Rare video footage of Twisted Sister performing live during ‘Love Is For Suckers’ tour
Rare video footage of Twisted Sister performing live during ‘Love Is For Suckers’ tour
Twisted Sister fans are in for a real treat as some rare video footage of the band performing live on its tour supporting the album Love Is For Suckers has surfaced on YouTube. The video footage reportedly comes from Twisted Sister‘s gig at the Holiday Star Music Theater in Merriville, Indiana, USA on October 8, 1987.
Twisted Sister’s setlist on October 8, 1987 (as per setlist.fm):
01. Tonight
02. Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)
03. You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’’ Roll
04. I Believe in Rock ‘N’ Roll
05. Stay Hungry
06. I’m So Hot For You
07. Under the Blade
08. Hot Love
09. The Price
10. Love Is for Suckers
11. Drum Solo (Joe Franco)
12. We’re Not Gonna Take It
13. I Wanna Rock
14. One Bad Habit
15. S.M.F
Wikipedia states the following in part (with slight edits) about Twisted Sister‘s Love Is For Suckers era from the time that the Come Out And Play tour came to an end:
“After the tour, [A.J.] Pero left to rejoin Cities. He was replaced by ex-Good Rats drummer Joey “Seven” Franco. The nickname “Seven” comes from his being the band’s seventh drummer. In 1986, [Dee] Snider embarked on a solo project, reportedly approaching future Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, but this did not work out. Janick recalls it as follows: “He rang me up and we talked but I remember saying, ‘There is no way in this world that I am putting on make up or anything like that, I’m just not into that shit.’ But we had a chat and he seemed like a nice enough guy. But I never heard back from him.”
Snider then recorded an album with Franco programming the drum machine and featuring several session musicians such as Reb Beach on guitar and Kip Winger (just before they formed Winger) and Steve Whiteman of KIX. Atlantic Records refused to release it unless it was labeled as a Twisted Sister album. So, on August 13, 1987 Love Is For Suckers made its debut. Although the band had not played in the recording sessions, it was mentioned on the album cover as if the group had, and the band did play some of the songs in subsequent shows. Beau Hill‘s production gave the album a very polished pop metal sound. The band’s members had also removed the makeup that they had been wearing since their early days. The music video for the lead single “Hot Love”, featuring the band members without their makeup, had moderate success on MTV. Commercially though, the album was a complete failure and many of the band’s metal fans were disappointed with the pop sound.
On October 12, 1987, almost two months after the release of Love Is For Suckers, Snider left the band, the record label cancelled its contract, and Twisted Sister disbanded. The public announcement of the band’s demise came in January 1988.”
Video of Twisted Sister‘s live set in Merriville, Indiana, USA on October 8, 1987 (video from Genghis Don / The Great Southern Brainfart):