Dee Snider

Graduated Baldwin Senior High School, Baldwin, New York (Long Island) in 1973

Before Ice-T's "Cop Killer" (1992) and 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" (1989), Twisted Sister was one of the first rock groups to come under fire by the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), a "watchdog" group founded by Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice-Prresident Al Gore. The music videos for "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" (c. 1984) depicted violence and, in both videos, Mark Metcalf plays a bullying authority figure, either a dominant father or school principal. As a result of the Senate hearings in 1985, parental advisory stickers were placed on records that contained "explicit" lyrics--especially rap music--and vulgar sexual overtones or that promoted misogyny, racism and anti-cop lyrics.

In 2006, Twisted Sister became the first metal band to release a Christmas album.