people miss that. I guess guys like KISS and Motley miss it to the point where they can’t let it go.“
Photo: dr_zoidberg (Dee Snider (20032872625)), MTV Logo
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