In a new interview with the X5 Podcast, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider talked about his band’s retirement and criticized other bands that choose to come out of retirement after some time.
“As far as the Twisted Sister reunion goes, I’ve said I can’t stand bands that retire and then come back, ‘No more tours!’ Yeah sure, Ozzy,” Snider said. “They come back, they sell us a t-shirt, they sell us the farewell, and then they come back a few years later. I can’t stand that. I say, ‘Listen, you don’t have to leave, stay forever.’ We have Blue Öyster Cult tour jackets saying ‘On Tour Forever.’ God love them. But don’t announce a three-year farewell tour, Scorpions, and then say you changed your mind. Don’t sign in blood and say you changed your mind. You retire, you do the farewell, you sell the t-shirt—we sold 40 f*cking t-shirts. That’s it, you’re done.”
This isn’t the first time Snider has voiced his opinion on bands breaking up and reforming. “When you do a farewell tour, and you announce this, and you sell tickets, and you have a t-shirt that says ‘No More Tours’ – thank you very much, Ozzy, I bought one of those – and then you come back, that’s bullshit,” Snider explained in a previous interview with Ultimate Guitar.
“So when you say, ‘We’re retiring,’ people now don’t take it seriously. So, you know, it’s like a joke, and I think that a part of it is that these artists have nothing else going on. And I realize that – without playing, they have no career,” he added.
Twisted Sister reunited last year for the first time since they retired from touring in 2016. The special performance took place at the 2023 Metal Hall of Fame. The band’s classic lineup played a 3-song set, and Mike Portnoy filled in for AJ Pero, who passed away in 2015.
