Dee Snider discussed Twisted Sister’s decision to call it a day last year, telling SiriusXM:
“Basically, the level of intensity that I performed at with Twisted Sister, I had to stop while I could still deliver that before I could no longer deliver that.
“The headbanging, the thrashing, all that energy… Where Alice [Cooper] always seemed like a crotchety old dude, and he’s crawling around the stage, that works great for a 72-year-old dude now.
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“But what I did does not work for a 62-year-old. I mean, it’s just too fucking hard to stay in the shape. Just to keep that going just got harder and harder.
“I said, ‘I wanna stop while people are still smiling and not looking at me saying, ‘Oh, remember when he was good?”
“Everything I’m doing now [with my solo band], there’s no more headbanging involved. “My neck just about had it. And with Twisted, I had to stop headbanging.
“And as long as I’m on stage with Twisted Sister, I just could not perform with that band and just not want to… I had to thrash.
“So I felt if I stepped out of that, I don’t know if just… At least I could say, ‘Hey, I’m doing some new things, I’m trying some new things, and I’m not… I’m not in Twisted Sister. I’m Dee Snider now.’
“And people seem to be cool with it. And I’m cool with it, because, for some reason, without having that big ‘TS’ [logo] hanging over my head, I don’t feel this obligation to get out there and just start doing that [thrashing around].”
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The singer added:
“I didn’t wanna have that Mike Tyson moment where you’re crawling around on all fours looking for your mouthpiece.
“I’ll never forget that image in my head. There was film footage of Babe Ruth playing with… I don’t know who they traded him to, but when he left the Yankees, and he’s literally walking around the bases ’cause he can no longer run at all.
“So I did not wanna ever have that happen… And now, separate from Twisted Sister, people are coming down [to see my solo band] and going, ‘Well, he’s not as intense as he was.’ I’m hopeful that people will go, ‘Well, that was Twisted Sister.'”