I never expected to sit down and watch a documentary on Twisted Sister.  However, it was raining outside and I decided to see what was on Netflix.  Lo and behold, there was the documentary, “We Are Twisted F**king Sister”.

I will admit, outside of their hits on the radio and their music videos, I don’t know much about Twisted Sister.  The member I knew about the most was Dee Snider as he was the one always making the headlines.  I do have their greatest hits album, but never listened to any of their albums from beginning to end.

The documentary was directed by Andrew Horn and he was the producer and about every other important job with regards to the film.  The basis behind the documentary is how the band was formed and their 10 year struggle to get a record deal.

The documentary talks with a lot of the band members including Jay Jay French, Dee Snider, Eddie Ojeda, Mark Mendoza, Kenny Neill, past managers, past record label executives and fans.

I found it interesting to see how the glitter rock, glam style of the band was developed over time.  I also enjoyed learning about their stage show antics and how well they did or didn’t work.  Some great stories on their Death to Disco bit during the show and the extremes they would go to make it bigger and better.

Another bit was the Sweet Jane Gong show bit.  They would have audience members come up on stage, sing “Sweet Jane” and they would keep giving them drinks until they vomited.  They treated the bit like the Gong Show.  If you sucked, you were gonged.  If you were good, applause.

I learned that band is really Jay Jay French’s band as he is the only original member and the driving force to keep the band going.  It was great to see how Dee Snider came to be in the band and how is input and importance grew over time.  There was a ton of great footage from old shows during their early days and awesome to see how they improved and grew as a band.

I have to give a lot of respect to this band’s work ethic and their constantly performing and working at getting a record deal.  I think so many bands would have just given up.  They played relentlessly 5 nights a week for years and years to no avail on a record deal.

They had a huge fan base and the sell-out these clubs which held from 2,000-3,500 people, but still that record deal was just out of reach.  No record executives ever took them seriously due to their antics.  Their luck was terrible and even when they got their first record deal, something would happen to ruin it (I won’t ruin it by telling you).

Their fans are insane and diehard.  They don’t have a fan club, they have the “S.M.F.F.O.T.S.”, or the Sick Motherf**king Friends Of Twisted Sister.  I guess that was kind of like the Kiss Army, but not quite.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary.  I have a more positive opinion for the band now and will go back and listen to their albums.  I will definitely be listening to them from a new perspective.

The next rainy day that comes along, watch it and enjoy.  Heck, watch it tonight as their is never anything good on T.V.  Let me know what you think.