What did they want to do with their lives?
They wanted to rock, of course.
For 40 years Twisted Sister did just that, and now the members of the Long Island-spawned band are ready to hang up their studded jackets.
That means Saturday night’s concert at the Rock Carnival festival in Lakewood, N.J., will be the last chance for area fans to see front-man Dee Snider, guitarists Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda, and bassist Mark “The Animal” Mendoza play together before they head-bang into the sunset. (Longtime drummer A.J. Pero died of a heart attack last year.)
“As a live performer I have fought long and hard to stay in the kind of shape, to deliver the kind of energy and a powerful show that people expect, but nobody beats gravity,” Snider told the Daily News. “The fact that I’m 61 and people look at me on stage and I’m fit and thin and I’ll be there shirtless and jumping and rolling and falling and leaping.
“And people are going, ‘Oh my God, are those eight pack abs?’ I can’t do it forever and we want to leave people with a smile on their face and a good memory.”
They’re leaving with some good memories of their own: receiving their first gold record at Nassau Coliseum, where Snider himself used to go for rock concerts as a teen fan, reuniting for a post-Sept. 11 benefit concert for the NYPD and FDNY Widows and Orphans Fund, and playing their final European concert in front of 90,000 screaming German fans.
But they’re well aware of their legacy: the early ’80s MTV hits “I Wanna Rock” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Their makeup and fringed spandex combined with catchy hooks was a perfect fit for the fledgling channel. Those videos helped propel the band’s third album, 1984’s “Stay Hungry,” to triple platinum status.
“You go into the (most remote) jungles and if you shout out, ‘We’re not gonna take it’ at the tribes, they’ll shout back, ‘No — we’re not gonna take it,'” said Snider. “You write this song about your own teenage angst and frustration and it just becomes this transcendent thing.”
The success proved to be a mixed blessing — denting their cred with hard rock fans for a long time and contrasting with the heaviness of their live performances.
“Suddenly, you’re getting fan mail that reads, ‘My favorite bands are Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran and Twisted Sister,'” said Snider. “I’m going, ‘Uh oh, there’s a red flag for you.'”
Snider isn’t handing up his mic: he has a new solo album, “We Are the Ones,” dropping on Oct. 28.
Saturday night is very much the end of an era. Snider promises his group won’t follow the Kiss model of perpetually adding one more “final” tour.
“What is Twisted Sister?” Snider mused, trying his best to sum up four decades.
“Ever go see a band and there’s that one weird guy who’s dressed up and moving around and doesn’t fit with the rest? Well, we’re five of those guys with five different bands.
“We found each other.”
For more information on the Rock Carnival, visit therockcarnival.com.
