Dee Snider: I didn’t think Metallica would make it

Dee Snider (Image credit: Astrid Stawiarz - Getty)

Dee Snider has admitted that he didn’t think Metallica would make it after he saw them performing live early in their career.

The former Twisted Sister vocalist, who released his most recent album For The Love Of Metal last year, was speaking with Detroit radio station WRIF 101.1FM, when he reflected on touring with the thrash giants.

He said: “Those motherfuckers earned every fucking dollar they made. They didn’t give an inch – until they made an ‘alternica’ record, which I thought was a great record, but they gave an inch. But up until that point, they just fought hard.

“This is a true story. We’re on tour with Metallica and we were in Holland, and I’m standing on the side of the stage and watching them doing their set. I turn to my bass player and I go, ‘These guys have got a lot of heart, but they’re never gonna go anywhere.’

“Like I said, I’m brutally honest. I said that out loud. What an asshole! I didn’t want to be against them. I just said, ‘They’re so heavy.’ But they made people just accept how heavy they were, and that’s the great thing about Metallica.”

Speaking previously about his metal album, Snider revealed that the seeds were planted after he appeared on Jamey Jasta’s podcast, where the Hatebreed vocalist challenged him to make “a true metal record.”

For The Love Of Metal features a number of guest musicians and vocalists, including ex Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones, Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton, Joel Grind and Nick Bellmore from Toxic Holocaust and Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz.

Dee Snider: For The Love Of Metal

<a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=38569&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.co.uk%2FLove-Metal-Dee-Snider%2Fdp%2FB07D5SN9QC%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-21%26ascsubtag%3Dhawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dee Snider: For The Love Of Metal
Twisted Sister icon Dee Snider returns with his new solo album, featuring guest appearances from artists including Lamb of God's Mark Morton, Howard Jones and Alissa White-Gluz.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.