The moment Johnny Cash asked for Twisted Sister’s autographs: “Oh really?”
Twisted Sister were always a creature of the 1970s, despite enjoying a perennial presence as the poster band plastered on many a metalhead’s bedroom wall in the next decade.
Often lumped in with the hair metal gloop that dominated MTV, Twisted Sister’s strutting rock was more indebted to US glam’s classic heyday than the preening gloss balladry or overly ridiculous spandex shenanigans that fatigued the alternative underworld. The fact is, Twisted Sister was very much rock, authentically anchored in the trashy vein of early Kiss or New York Dolls rather than the softer shreds of Van Halen or Europe.
They cut a distinct mark, too. While Mötley Crüe and Poison indulged in a uniquely effete flamboyance in their visual identity, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider flexed a potent aroma of testosterone and hyper-masculine muscle to their aesthetic, the garish lippy and permed hair slapped atop the blasting an infinitely more cartoon silliness that served the sense of humour they gleefully draped around their laced and rouge glam attack.
Yet, they could only have found the level of fame they did in the madness of the 1980s. With the release of their third record, Stay Hungry, Twisted Sister briefly found themselves as one of rock’s biggest names, defining hits such as ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ and ‘I Wanna Rock’, pushing the album into millions of sales and a leading face of the hair metal scene, despite their aversion to many of its poppier trends.
It was during the peak of their Stay Hungry fame that Twisted Sister was visited by quite possibly their most high-profile fan request. Playing a show in Canada’s Saskatchewan, outlaw country hero and the ‘Man in Black’ himself had sought to meet the band backstage.
“The road can be pretty boring, and you know how bands like to play pranks to alleviate the tedium?” Snider stated to Classic Rock in 2009. “[Guitarist] Jay Jay French comes into my dressing room and says: ‘Johnny Cash is here.’ I reply: ‘Oh, really? Johnny Cash is in Saskatchewan, Canada, backstage at a Twisted Sister show? Pull the other one.’ Then a few seconds later I hear the words: ‘Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.’ Just like on TV. I look up and there he is, this big guy standing in the fucking doorway. Turns out Johnny’s kids are huge Twisted Sister fans and they want our autographs”.
By 1984, Cash had taken a slight wobble in his critical standing, yet to form his lauded Highway supergroup and smarting after the comedic misfire of the unfunny ‘The Chicken in Black’ single. But for many, Cash’s stature would never take a knock, possessing a body of work that’d carry its writer for the rest of his life, with or without his acclaimed American Recordings series with Rick Rubin. Cash’s eager grab for signatures must certainly have struck with a surreality to the MTV rock stars.
“Was Johnny upset that his children were growing up Twisted Sister fans rather than country & western fans?”, Snider mused. “If he was he certainly didn’t show it”.
