DEE SNIDER

DEE SNIDER is best known as the frontman for the American metal band Twisted Sister. He is a cult icon in the heavy metal community with his distinctive look and personality.

In 1975 Snider changed several rock bands, and in early 1976 he joined the recently formed Twisted Sister and became the only songwriter of the band thereafter.

On MTV in the 80s, before Headbanger’s Ball, the first Heavy Metal show to feature all metal videos was called Heavy Metal Mania. The first show aired in June of 1985. Metal Mania was hosted by Dee Snider and featured metal news, interviews with metal artists, in-studio co-hosts, etc.

In the late 1980s, after Twisted Sister was disbanded, he formed Desperado, a band featuring ex-Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr, ex-Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme, and bassist Marc Russel. The group’s only album, Ace, has never been officially released but was heavily bootlegged on CD (under the title Bloodied But Unbowed).

In 1985, a Senate hearing was instigated by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), which wanted to introduce a parental warning system that would label all albums containing offensive material. The system was to include letters identifying the type of objectionable content to be found in each album. Dee Snider, John Denver, and Frank Zappa all testified against censorship and the proposed warning system. Such a system was never implemented, but the result of the trial brought about what is now the generic “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” label.

In the 1990s, he formed Widowmaker with Joe Franco (good friend to Twisted Sister and drummed on the Love Is For Suckers album), Al Pitrelli, and Marc Russel. They recorded two albums with limited underground success, Blood and Bullets, and Standby For Pain.