Twisted Sister – Love is For Suckers (Release Year – 1987)
I started off the new year wanting to hear some Twisted Sister. After playing “Stay Hungry” for the umpteen millionth time, I broke out my reissued copy of Twisted Sister’s “Love is For Suckers” from 1987.
I remember this album getting a lot of bad reviews when it first came out, and I can understand why some Twisted Sister fans hated this disc. “Love is For Suckers” was supposed to be released as a Dee Snider solo album. Atlantic suggested this be out under the Twisted Sister moniker and as they say, the rest is history.
“Love is For Suckers” was not supposed to sound like a Twisted Sister album, and for the most part it doesn’t. This is more of a pop metal album, than the hard rock and metal sounds of previous Twisted Sister albums.
The first track “Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)” is the heaviest song on this disc, and the most Twisted Sister like. For the rest of the album, producer Beau Hill managed to make Twisted Sister sound like Winger with Dee Snider on vocals. With no surprise, Reb Beach does play guitar on this album, and Kip Winger sings back up vocals. The songs aren’t bad, but most of them just aren’t very memorable.
The best cuts on Love is For Suckers are “Wake Up” and “Me And The Boys”. The reissued copy of this CD has four bonus tracks: “Feel Appeal”, “Statutory Date”, “If That’s What You Want” and “I Will Win”. If you don’t have this CD, this is the version to pick up. The song “Statutory Date” is probably the best song out of the four bonus tracks. If you listen close enough, you can hear Kix frontman Steve Whiteman singing back up vocals on this song.
As a whole, I didn’t care for this poppy version of Twisted Sister. The band was best when playing their heavier edged material, and although I am a fan of hair/pop metal, this disc didn’t cut it for me. “Love is For Suckers” is a disc for hair metal fans and Twisted Sister completests only.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)
2. Hot Love
3. Love Is For Suckers
4. I’m So Hot For You
5. Tonight
6. Me And The Boys
7. One Bad Habit
8. I Want This Night (To Last Forever)
9. You Are All That I Need
10. Yeah Right!
11.Feel Appeal*
12.Statutory Date*
13.If That’s What You Want*
14.I Will Win*
*Bonus Tracks
Twisted Sister is:
Dee Snider – lead vocals
Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda – lead guitar
Jay Jay French – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Mark “The Animal” Mendoza – bass, backing vocals
A. J. Pero – drums, percussion
Additional Musicians:
Reb Beach – guitars
Kip Winger – backing vocals
Jimmy Chalfant – backing vocals
Steve Whiteman – backing vocals
Beau Hill – keyboards, backing vocals
The New West Horns – horns
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I don’t think A. J. played drums on this record. The drum tracks were pre programmed by Joey Franco.
Yeah man, I try to wake up ever morning in a Twisted Sister mood but this record is tough to love.
It’s okay, close to Come out and play. It doesn’t have anything as bad as the worst songs on COAP, but it also doesn’t have many as good as the top songs on that album either. I remeber buying this one the day it came out. It rather quickly ended up on the back of my shelf.
I don’t know what it is about Hot Love that bugged me. It kind of reminds me of a fifty’s rock tune. Not as awful as Leader of the Pack, but still not my cup of tea. I probably need to give it another chance.
To me the album seemed rushed…I think if Dee would have had more time to develop the material it could have been better. I think he also needs a strong bandmate to keep him inline as well. I do think Hot Love was an awesome song and is worth at least download-worthy.
LMAO. Winger typically couldn’t hold a candle to Twisted Sister on a good day, but this album is pure bubble gum. It doesn’t compare to their first 3 albums.
This is one of Twisted Sister’s most under appreciated albums, it blows away “Come Out & Play”. Maybe it should have been released as a Dee Snider solo album and it would have gotten more respect, but that is neither here nor there. This album has a lot more than 2 good songs “Hot Love”, “Love Is For Suckers”, “One Bad Habit”, & “You Are All That I Need” are all very good. I do wish “Statutory Date” had been on the original release. Even the so so songs on this album outshine the best songs off of “Come Out & Play”.But I beg you for the love of rock n roll and all that is holy please DO NOT EVER compare Twisted Sister to Winger that is just plain criminal!!!