In a recently republished interview with Classic Rock from 2009, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider spoke about his early opinion of Metallica. Surprisingly, Snider didn’t think the James Hetfield led band would “go anywhere.”
Recalling the first time he met with the band, Snider said:
“One of Metallica’s first major gigs was supporting Twisted Sister in a three-thousand-seater hall in New York. This was when they had Dave Mustaine and Cliff Burton in the line-up, and they were living in [Megaforce Records boss] Johnny Z’s basement.”
“Later, Metallica supported us on our ‘Stay Hungry’ tour,” he continued. “We got to a small town in Holland and were surprised to see a poster billing Metallica above us. I said to my tour manager: ‘Metallica are clearly the headliner. Go and tell them we’ll open for them tonight.’ My tour manager came back and told me: ‘They said no. They seem somewhat suspicious.’ Eventually I convinced Metallica that it wasn’t a trick, and that night I got to watch their show. I remember saying to someone: ‘These guys have got a lot of heart, but they’re never gonna go anywhere.’ So much for what I know! I thought Metallica were too heavy and there was no way society would ever catch up with that.”
Last year, Snider took to Twitter/X to look back on his decision to give Metallica top billing and let them close the show that night after it became clear the audience was there to see Metallica and not Twisted Sister.
“‘You guys are closing tonight. These fans are here to see you!’” he tweeted, recalling what he told Metallica. “On the upside, I got to join the band on stage for their ‘Metal up your a**’ chant.”
