Twisted Sister may be best remembered for that hilarious video for “I Wanna Rock,” in which some mullet-wearing kid declares just that to his bow-tie sporting teacher and winds up banging heads with the band. But the band has a deeper history than that, and it began in the ‘70’s as Twisted Sister rocked clubs, amusement parks and radio airwaves until that record deal could not be kept from them. They used an anti-disco stance in their early years, but mostly they just rocked with a live fury few bands could ever equal. Of course, the band is still together and Snider is still a wild front man, but if you can’t see them live, at least you can check out something like Live at the Astoria, recorded in 2004 at the famed London theater, with a companion DVD. The band agrees to a man that this was one of their greatest shows ever, and who can argue with them? The only problem is that shows like this just never quite translate to CD or even DVD the way they do to actually being there. Still, you can’t fault Twisted Sister for that. The songs are as explosive as ever, right from the start of “What You Don’t Know (Sure Can Hurt You)” to their big hit “Under the Blade” to some of their lesser-known anthems such as “The Price.” Of course, no Twisted Sister show would be complete without “S.M.F,” which stands for “Sick Mother Fucker” and is Snider-speak for, well, being a non-conformist. And what doesn’t say “R-O-C-K” like that? (DVE 2008)
