Out of all the big ’80s rockers, Dee Snider has definitely aged well, both musically and as a dude. Truth be told, we kinda love the guy, and here on the eve of the release of his new album, Leave a Scar, out tomorrow on Napalm Records, we thought we’d take a moment to look at five times we really loved Snider, who, of course, we all know as the frontman for Twisted Sister.
The album, which follows up 2018’s For the Love of Metal, is a solid dose of classic, no-frills metal, with Snider’s one-of-a-kind voice leading the charge. It doesn’t sound dated but also doesn’t sound like past-expiry-date rocker trying to sound modern; it just sounds great.
Read on to find out five things we love about Snider, the SMF who just keeps on giving, here in 2021 and most likely for many years to come.
1: When he got Corpsegrinder to guest on a song
This is just a no-brainer, given that we heart Corpsegrinder. Apparently, so does Snider, as he got our man to lay down some guest vocals on “Time to Choose” on his new album. And if the thought of George Fisher’s legendary growl up against Snider’s classic croon sounds like a glorious clash of the titans to you, well, yup, it is. Not only does it show that Snider still is paying attention to true metal—something that can’t be said of everyone of his vintage and status—but it shows the man has damn good taste.
2: When he used smarts to take on the PMRC
Not really sure what more can be said about this one, but we should make sure it’s never forgotten. Snider’s Senate hearing performance taking on the PMRC is legendary, some early proof that, hey, we can have brains too, you know. Snider dropped the mic hard that day in 1985, and the metal community is still proud of him to this day for it. May this one live on forever.
3: When he dropped For the Love of Metal
Back in 2018, Snider was more or less history for longhairs. His other projects post-Sister just never clicked, there was some Broadway thing we all knew it was probably best to ignore, and he just wasn’t a going concern. Then he released For the Love of Metal in 2018 on Napalm Records; the name drew us in, of course, but the sounds on the record—genuine metal that sounded current but honest—were enough to make even the most cynical among us admit that, yeah, Snider is back, and he’s back with a pretty impressive punch.
4: That time he got his voice tested and was told it “defied the laws of physics”
I mean, it’s not like we fact-checked the doctor’s note here or anything so I can only assume this one has been exaggerated a little, but still, we want to believe so we’re gonna believe. I want to believe so much that I barely looked into this one past some clickbait headline somewhere. I just think it’s awesome and want to help keep the story alive. So, yeah, man: Dee Snider’s voice defies the laws of physics. Got a problem with that?
5: The entirety of “Burn in Hell”
For some context, I was seven years old when Stay Hungry dropped, and my older brother had the cassette. The cover blew my little mind, and the tunes shocked and amazed me. Even the song titles horrified and confused me. I didn’t know what was going on; I assumed that Snider was some kind of monster, and when he sung “Burn in Hell,” man, I was shocked. The “hear no evil” part was icing on the cake; I honestly thought this was coming from something inhuman. Look, I was seven, but the point remains: Snider made a huge impact to many of us at a young age, and through an ensuing career of both metallic glory and proving you don’t need to be a dummy to do this stuff, he’s doing what many metal elders could learn a thing or two from: aging loudly, in the best of ways.
