DEE SNIDER Talks About 'Shut Up And Give Me The Mic' Book In New Video Interview

May 26, 2012

Kimberly Austin of the Rock Book Show recently conducted an interview with TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider. You can now watch the chat below.

Snider's first-ever autobiography, "Shut Up And Give Me The Mic", was released on May 8 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Filled with entertaining anecdotes and candid confessions, "Shut Up And Give Me The Mic" takes you through the good times and bad with a heavy metal star who worked as hard as he played, and who did it all for his wife, four kids, and millions of fans. As lead singer and songwriter of TWISTED SISTER, Dee Snider became the poster boy for heavy metal, hair bands, and the wild side of rock. Now, in his twisted new memoir, he reveals the real stories behind the crazy makeup, the big hair, and badass hits like "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock". In his journey from every parent's worst teenage nightmare to Renaissance man, Dee avoided the usual pitfalls associated with rock stars. But that didn't stop Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center from targeting him — a fight that led him to testify before Congress with Frank Zappa. He may have been slapped with a Parental Advisory warning label, but, through it all, Snider stayed positive and focused on being the best he could be.

When asked by RockMusicStar what "his angle" was with the book, Snider replied, "First of all, I wrote every word myself. Simon & Schuster (the publisher) didn't want me to do that initially, because nobody does. And if you believe the heroin addicts actually took notes.... Really? They couldn't find their dick, let alone a pencil. I never did any drugs and I've never drank. So I'm really a clean and sober participant, and observer, of the 'decade of decadence.' The book for me, deals with my rise and fall. It starts with the day that I decided I wanted to be a rock star, and then ends with me at my lowest point in my life/career, post-TWISTED SISTER, when I lost everything (in the '90s). I was completely down and out. They made me put an epilogue on it, but I was like, 'Everyone knows that I'm doing well now.' But yeah, the ending is so depressing. The epilogue skips ahead 15 years, where I'm taking my final bow on Broadway, on opening night, reflecting on how far that I've come back in the past few years. The book is really the story of my struggle, my perseverance, and it sort of examines how things happened, for better or for worse."

Interview:

Book-signing footage:

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