Dee Snider is one of heavy metals most outrageous personalities. He is mostly known as the vocalist in Twisted Sister, but here I concentrate on music done using his own name. Also check out Desperado and Widowmaker for more Dee Snider.

TWISTED FOREVER - SMF'S LIVE (1997) COALLIER ENTERTAINMENT

This is a great record. All live material, and what a jaw-dropping set-list. All the best Twisted Sister songs are here. Dee sings his a** of. The band (mostly compiled by former members from the band Strength), although not Twisted Sister, give the songs justice. Buy this one if you find it!! My disc is signed by the entire band, from when I met them backstage in Karlstad, Sweden.

Funny stories about seeing these guys live (I've seen them twice). When a friend of mine and me went to see SMF in Karlstad, the car started to heat up already on the way to the concert (we had about 300km each way). The water was going into the exhaust-fumes, and this is really not good for the engine. I can't describe in English what was wrong, but it cost a fortune to repair. So the thing to do when this happens, is to drive straight to the repair-shop, but we continued, and drove nearly 600km with it!!! All to see DEE SNIDER!!

When we saw Dee in Karlstad I got my SMF-CD signed, but my friend didn't take it with him. So later when we went to see them in Strömstad, Sweden, he brought it along. In Karlstad we spend most of the time backstage, and met some of the people behind the band. So when we came to Strömstad, my friend recognized someone he believed to be in the band, and asked him to autograph the CD. The guy looked strangely at him, but signed it anyway. Later when the band started playing my friend realized that none of these guys were the one who signed his CD. Turns out he asked the guitar-tech!!

NEVER LET THE BASTARDS WEAR YOU DOWN (2000) SPITFIRE

Originally going to be entitled 'Diamonds In The Dust', 'Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down' is the first full-on solo album from Dee Snider. And as a long time fan of the man, I knew this was going to be to my liking. As with any true solo effort, this is a bit more spread out musically than Dee's former bands. It is most definitely 100% Dee though. And if you have followed his musical career closely, there are few surprises on the album. The opening track is a musical and lyrical tribute to the true, old school heavy metal fans, and to Lemmy. Apparently it was written for Motörhead years ago, and they even recorded it for the soundtrack to the movie 'Fresno Smooth'. Then in the second song the old Twisted Sister fans get their share of "what-if?". "Call My Name" could have easily been on the "Love Is For Suckers" album. The same goes for "Our Voice Will Be Heard", a true metal anthem, much like "I Wanna Rock" and "We're Not Gonna Take It". The liner notes tells us that the songs on this album were written throughout Dee's career, but were never before used. Not all of the songs sound like Twisted Sister though. We also hear songs that were written together with Bernie Tormé, for Desperado. "Isn't It Time", "Cry You A Rainbow" and "Desperado" are such songs. "The Wanderer" is a cover of a 50's doo-wop song. It was written by one Ernie Maresca, and made popular by a band called Dion. Another song, inspired by Led Zeppelin and Elvis (!?!), is "Uh Huh Huh". And in my opinion it sticks out like a sore thumb on the album. In the liner notes Dee explains that he wrote it became he was pissed at Kingdom Come for becoming popular by ripping off Led Zeppelin. Thus he wanted to write something similar. In my opinion he failed. However, 'Never Let The Bastards Wear You Down' is so full of Dee Snider goodies, I'm having a had time seeing how any long time fan of the man can be disappointed in this release.

Killer tracks: Call My Name, Our Voice Will Be Heard, Cry You A Rainbow, Desperado, Ride Through The Storm

Dee Snider guest appearances:

Lordi - 'The Arockalypse'

Related artists:

Twisted Sister, Widowmaker, Desperado, Overkill