In a behind-the-scenes clip from his recent appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider ranted to host Eddie Trunk about the term “hair metal” and the categorization of music in general. Dee said (see video below): “The term ‘heavy metal’ — I was there, dude — was a derogatory title, assigned to hard rock of a certain type by arrogant, condescending writers and critics. Calling a band heavy metal was originally meant to be a putdown. The bands hated it. The same goes for punk, grunge… The grunge bands hated — SOUNDGARDEN hated to be called grunge. They’d get violent, PEARL JAM. This was a snotty — sort of saying, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s grunge’ — dismissive critics’ nickname for stuff. And ‘hair metal’ was that too. None of these names were ever meant to be complimentary, all the bands hated it, but the fans, on the receiving end, we kind of connect with it. But [BLACK] SABBATH hated being called heavy metal. So did [LED] ZEPPELIN. It’s the writers dismissing you. “Everybody thinks they’re making music, and then, all of a sudden, you’re pigeonholed: ‘Oh, you’re this,’ or, ‘You’re that.’ And it really trivializes what you’re trying to do. “You think ‘boy bands’ like to be called boy bands?” he asked rhetorically. “Now they’re in their fucking 50s, and you’re a ‘boy’ band. It’s not up to the artists.” Snider also addressed Sebastian Bach‘s recent Twitter tirade in which the former SKID ROW frontman took issue with being called “hair metal,” saying that the the pejorative term was coined in the late 1990s as a way to disparage acts thought to have been all flash and no substance. “[I’ve been doing my radio show] ‘House Of Hair’ [for] 22 years, and it resonates with people,” Dee said. “For the fans, they don’t find it offensive. Whatever it is, it’s just a term. “I didn’t name ‘House Of Hair’. I got shit about it. But to me, I just say, you know what? You’re fighting a losing battle. Sebastian‘s losing shit. Life’s too short. “I’m the original hair farmer. Whatever. As long as they remember me.” When Sebastian took to his Twitter last month to explain why he dislikes the term “hair metal,” he said, “When I 1st aspired to be a vocalist of a band it was called rock n’ roll Heavy metal Heavy Rock Hard Rock Glam metal Nobody in the 80s ever started a hair metal band”. He added: “Being labeled something that I never set out to be labeled gets under my skin. It’s a pain when people try to rewrite history. Believe me none of us ever set out to be in a hair metal band that did not exist in the 80s” This was not the first time Bach reacted negatively to the term “hair metal.” In a 2012 interview with The New York Times, he famously said: “I am the man who put the hair in hair metal. I also headlined Broadway musicals. I acted in millions of TV shows. I didn’t get to star in ‘Jekyll And Hyde’ on Broadway because of my haircut. My voice has gotten me everything in my life, not my hair.”
DEE SNIDER Says ‘Life’s Too Short’ To Worry About ‘Hair Metal’ Tag: ‘I’m The Original Hair Farmer’
