BLABBERMOUTH.NET
TWISTED SISTER singer
Dee Snider says that he "absolutely" approves of Ukrainians using the band's song
"We're Not Gonna Take It" as their battle cry while they are fighting back against the Russian invasion.
On Thursday (February 24), Russian president
Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in the east of Ukraine. A short time later, explosions were reported in the outskirts of Kharkiv, Kramatorsk and Mariupol, as well as the capital Kyiv.
Putin made the announcement during a televised early morning speech, peddling accusations of Nazi elements within Ukraine to justify the attack on his western neighbor, a move that experts slammed as slanderous and false. (Ukrainian president
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and lost three family members in the Holocaust.)
The Russian leader called for Ukraine's "demilitarization and denazification" and warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to "consequences they have never seen."
Putin's military aggression — which has been described by U.S. president
Joe Biden as an "unprovoked and unjustified attack" on Ukraine — has resulted in nearly 200 deaths so far, including civilians, three of whom were children, according to Ukraine's health minister.
Earlier today,
Snider took to his
Twitter to write: "I absolutely approve of Ukrainians using
'We're Not Gonna Take It' as their battlecry. My grandfather was Ukrainian, before it was swallowed up by the USSR after WW2. This can't happen to these people again! #FUCKRUSSIA".
"We're Not Gonna Take It", the biggest hit single in
TWISTED SISTER's career, has been used in commercials for hotel chain
Extended Stay America,
Claritin,
Walmart,
Stanley Steamer and
Yaz birth control.
The song's lyrics say in part "Oh you're so condescending/Your gall is never ending/We don't want nothin'/Not a thing from you."
"We're Not Gonna Take It" was first released as a single (with B-side song
"You Can't Stop Rock 'N' Roll") on April 27, 1984. The
"Stay Hungry" album was released two weeks later, on May 10, 1984. The single made No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it
TWISTED SISTER's only Top 40 single, and the song was ranked No. 47 on
VH1's "100 Greatest '80s Songs".
"We're Not Gonna Take It" was written solely by
Snider. As influences for the song, he previously cited the glam rock band
SLADE, the punk band
SEX PISTOLS, and the Christmas carol
"O Come, All Ye Faithful".
TWISTED SISTER called it quits in 2016 after completing a farewell 40th-anniversary tour. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of
TWISTED's longtime drummer
A.J. Pero.
