Unless you've been living under a rock, you're probably quite informed on Dee Snider's opinions on reunions. Said plainly, he fucking hates them.
While at the Metal Hall of Fame in California last month, Snider said, "You know, I've said when people retire, they should leave the stage, and all those bands, I'm tired of buying No More Tours shirts and seeing people signing contracts in blood and then they show up three years later. I don't believe in that bullshit, so I don't think it's going to happen." This seemed to be a knock Mötley Crüe and their "Cessation Of Touring" agreement, which was made to be a huge "end of the band" deal… until they reunited and have been on the road ever since.
Well, as it turns out, the full interview from the Metal Hall of Fame has been now published, and Dee definitely shot a few arrows across the bow. When asked specifically about Mötley Crüe and Kiss by interviewer Andrew Daly, Snider said, "Well, first of all, it's about money, which is weird because it's not like they don't have any money.
"Certainly, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have plenty of money and don't need it. Still, the desire for more money trumps all, right? I guess it could be that some of these guys miss the stage and the rush, but I can tell you that I don't. I guess guys like Kiss and Mötley miss it to the point where they can't let it go."
Still, Snider tried in earnest to bring his position back through the prism of himself and Twisted Sister.
"The band Twisted Sister, as an entity, can do it without me if they wanted to, but if they were to go out, no, I would not participate," Snider said. "I have an incredible love for the guys, and it was great to get up there with them [at the Metal Hall of Fame]. It was fun to rehearse with them and hang out with them, and we're still really close friends, but that chapter of my life is behind me now. I've also loudly denounced bands who do the farewell tour thing and then come back a few years later; I think it is such a pile of dogshit.
"But to clarify my stance on all of that — you could stay forever. Please do stay forever. Never leave us. Stay on stage until you die. If you look at a band like Rush, they played until Neil Peart couldn't do it anymore. God bless them. Alice Cooper told me he's looking forward to being on stage at 80 years old. God bless him. He told me that in person, and I said, 'Dude, I love you for that, but that's not for me.' I said I was done, and I promise you, when it comes to Twisted Sister, I am done."
So, beyond cash, could there be any other reason for the retirement redux? As Snider sees it, it's a lack of accountability.
"I said that I wanted to move on to other things, and I meant it. And you know what? Nobody took it seriously. And why would they? Everyone assumed because nobody else, like Mötley and Kiss, played by the rules, that I wouldn't stay retired. They all said, 'What? That's not how the farewell tour rules work. Dee has got to come back.' They think that because this whole other rule book was written where people 'retire' and then come back a few years later. But not me. Am I open to a quick song here or there or a fun one-off? Yeah, sure. But a whole tour with long sets? No way."
So maybe don't expect a Twisted Sister tour anytime in the future.
