If there’s one thing most people agree on, it’s that Dee Snider is strongly opinionated. One thing that people may or may not agree on is his latest statement saying that Nirvana’s album Nevermind was the album that killed “other bands”.
The controversial frontman of Twisted Sister shared his opinion about Nirvana’s album to Heavy Consequence. He explained that prior to the 90’s, he thought that hair metal (otherwise known as glam metal or pop metal) was already beginning to be “watered down”.
“[Hair metal] had gotten so watered-down and so corporate and so predictable,” Snider told the publication. “Bands were being assembled for their look. Whitesnake — the band in the video for ‘Still of the Night’ was physically assembled for being pretty.”
“And then all of a sudden, it’s unplugged, and we’re not even electric anymore — we’re singing folk songs. Well, now you deserve to be knocked off your pedestal.”
He elaborated about how Nevermind by Nirvana was one of the albums that started the “grunge explosion”, a movement that overtook hair metal.
“When that Nirvana album arrived, and Soundgarden, and the first Pearl Jam album, Alice in Chains — I thought, ‘This is awesome. This is heavy!’”
“And suddenly [grunge] became [this thing that] was killing other bands. But I thought it was great when it first came out.”
Love Classic Rock?
Get the latest Classic Rock news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
Snider went on to elaborate about the term ‘hair metal’.
“Most people are aware” he began. “that that name [hair metal] and virtually every other nickname given to any form of music was a derogatory term stuck on the music by some journalist. Grunge those bands of Seattle hated being called grunge. Hair metal, heavy metal… Zeppelin, AC/DC, Sabbath, they don’t like being called heavy metal. That was a negative term”
“Historically, people tried to define a band with a shitty catchphrase.”
“But the fans pick up on them, and they don’t see them as derogatory, so they don’t see it as hair metal being a negative thing. Or heavy metal, or grunge.”
“We embrace it and that’s sort of a way of changing the way it’s viewed actually,” he finished off.
You can watch the interview in its entirety here.
For more on this topic, follow the Classic Rock Observer.
