In a recent interview with Speak N’ Destroy, singer Dee Snider looked back on a Twisted Sister show from the ’80s, along with Manowar and Hanoi Rocks, where the singer said he acted like a “complete idiot” at the time.
Here’s what Dee said about that day:
“Well, that’s part-true. It was actually Manowar, Hanoi Rocks, and Twisted Sister. We called out both bands for a rumble. We were there, neither of them showed up.
“It was a particularly dark time for me, between the record deal and signing with Atlantic Records, and we were really struggling, we were home, we were broke, we had lost our deal, we didn’t know what the next step was gonna be, I had a baby…
“When Hanoi Rocks and Manowar talked sh*t about Twisted Sister in Kerrang [calling Twisted Sister ‘sissy boys with makeup’], I wrote a letter to the magazine, calling them out for a fight – both bands.
“So, Manowar said, ‘Yes, we’ll have the battle of the bands to see who the greater band is!’ And in a subsequent interview, I said, ‘No, no, not a battle of the bands. My fist, your face!’
“So, neither apologized, and we announced we were meeting them, and the media came, and tons of fans came, and this is before [Twisted Sister’s fourth album, 1985’s] ‘Come Out and Play’ – I had the bullhorn, and I was walking around, going, ‘Hanoi Rocks, come out and play!’
“And then I’d look at a garbage can and go, ‘Manowar, come out and play!’ And needless to say, they were smarter than that…
“Lemmy was there with us, he came along, a big Twisted supporter, and he announced them Manowhimp – that was Lemmy’s thing. The press said, ‘So, is that it?’
“I said, ‘Oh, no, we’re gonna go to their concert and pull them off the stage. I want to go on the stage and in front of their f**king audience. I’m gonna pull them down, and I’m going to beat them down f**king silly right in front of their own people! This is not over!’
“Well, after that, we got a public letter from Hanoi Rocks, ‘We are the flower children of rock ‘n’ roll, we don’t want no problems.’ OK, fair enough.
“[Manowar guitarist] Ross the Boss, who was in the band with [Twisted Sister bassist] Mark Mendosa called The Dictators sent Mark a letter, saying, ‘Dude, we can’t apologize, we’re Manowar… Could you please stop this, can we just stop this?’
“And Mendoza said, ‘Alright, we’ll let it go. You shut your mouths, we’ll let it go because we’re friends, but if any sh*t happens again, I’m going to give this letter to Kerrang magazine to publish.’
“And that was the end of that. And I had run into Ross and Joey [DeMaio, bass] since then. Look, now looking back on it, I was a freaking idiot, I mean, I was going through a lot, man…”