Theme:WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT.
Disc:Stay Hungry.
Year:1984
These beasts from New York did not hesitate to take advantage of the fact that they had to live in the era of the image and the video clip. They hadn't eaten a thing for years until MTV came along and said: “this is ours”. Of course there was no better way to show the world their shocking image, which went beyond mere glam to become an exaggerated attire that made them look more like muscular transvestites covered in rags and colorful stubble than effeminate them.
Impossible manes and facial make-up as war paint for the toughest guys in the neighborhood. In “We're Not Gonna Take It”, one of the cuts from the album that put them in the limelight, “Stay Hungry”, the band was full of philosophy and attitude, and did not cut a hair or tear their clothes (well, the latter, yes) when it came to showing off their street character.
One always associates this song with its monumental and wild chorus, with its drums that resonate like a stone in a tin can but are inevitably endearing, and with its message of struggle. But undoubtedly what better defined and gave more entity to the song and to the band was the videoclip that they made so that this hymn was known in all the corners of the world and the heavies adopted it as a flag.
Surely many identified with that kid in school uniform (a nod to AC/DC?) playing the guitar noisily in his room until his authoritarian and enraged father arrived to set things straight and put things in their place.
An energetic guy who shouted and insulted the poor and innocent kid (hehehe) and gave him a speech of good manners with his jaw unhinged and his drool coming out like a hungry animal. He called him “despicable and weak” and as if that wasn't enough, he got into the band of his love. Twisted Sister. “What kind of man are you?! You sit around all day playing guitar!!! You do nothing!!! Who are you? Where are you from? What do you want to do with your life?” his desperate and intransigent progenitor asked him in a desperate and uncompromising manner...
And the kid, without a second thought, was able to crack a smile after the intimidating talk and say “I Wanna Rock!!!”. The show was on. Once he became Dee Snider, and his brothers became the rest of the band, the boy, or rather the whole Twisted, played a thousand and one tricks on the now frightened father, in the purest style of the cat and mouse cartoons.
And the one who had previously mocked that rock band was now paying for his audacity in front of those hucksters and more virile than any other. An encouraging message, of freedom, of standing firm in your beliefs and tastes and not being defeated by the impositions, by the “socially correct” and not paying attention to the critics. “We're Not Gonna Take It” is the ‘be yourself’ to the rhythm of heavy metal by an unforgettable band.
My people thank you for reading and I hope you like this edition of the legendary songs of rock where we continue to expose these iconic and classic rock songs. See you in another post with more music. A thousand blessings.
