"We're Not Gonna Take It" is a song by the American band Twisted Sister from their album Stay Hungry. It was first released as a single (with "You Can't Stop Rock & Roll" as the B-side) on April 27, 1984. The Stay Hungry album was released two weeks later, on May 10, 1984. The single reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it Twisted Sister's only Top 40 single. The song was ranked No. 47 on 100 Greatest 80's Songs and No. 21 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s. (More from Wikipedia)
I am not really much of a lyrics guy; even on some of my very favorite albums, I probably couldn't quote a single line. Obviously that's not true of my entire collection; the lyrics from Bob Dylan were a big attraction to me from the very beginning. However, the most important thing to me about song lyrics is that they need to mean something to the singer, not that we as the audience necessarily need to know what is being said or even what it means. Years ago, I once wrote about song lyrics, mentioning a Twisted Sister hit song from 1984: "The point is, you can't sing 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' angrily, but you can sing 'We're Not Gonna Take It' with a bit of venom."
You might remember "We're Not Gonna Take It" as a classic music video on MTV back in the day; as Wikipedia describes it: "The song is notable for its popular music video directed by Marty Callner, with its emphasis on slapstick comedy, where a parent gets the worst of the band's mischief. Controversy arose when the depiction of the family in the video caused a public outcry long before the 'explicit lyrics' warning was placed on records, cassettes, and CD's.
This led to the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center, co-founded by Tipper Gore (who later became Second Lady of the United States). Mark Metcalf, the actor portraying the father in the video, had previously played Neidermeyer, the ROTC student commander in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). In a reference to his role in the film, Metcalf says in the video, 'A Twisted Sister pin? On your uniform?!'. [Lead singer Dee] Snider himself can also be heard cursing and swearing the question 'A pledge pin? On your uniform?' at the end of the song."
U. S. Senate hearings were held in 1985 about supposedly offensive song lyrics, where Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider and Frank Zappa (among others) testified. A somewhat tongue-in-cheek TV movie about the controversy called Warning: Parental Advisory came out in 2002; it was created by VH1 and was directed by Mark Waters. In one scene, appearing as himself, Dee Snider clomps into the Senate chambers in full Twisted Sister regalia to testify.
(June 2013/2)
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Items: We're Not Gonna Take It
