The Testimony of Dee Snider

The Testimony of Dee Snider

The link

The Dee Snider Testimony on Youtube

What it is

Dee Snider is the front man for Twisted Sister, a heavy metal band. In 1985, Snider was interviewed in a U.S. Senate hearing committee about labelling music albums that contained ‘offensive material’.

What followed was an articulate speech about art and interpretation, by a man in jeans with the waviest of eighties hair.

Full disclosure: I can’t recall ever having listened to Twisted Sister.

What it means to me

The whole video is thirty minutes, and the video quality is as eighties as the outfits. If you’re in a hurry, watch the opening (with signature denim jacket move) up to four minutes. The section from 2:55 to 4:01 is especially relevant.

“…the only sadomasochism, bondage and rape in this song is in the mind of miss Gore”.

Boom. Drop mic.

Dee Snider later commented in interviews that he purposefully played up his rocker image when he entered, to increase the contrast with his message. On a strategic level, this speech is pure Sun Tzu: be prepared and catch your enemy off guard. The corollary for the audience would have been to never underestimate the other side. Stereotypes can deceive.

The U.S. Senate hearing led to the “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” label. This label came in place of the detailed ‘offensiveness’ labelling catalog proposed initially. I do recall this label serving as a marker for desirable content, rather than a means to scare me away. Teenagers don’t react to warning labels well.

Next time you buy an explicit album, you may have Dee Snider to thank. And next time someone comes to you in beat-up denim and sunglasses, you may want to hear him out for five minutes. Or thirty.


Leonard