Dee Snider Affectionally Recalls The Time He Tore Al Gore A New A*****e

Dee Snider has affectionally recalled the time he went toe to toe with the “Washington Wives” and tore Al Gore a new a*****e at the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) Senate hearings.

It’s nearly 30 years to the day when Snider picked up the gauntlet thrown down by the PMRC and climbed into the ring for a bruising encounter with the self-appointed guardians of public decency.

Their mission? To single-handedly bleach the music scene clean of any subversive content and silence any lone voices of discontent that raged against the conservative straitjacket of a political, social, cultural, and economic era defined by an over the hill cowboy actor called Ronnie Reagan.

Led by what Snider branded the “Stepford Wives” of eminent Democratic and Republican senators, the PMRC were a little dog with a big bark in the summer of 1985.

Fronted enthusiastically by Tipper Gore, the “Washington Wives” were on a prim and proper mission to stamp “Parental Advisory” stickers on any records which were judged to make explicit (and not so explicit) references to drugs, sex, and violence.

In fact the PMRC had a legendary list called the “Filthy Fifteen,” which contained 15 songs the “Washington Wives” found objectionable and did not agree with their own questionable aesthetic.

Alongside Prince’s “Darling Nikki,” Madonna’s “Dress You Up,” and AC/DC’s “Let Me Put My Love Into You,” which were all found guilty of promoting sex, Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” made the list for allegedly promoting violence.

As Snider recalls in a piece he wrote for Huffington Post, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was huge in the madness and mayhem of the early 1980s.

“It was the summer of 1984, and my band Twisted Sister was taking the world by storm. With our angst-filled teen anthem “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” we were dominating music radio and television airwaves, and igniting the fire of rebellion in the hearts and minds of American youth. As we rode in our tour bus from town to town, playing show after show, little did we realize that a cultural guillotine awaited us.”

Of course when you’re dressed like a pantomime dame spat from the mouth of hell, seemingly half-crazed on a lethal cocktail of acid and steroids, and shouting like a rabid dog that you’re going to fight the powers that be and “not gonna take it anymore,” then it’s going to attract the attention of the authorities quicker than a bomb in a bank.

So what’s a Dee to do when confronted with the weary weight and full force of Washington’s condemnation and censorship? Run and hide like a frightened dog, or make a stand and fight, all in the name of rock n’ roll.

Putting some bang behind his buck and opting to walk the big talk, Snider joined Frank Zappa and John Denver to speak on behalf of artists at “the circus-like hearings.”

“I did welcome the opportunity to show the PMRC and the Senate subcommittee how you should not judge a book by its heavy-metal cover. Their indignant reactions to my ’80s rock-star look and their dropped jaws when I proceeded to take every one of their arguments apart were priceless.”

In particular, Snider’s reaction to Tipper Gore’s accusation of promoting sadomasochism, was in his own words, “a joy to behold.” Not only did Dee tell Tipper in no uncertain terms that as far as lyrics are concerned, it’s not the mouth it comes out of but the mind it goes into, he also managed to indirectly tear Al Gore a new one in the process.

“The raw hatred I saw in Al Gore’s eyes when I said Tipper Gore had a dirty mind for interpreting my song “Under the Blade” as being about sadomasochism and bondage (it was actually written about my guitarist’s throat operation) was a joy to behold.”

Despite fighting the good fight, winning the respect of many, and capturing the regard of even more, Snider admits that “the aftermath of the debacle was even worse than I feared,” as “Parental Advisory” stickers became commonplace.

“Our First Amendment constitutional right to freedom of speech had been eroded, yet the average record buyer was apathetic. The most typical comment about the sticker was, “Now we know which records to buy!” The music consumer just didn’t understand how that sticker would be used against them. (And used against them it was.)”

Snider confessed he feared that the label would “be used to segregate and limit access to certain recordings from the general public and some stores would go as far as to not carry albums with the warning at all.”

As it transpired, there’s a big difference between bad and worse, and things went downhill fast.

“I didn’t expect some of the biggest chains to take it one horrible step further. They forced the manufacturer to produce alternate, censored versions of the albums, specifically for their stores. The average adult or young-adult record buyer (and even parents buying them for their younger kids) had no idea that the album they were purchasing from Walmart had content either “bleeped out” or completely removed. The “stickering” of recorded product wasn’t giving the buyer the knowledge to make an educated choice, it was being used to decide for the record buyer what they could or could not listen to. This is the subversive nature of ultra-conservatism. If they can’t manipulate you overtly (through the passing of laws, regulations or restrictions) they’ll do it without your knowing it’s being done to you.”

Snider also complains that, 30 years later, nothing has changed and, “The ultra-conservatives still want to dictate to the masses what they deem acceptable for the general public to see and hear.”

One of the most famous songs on the “Filthy Fifteen” list was W.A.S.P’s heavy metal love song, “Animal (F**k Like A Beast)”. W.A.S.P frontman Blackie Lawless is now a born-again Christian who has not played “Animal’ in years.

Talking to Vulture, Lawless surprisingly states he agrees with the PMRC’s logic, if not their motivation.

“I honestly believe anything that gives parents a heads up with what is going on in the lives of their kids has to be helpful.

“Remembering my later teenage years, I can safely say it’s astonishing that any of us survived to tell about it. All that said, my problem with [the PMRC] was they were never about trying to genuinely promote parents’ awareness concerning the music their kids were buying. They were about one thing, elevating the profile of their future presidential candidate, Al Gore.”

As for Dee Snider, he remains defiant to the end. Seeing little difference between a sticker which reads “Parental Advisory” and “Approved By The Government,” the Twisted Sister frontman insists that, like some battle-hardened sentry at the gates to the church of rock n’ roll, he remains vigilant for the approach of those who seek to desecrate and defile a place enshrined as sacred and true by each successive generation who want to do one thing above all else – ROCK!

“Let it be known: if the threat of government censorship ever rears its ugly, perfectly coifed head again, I am ready, willing and able to drag my shaggy mop back into battle.”

(Image Credits: Justin Sullivan/Jemal Countess/Joe Raedle/Getty Images)