''Love Is for Suckers'' is the fifth studio album by the American
heavy metal band
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with m ...
. It was released by
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
in July 1987, with the single "Hot Love" being released on August 1. It was the band's last album before their breakup and subsequent reunion and release of ''
Still Hungry'' in 2004. It is also their last album to be composed of entirely new, original material.
Overview
The sound of the album was strongly influenced by
glam metal
Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...
, and was one of the causes of conflict which led to the band splitting after its release.
The band got rid of the more extreme elements of their look, to "fit in with every other
hair metal
Hair is a protein filament that grows from hair follicle, follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick ter ...
band out there at that time". According to interviews contained in the ''Live at Wacken'' DVD and in Snider's autobiography, the material was originally meant to be a solo album by Twisted Sister's lead singer,
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955)Tayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He w ...
, but the label pushed for it to be released under the Twisted Sister name instead. The tour for the album lasted just over one month and ended in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 10, 1987. Two days later, on October 12, 1987, vocalist Dee Snider announced his departure from the band.
All the original band members recorded this album, except drummer
A. J. Pero. Pero played on all previous Twisted Sister albums and left the band in July 1986, though he came back for some reunion tours and special recordings. He was replaced for a short time by
Joey Franco
Joe "Seven" Franco (born 1951) is an American drummer best known for his work with the band The Good Rats in the late 1970s and later as a replacement member of Twisted Sister.
Biography
Joe Franco, a 1969 graduate of Brooklyn Technical High S ...
.
No songs from this album appeared on the band's 1992 greatest hits album ''
Big Hits and Nasty Cuts''. It would be Twisted Sister's final studio album of original material, as all albums since have been compilations, live albums or re-recordings of already written material.
Seven of the album's songs were played live during the brief 1987 tour. Snider has stated that he likes many of the songs on the album, vocally. However he feels that if they play any of them live, it may bring back bad memories for the band. In 2012, the band introduced "Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)" into their set, following demands from fans for material to be included from all of the band's studio albums.
In a 1987 interview with ''
Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...
'', Snider stated, "We haven't done many love songs before. Most of our songs have been about rebellion, but on ''Love Is for Suckers'' the songs are mainly about love, lust and sex. It's a very horny album. I get pretty excited every time I hear it."
In a 2009 interview by Ruben Mosqueda, Snider spoke of his thoughts on the album:
In 2012, Dee Snider commented to an audience at the annual concert festival in Dessel Belgium, known as the Graspop Metal Meeting, "Now we have been accused in the past of not playing stuff from all of our albums, so this year we added one song from the ''Love Is for Suckers'' record to the set
..for those who know in the 80s, there was a little problem in Washington with censorship and this one was a big middle finger to Washington D.C. It's called "Wake Up (the Sleeping Giant)."" The band then performed that song.
Critical reception
Upon its release, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' wrote: "Longtime New York-based rockers stumbled with last release but have managed to catch their balance on this one, with a new producer and new attitude. Album is chock-full of sturdy, straightforward cuts." Sharon Liveten of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' wrote: "On its fifth album, Twisted Sister doesn't tromp off into uncharted territory. It's anthemic, occasionally repetitive and self-derivative. That said, ''Love Is for Suckers'' is a darned good album. The guitar work is flashy but doesn't resort to clichéd posturing and Dee Snider's vocals are in fine, sneering form."
Robin Welles of ''
The Press-Courier
''The Oxnard Press-Courier'' was a newspaper located in Oxnard, California, United States. It ceased publication in June 1994 after 95 years. '' described ''Love Is for Suckers'' as "a screamer of an album". Pete Bishop of the ''
Pittsburgh Press
''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...
'' commented: "This is cliche-cluttered, "commercial" heavy metal designed for instant acceptance. Seven of the cuts are the same wham-bam-party-hearty stuff Twisted Sister and so many others have defrosted and reheated ad nauseam." He selected "Hot Love", "One Bad Habit" and "You Are All That I Need" as "the class of the disc because they dare to differ from the formula and because Twisted Sister performs them well."
Michael Dowding of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' wrote: "Unfortunately, this album sounds like a band in decline. There's still enough thump and screech to keep the Saturday night party going, but don't look for any development or innovation. For fans, the best cuts include "Wake Up" and "One Bad Habit". For many other listeners, though, this is an album to avoid." Barbara Jaeger of ''
The Record'' wrote: "The 10 songs on this collection sound like every other song the band has done. Underscoring the overwrought vocals of Dee Snider are screechy guitars and thunderous drums. The songs, with their sophomoric lyrics, cover the usual heavy-metal topics. So, if you're looking for something new, forget about this one."
Keith Carman from Exclaim!, gave the album a highly negative review, stating, "This isn't even for suckers; it just sucks."
Track listing
Note: the reissue bonus tracks were later released as a separate EP in 2021 titled: ''Feel Appeal: Love Is for Suckers Extras''.
Personnel
Twisted Sister
*
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider (born March 15, 1955)Tayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> is an American singer, songwriter, radio personality, and actor. He w ...
– lead vocals
*
Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda - lead & rhythm guitar, backing vocals
*
Jay Jay French
Jay Jay French (born John French Segall, July 20, 1952) is an American guitarist, manager, record producer and founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He is a columnist, author and motivational speaker who oversees licensing and i ...
- rhythm & lead guitar, backing vocals
*
Mark "The Animal" Mendoza – bass, backing vocals
*
Joey "Seven" Franco – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
*
Reb Beach
Richard Earl "Reb" Beach Jr. (born August 31, 1963) is an American rock guitarist. He is a member of the bands Winger and Whitesnake.
Career
After graduating from Fox Chapel Area High School and attending Berklee College of Music in the ear ...
– additional guitars, additional shouts
*
Beau Hill
Beau Hill is an American record producer who is best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Kix, Winger, Streets, Warrant, Fiona, Europe, and Ratt. He also played instruments and sang backing vocals for some of the artists that he produced, as ...
– keyboards, backing vocals
*The New West Horns – horns
*Jimmy Chalfant,
Steve Whiteman
Steve Whiteman (born August 28, 1956) is an American rock vocalist, best known for being the lead singer of Kix (band), Kix.
Biography Early years
Whiteman first realized his love for music at a young age, as a child, he would hurry home fr ...
,
Kip Winger
Charles Frederick Kip Winger (born June 21, 1961) is an American bass guitarist and singer, active as a member of the rock band Winger and as a solo artist. He initially gained notability as a member of Alice Cooper's band, contributing bass an ...
– backing vocals
*Bob Gamm, Gary Kris, B. Smith, Chris Cintron, Joe Gerber, Jodie Segall, Peter Love,
Luke Perry
Coy Luther "Luke" Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He ...
- additional shouts
Production
*Beau Hill - producer, engineer
*Twisted Sister, Beau Hill, Reb Beach,
Ronni Le Tekrø
Ronni Le Tekrø (born Rolf Ågrim Tekrø, 5 October 1963) is a Norwegian guitarist best known for playing with the Norwegian hard rock band TNT and as a solo guitarist cooperating with guitarists Terje Rypdal and Mads Eriksen as "N3". LeTekrø ...
- arrangements
*Stephen Benben - engineer
*Ira McLaughlin - assistant engineer
*
Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
Ted ...
- mastering at
Sterling Sound
George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.
Biography
Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...
, New York
*Bob Defrin - art direction
*Frank Moscati - photography
*Dee Snider - cover concept
Charts
Album
Singles
References
{{Authority control
Twisted Sister albums
1987 albums
Atlantic Records albums
Albums produced by Beau Hill