Twisted Sister

Dee Snider is bad-ass. How can you knock a guy with the brass to elbow his band to the front of a mangy pack of hair-metal knock-offs and establish Twisted Sister as one of the rockinest bands of the '80s? Taking their cue from KISS, Snider and his crew vamped out with heavy makeup and a Conan-in-Frederick's wardrobe that made a lasting impression on the devotees of early MTV. With ex-Dictators bassist Mark "The Animal" Mendoza battening down a simple, sturdy rhythm, Snider went wild over anthemic, primitive choruses like "We're Not Gonna Take It' and "I Wanna Rock." Call them cretins, but while Twisted Sister's ability to deposit hooks and choruses directly into the haywire glands of adolescent girls and boys is easy to mock, it's not all that easy to duplicate. After going their separate ways, Snider fired up a second project, Widowmaker, before producing and starring in the B-metal movie Strangeland.