Thursday, July 6, 2017

"I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister

Song#:  2092
Date:  10/20/1984
Debut:  80
Peak:  68
Weeks:  7
Genre:  Hard Rock



Pop Bits:  This band scored a big MTV hit with the video for their song "We're Not Gonna Take It." Its success helped the song reach #21 Pop and #7 Rock. Up next was this follow-up single that was driven by another successful video. Unfortunately, it didn't quite catch on at radio as well as the first tune and it stopped early at Rock (#35) and at Pop. Still, the songs and videos helped sell records and eventually the associated album, Stay Hungry, would be a triple-platinum seller.

ReduxReview:  While this song has an arena-ready chorus, it's just not nearly as catchy or memorable as their previous hit. In fact, it gets a little repetitive and tedious by the end. The video was fun, so MTV'ers ate it up, but when it came time to listen to the song without the video, many folks passed on it (as I did). The band performs it well, but it could have used some better production. I think it would have sounded much better if someone like Robert "Mutt" Lange (Def Leppard) had produced it. He would have added a lot more depth and muscle to the tune, which it needed because the song was a bit slight to begin with. As-is, it didn't really make me wanna rock.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Founding member and guitarist of the band Jay Jay French (real name John French Segall) did a remake of this song years later in 2008 with his own band. As a supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, French decided to remake the song as "I Want Barack." For the lead vocal, French brought aboard Paulie Z. from the band Z02. A video for the song was shot and it was credited to Jay Jay French & Friends. So why didn't Twisted Sister just do the song? French mentioned in an article that his band mates were divided when it came to the election. Therefore, he decided to do the song out on his own and keep it separate from Twisted Sister.

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