Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey and later based on Long Island, New York, whose story is one of the longest and most grueling apprenticeships in rock history — ten years of club grinding in the suburban New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut circuit before anyone in the American music industry would take them seriously. Guitarist Jay Jay French founded the band in December 1972 under the name Silverstar, which became Twisted Sister in February 1973 — the name reportedly invented one night at a bar by an early singer who did not remember coming up with it the next morning. Eddie Ojeda joined as second guitarist in 1975. The band went through multiple lineup changes and several lead singers before Dee Snider, born Daniel Snider in 1955, joined in early 1976. Snider's arrival transformed Twisted Sister: he became the primary songwriter, the defining visual presence, and the theatrical centerpiece of a band that blended the glam of Alice Cooper and KISS with an increasingly heavy hard rock and metal sound. The band became a genuine phenomenon on the Long Island and tri-state bar circuit, regularly drawing thousands of fans a night to club shows, yet remained unable to secure a record deal in the United States. They were forced to find their initial foothold in the United Kingdom, where Under the Blade (1982) and You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll (1983) built the underground credibility that eventually got American labels interested. Drummer A.J. Pero joined in 1982, completing the classic lineup of Snider, French, Ojeda, bassist Mark Mendoza, and Pero.
Stay Hungry (1984) on Atlantic Records was the American breakthrough the band had spent a decade working toward. The album went triple platinum in the United States and produced two of the most memorable videos of the MTV era: We're Not Gonna Take It (number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, gold certified, the band's only top 40 hit) and I Wanna Rock (number 68), both directed by Marty Callner and featuring Looney Tunes-style slapstick comedy in which overbearing authority figures get physically dispatched by the band. The videos ran in near-constant rotation on MTV and became cultural touchstones, and We're Not Gonna Take It — written entirely by Snider — became one of the defining anthems of the decade. Come Out and Play (1985) and Love Is for Suckers (1987) could not replicate Stay Hungry's momentum, and the band disbanded in October 1987.
The band's most consequential cultural moment came on September 19, 1985, when Dee Snider testified before a United States Senate committee during the Parents Music Resource Center hearings convened by Tipper Gore and others seeking to impose content labeling on recorded music. The PMRC had included We're Not Gonna Take It on their Filthy Fifteen list for alleged violent content and accused Under the Blade of promoting sadomasochism and bondage. Appearing alongside Frank Zappa and John Denver, Snider delivered one of the most articulate defenses of artistic freedom in Congressional history, dismantling the PMRC's misreadings of his lyrics line by line. The Parental Advisory label system ultimately resulted from those hearings. Snider's testimony became the standard reference point for musicians' rights advocates for decades. The band reunited periodically through the 2000s and released Still Hungry (2004) and A Twisted Christmas (2006). Drummer A.J. Pero died of a heart attack on March 20, 2015, at age 55. The band completed a farewell Forty and Fuck It tour in 2016 to mark their 40th anniversary and officially retired from the road.
In September 2025, the band announced a 50th anniversary reunion tour for 2026 — their first shows in a decade. However, in February 2026, Snider resigned from the band citing serious health challenges including degenerative arthritis and heart concerns, saying he would rather walk away than perform as a shadow of himself. Guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda announced in March 2026 that former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach would front the band for a select run of fall dates, with Snider's blessing. Bach, described as the only vocalist credibly capable of stepping into that role, joined a touring lineup rounded out by bassist Russell Pzutto and drummer Joey Cassata for shows beginning September 4, 2026 at the Alaska State Fair.
Wayne Dennon photographed Twisted Sister as part of an archive that documents rock's most theatrical and culturally resonant acts. The band earned their moment through a decade of dues-paying that most bands would not have survived, and when they got it, they made videos that a generation of teenagers committed to memory — and a vocalist who stood up in front of the United States Senate and refused to back down.
