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Playlist: Dee Snider

"I tend to like newer bands more than older bands," says Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider.

That's a surprising statement from a genre mainstay like Snider. He was a big catalyst in pushing metal into massive popularity in the '80s, and he remains a fixture in pop culture due to his radio shows, film projects and much more. However, the man loves new music!

In fact, his daughter is his biggest influence. He laughs, "She is always filling my iPod up with a new shit—a lot of screamo! I listen to it while I'm working out!"

One project that Snider is particularly psyched about is the sequel to the first film he wrote and starred in, the cult classic Strangeland. He tells, "We start principal photography in October. It's called Strangeland: Disciple. Robert Englund is coming back reprising his role. Of course, I'm back. We're looking at 2010 for release. Strangeland was my first movie. I'm happy with it. I launched the torture genre of movie with Strangeland. The makers of Saw and Hostel are all Strangeland fans. This movie is very intense, and I'm going to take back the sick motherfucker crown [Laughs]."

In between vying for his crown and releasing the fantastic reissue of Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry [Rhino], Dee opened up his iTunes and gave ARTISTdirect.com an exclusive look at his playlist. Check it out below.

Dee Snider's Playlist:

1. Escape the Fate


2. Death Before Dishonor

I also like Death Before Dishonor. They're a real sledgehammer of a hardcore band—just fucking brutal.

3. Dethklok

I like Dethklok a lot.

4. Shiny Toy Guns

One band I dig is Shiny Toy Guns. They're fucking great!

5. Flyleaf

Flyleaf is great. They're not screamo, but they definitely have their moments. There are so many factions within heavy music. Sometimes I'll say a band is hardcore, and my kids will go, "They're not hardcore! That's screamo!" Okay, what the fuck? I just like it [Laughs]. Even back in the day, I really fought that notion of so many sub-genres. I've been around since heavy metal was born. I did my part to destroy the Woodstock Nation because it sucked. Even back in the '80s, people would ask, "What's real metal?" There was pop metal, hair metal, thrash metal, fake metal, etc. I always felt like we were only hurting the genre by subdividing and not supporting each other. Maybe you're not a fan of some types of metal, but at least be supportive for the genre as a whole. Now that metal's more popular again, the sub-genres exist. That's basically the deal with that shit. The style hasn't died though. Rock Band and Guitar Hero turn kids onto the music and break it down so they get why it was cool. They look at the song parts and say, "That's fucking badass." I can appreciate that. A lot of the newer bands do a lot more screaming than singing. Back in the day people thought what I did was screaming [Laughs].

I remember a conversation with the president of my record label. They were getting to introduce Twisted Sister and they wanted to introduce a more commercially oriented producer and video director. They wanted to bring these elements in but we were a metal band. I was arguing with these guys to death. I was like, "We've got to protect the fans!" He said, "How many fans do you think you have?" This was in '82 or '83. I said, "I don't know, about 100,000." He responded, "What do you want—the 100,000 fans you've got or the 900,000 who are going to make your album platinum?" Now, the correct answer is "both," but I was kind of thrown off by the statement. You've got to get the masses involved. If you don't crossover, you're band is going to die. No record company is going to keep you around for 100,000 units. Back in the day, the majors would dump you for that. Throw all of your children in the ocean and keep the ones that don't drown. What's the logic there? A lot of good bands get lost because they weren't able to hit the road hard on their own. From day one, Twisted Sister never really got any support. We had to make our own scene. We were fighting disco music, which was a nightmare. We thought, "What can we do to get people's attention and make them remember us as opposed to other joe-blow bands that were there?" For awhile, it was putting on women's clothing and makeup. I was buying my clothing at women's shops. You've got to be remembered. So I was the scary Muppet guy [Laughs].

6. Avenged Sevenfold

I love Avenged Sevenfold. Their last album should've gotten a lot more appreciation than it did. It's a sign of the times. People just move on to a new flavor too quickly.

7. Coheed & Cambria

Coheed and Cambria definitely deserves recognition.

8. Devil Wears Prada

Devil Wears Prada is on my iPod too.

9. Bullet for My Valentine

I'm enjoying Bullet for My Valentine's shit too. My daughter's 13 and she loads this shit up for me.

10. Drop Dead Gorgeous

I like Drop Dead Gorgeous too.

11. I Am Ghost

I Am Ghost is very cool. There are a lot of great new bands out there!

—Rick Florino
07.10.09