Dee Snider has showed off his vocal range for decades as the lead singer of Twisted Sister.
His unabashed love for stage performance helped him create his trademark persona to front the band, complete with long, blond curly hair, shredded clothes and theatrical makeup. Millions of fans from around the world have rocked out to Snider at a Twisted Sister show.
Fresh off “The Masked Singer” competition, where he took the stage as “Doll,” Snider reminisced on a particularly “strange encounter” when he was violently confronted by a fan.
“They tend to be violent,” Snider exclusively told Fox News Digital about fan experiences, recalling when one groupie “put a straight razor to my throat outside a club.”
“The line between love and hate is very fine,” Snider said.
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Dee Snider remembered a terrifying ordeal with a fan outside a bar. (Steve Pfost)
“This is back in the bar days, and I was leaving at the end of the show late at night. You know, you have to take your makeup, everybody’s gone. It’s four in the morning.”
He recalled getting to his car when “this guy comes and sticks his hand in, and he goes, ‘Hey, Dee, How’s it going?’ and puts a straight razor to my throat. He was upset I didn’t acknowledge him in some fashion.”
The heavy metal singer said he “threw the car in reverse” and then “pushed the guy’s arm to the ceiling” before speeding away.
“I got out of there, but that was crazy,” he said. “That’s the thing with fandom … the fine line between love and hate.”
DEE SNIDER APPROVES UKRAINIANS’ USE OF ‘WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT’ AMID RUSSIAN INVASION
He certainly knows a thing or two about walking the fine line. Known for one of the most iconic songs of all time, Snider said he knew “We’re Not Gonna Take It” was going to be a hit when he wrote the lyrics.
However, Snider had no idea the song would go “far beyond the genre of the era.”
Dee Snider joined Twisted Sister in the late 1970s and is known for writing and singing their hit song, “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” (Paul Natkin)
Dee Snider believes that anyone should be allowed to use his music if they ask. (Marc Andrew Deley)
“It’s also a folk song at this point that, and I’m sure it will continue on being shared from generation to generation,” he said. “It’s really an honor to have created something that people connect with on so many levels, and to see that and just know that it will live on after I’m gone.”
“It’s sort of like a blessing,” he explained. “When they said, you know, we want to use it to fight for stricter gun regulation, I said, ‘I’m a gun owner. My wife says I have too many guns. I don’t have any AK-47s. I don’t have any assault rifles, and I definitely think we need intelligent gun control.’ We’ve needed it for a long time. So, I said absolutely with my blessing. Use it.”
He has also battled against controversial usage of the anthem, which he said was written with intent for speaking up on “personal freedom.”
“I will never say you can’t use a song because that’s censorship,” he said of the many groups who have contacted him to use the hit. “My problem is that people assume because it’s my voice, and I’m the songwriter, the general public assumes you’re endorsing them.”
While he has had decades of experience wearing platforms on stage, Snider said that performing as “Doll” on “The Masked Singer” was “brutal.”
Snider – whose full name is Daniel Snider – performed in a sparkling blue dress with towering heels and a massive head piece concealing his identity throughout the FOX show.
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“I think Bill Shatner said it best when it was revealed. He said, ‘Thank God I’m out of that suit,’” Snider joked.
“I think it’s something that the audience, viewers don’t really get, and I wish they understood more. Well, same on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ actually – just how difficult it is for the performers.”
Snider added, “Very disorienting, almost like a sensory deprivation situation.”
Dee Snider performed at the “FOX & Friends” All American Concert Series in 2014. (Chance Yeh)
He gave some insight into the arduous process of perfecting his stage presence on “The Masked Singer.”
“You know, that wasn’t the first time I sang that song last night? I sang it like eight times. Plus we were singing the song for the next episode,” he said. “My throat was burnt out.
“They were going, ‘Well, your gravelly voice,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah I was hoping it wasn’t so gravelly,’ but I was torched. It was really difficult.”
Despite the physical discomfort wearing the suit and hours of singing, Snider was glad to be part of the experience.
“The audience loves that show,” he said. “It’s such a guilty pleasure, and it really brings people joy. So, you know, that part … I’m really happy about.”
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