In an interview with The Jasta Show, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider talked about the band’s massively-successful, triple-platinum 1984 album “Stay Hungry,” criticizing producer Tom Werman.
“A producer – and this is just a fact – is a very broad term; there are all kinds of producers, and I’ve worked with a number of them.
“Dieter Dierks, from Scorpions, Accept, he’s literally hands-on-the-board, he’s a very technical guy. He’s barking out – not barking, he’s a nice guy – but, ‘Plug this into this.’ He knows all the technology and he’s very musical.
“Tom Werman, who produced ‘Stay Hungry,’ he produced Motley Crue, he produced Nugent, he produced Cheap Trick, Molly Hatchet, Poison… He produced so many bands. He’s got, like, 15 platinum albums to his credit.
“He walked into the studio and he says, ‘I don’t touch the board. I don’t write. I don’t create. I’ll just tell you if I like it or not.’ [And he was taking] eight points – eight freakin’ points [from royalties].
“Not only was he considered a producer – people were hiring him. And I’ve had a long-standing war with Tom Werman ’cause I begged him to put ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ on the album, and ‘I Wanna Rock.’ He didn’t want those two tracks on the record.
“I was on my knees in front of him – I wasn’t begging on my knees, but because he was sitting and there was noise going on… And he’s going, ‘Eh, ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It,’ it’s a little *hums melody mockingly*’
“I go, ‘Trust me. It’s gonna be edgier when we do it. That’s the thing. It’s catchy.’ And his answer was, ‘Alright, if you really want it.’ OK, that was ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’.
“And with ‘I Wanna Rock,’ he goes, ‘Eh, I’ve done that thing already with Molly Hatchet. *hums galloping rhythm*’ He was mocking my song. He actually presented me with Saxon songs to put on the ‘Stay Hungry’ album from ‘Strong Arm of the Law.’
“He goes, ‘Check this out.’ I go, ‘Yeah, it’s Saxon.’ He goes, ‘It’s really good.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s Saxon.‘ He goes, ‘Nobody really knows them.’ I said, ‘We’ve toured with them. It’s Saxon.’
“He wanted us to cover Saxon songs. And I love Saxon, but in my community, it was current. It was their album that came out last. And he had this attitude, like, they were European, they weren’t really big.”