February 2003
Classic Rock #50
Classic Rock had a feature on Twisted Sister which they interview
Dee Snider and Jay Jay French.
There is a picture of Alice Cooper with Dee Snider and Dee talks
a bit about Alice Cooper on 'Be Chrool To Your Scuel.'
Pg 47
A psyched-up appearance at 1983’s Castle Donington midway up a bill that
also featured Diamond Head, Dio, ZZ Top, MeatLoaf and headliners Whitesnake
saw Twisted clawing back some rock credibility. with those who hadn’t
experienced Snider’s confrontation with the previous year’s Reading crowd being
hooked by the same tactic. When the band returned to Britain to promote the
following year’s ‘Stay Hungry’ album, they were headlining London’s
Hammersmith Odeon. However, noses had been put out of joint by Snider’s
appearance on the sleeve, gnawing at an enomious bone - all alone.
“It caused problems,” the singer confirms. “I’d taken my cue from Alice Cooper
- if they [the other TS members] ran around. I ran around more. But in my
defence, you’d get to a place like Salt Lake City and people would wanna know
‘Who is this guy?’ The guys were solid musicians, but none of them were Eddie
Van Halen, and I was the creative force. lay Jay even accused me of calling every
magazine in the world and telling them to print pictures of me, not the band.
I looked at him in disbelief, I couldn’t have done that if I’d wanted to.”
Nevertheless, America had quickly fallen under Twisted Sister’s spell. ‘Stay
Hungry’ alone has now sold more than three million copies. The band’s colorful
videos were all over MTV, and saturation point was in danger of being reached.
In 1985, when Snider appeared alongside Frank Zappa before a Senate committee
to battle censorship group the Parents Music Resource Centre, his fame peaked.
The backlash that followed was merciless. ‘Be Chrool To Your Scuel’, the opening
track of that year’s Dieter Dierks (Scorpions)-produced ‘Come Out And Play’ not
only featured Billy Joel on piano, Clarence Clemons (from Springsteen’s band) on
saxophone and former Stray Cats guitarist Brian Setzer, but everyone was most
thrilled when Alice Cooper dropped by to sing backing vocals.
November 2003
Classic Rock #59
In this issue 2 articles on Alice Cooper
Pg 8
What If?
Pg 93
The Eyes of Alice Cooper review
