Los Angeles, California - Back in 1980, Twisted Sister were still a few years from superstardom. They’d already been around since 1972, growing out of a band called Silver Star, who styled themselves as New Jersey’s New York Dolls. A year later, though, they changed their name and shifted their direction as well.
Constantly gigging, forever sharpening their sound, and undergoing a veritable plethora of line-up changes, Twisted Sister as we know them best would not emerge until 1982. But already they’d made appearances on major label comps, and they’d recorded, too, the first couple of live shows featured on 2016’s so-aptly titled box set Rock 'N' Roll Saviors - The Early Years.
Now the most ferocious of those performances, from West Islip NY in1980, makes its stand-alone debut as Hammerheads - and what a show it is. Opening with a positively roof-raising rampage through “What You Don't Know (Sure Can Hurt You),” the 12 song concert sees these legends of crazed, cross-dressing hard rock mayhem absolutely slaying on stage, with - among so many more - future smash “Rock’n’Roll Saviors,” a fiery “Johnny B Goode,” and one of the all-time great “Born To Be Wild”s.
It’s a devastating concert - the sound of a band that, still awaiting their first major break, have already put all the pieces in place. Now all they need do is wait for the world to catch up with them.
Which, of course, it would. Around 18 months later, two of the songs featured here, “What You Don’t Know” and “Under The Blade”, would feature on the band’s first ever release, the UK-only Ruff Cuts EP, and hit #2 on the UK metal charts. Others - “Bad Boys (Of Rock’N’Roll)” and “Destroyer” - would make it onto their debut album, Under The Blade; one more, “I’ll Never Grow Up,” would be added to the album when the band was picked by Atlantic Records.
All adding up, then, to one of the most explosive live shows of the era, and now one of the most dynamic discs you’ll have heard in years. And, for vinyl lovers, this is Hammerheads’ first ever appearance in that format. Make sure you listen on maximum volume.
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=twisted+sister+hammerheads
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/6movo8n
