It feels like a lifetime ago (2019) when I first spun a Twisted Sister album, their massive breakthrough, Stay Hungry. It was my second year of doing album reviews, and I hadn't quite hit my stride, nor landed on my formula for each post, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed the album.
At that point in time, I had three of the five 80's albums from the band, and if you would have asked me then if I would fill in the gaps, I would have said no. Of course, this was also back when I was really focused on my collection, adamantly working towards albums that had songs I actually knew, and actively wanted to own. Fluff was rare back then, unless I was hitting up a Timonium show to dig through piles and piles of dollar CD's.
Well, time has a way of changing a man. As the years rolled by, I found myself looking into their debut, Under The Blade, and their final album of the decade, Love Is For Suckers but would never pull the trigger. Both cost more than I really wanted to spend, and not knowing any of the tracks, it just didn't make sense. Yet for some reason, I kept coming back to their debut. I'd search for it. See the pricing and move on, and in late 2025, finally pulled the trigger, and picked up the two stragglers.
When Under The Blade was initially released, it was only on cassette and vinyl. CD, at this point in time, was just starting up, and the format was reserved for select few albums, typically back catalogs of already established legacy artists. As a result, when it did finally see a pressing in 1985, it was remixed by Atlantic Records prior to release, a decision which was initially criticized by Sister fans.
Atlantic's goal was to capitalize on the band's momentum from 1984's Stay Hungry, while fans eagerly awaited 1985's Come Out And Play. However, the problem they saw was that the original mix of the band's debut was far more aggressive, metal if you will, as compared to their popular hard rock pop sound which catapulted them to mainstream success. Because of this, the album was, as noted, remixed, making it sound more familiar to the current sound of the band. This version of the album would also feature a forgotten 1979 single from Sister, I'll Never Grow Up, Now!
The original cut would eventually get its day in digital. Eagle Records would restore the original mixes of the tracks and release them through online streaming sources. This was followed by Rhino Records producing a limited run of CD's, which are out of print at this point.
Personally, I own the 1985 re-issue, and I'm totally fine with this. I like the more poppy rock sound of Twisted Sister and really don't have any interest in hearing them as a hardcore metal group.
Because I don't know what the original mixes sound like, I have nothing to compare these remixed tracks to. However, as a whole, it was a pretty solid album. What You Don't Know (Sure Can Hurt You), Bad Boys (Of Rock 'N' Roll), and Under The Blade were the standout tracks that I took away from it.
It was actually kind of exciting to listen to and really ramped up my interest in hearing more from Dee Snyder and the boys. I'm already ramping up to play through 1983's You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll.
Tomorrow I'll also take a step back and hit a bit of history for the band. It'll be a nice segue into their sophomore album. Until then, that about wraps this one up.
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