Dee Snider Talks Life After Twisted Sister: ‘I Have a New No-Headbanging Policy’
With his new solo album We Are the Ones, Dee Snider starts a new chapter in his recording career — and one that he isn't necessarily expecting longtime fans to enjoy right away.
Snider discussed the LP with Rolling Stone, describing his latest musical outlook by quipping that he has "a new no-headbanging policy" and predicting that a lot of listeners who've followed him through his long Twisted Sister tenure will actively hate We Are the Ones.
While that might sound like biting the hand that feeds, from Snider's perspective, it's equal parts pragmatism and creative freedom. Like a lot of artists from his peer group, he's seen how hard it can be to convince older fans to buy new music, even when it's deliberately crafted to sound like the hits they know by heart.
"Look, I hadn't written anything new in decades," he explained. "I know that my marketplace – '80s heavy metal fans – are not interested in new music. I'm not going to kid myself."
To that end, Snider took a diverse approach to gathering material for We Are the Ones, dabbling in synths and strings — and making room for a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like a Hole." However it's received commercially, he stands behind it.
"You can’t expect others to embrace what you do if you don’t embrace it yourself," he argued in a press release for the LP. "I have to believe it first before I can expect anybody else to believe it. When you’re creating a new record, you want to make a statement, and you want to have music you can stand behind and feel strongly about."
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