Gore's Twisted Sister

OK, you rock 'n' rollers: It's all right to vote for Al Gore.

That's the word from none other than Twisted Sister, the 1980s heavy metal band cited by then-Sen. Gore and his wife Tipper as Exhibit A of what was wrong with popular music.

Despite the well-documented animosity between the Gores and the band, most of it generated by a 1985 Senate hearing on whether record albums and CDs should carry labels warning of graphic content, leaders of the glam-rock quintet say they plan to vote for Gore for president.

"I'm sort of supporting Al Gore, which is bizarre," said lead singer Dee Snider, who testified at the hearing along with Frank Zappa. "I don't trust the guy as far as I can throw him. He's a conservative liberal, but I think he's going to chew up George W. (Bush) and spit him out. He's an old-school, dirty-fighting politician."

Also, the vice president gets high marks on two major issues: the environment and abortion rights.

"To me, everything else is moot if you don't have a planet to battle on," Snider said. "He's a big environmentalist. He's stood up for environmental issues in the face of a lot of hostility."

It was 15 years ago that Mrs. Gore antagonized many rock musicians and fans through a group she co-founded called the Parents Music Resource Center that urged the record industry to adopt a system of warning labels for albums that include violent or sexually explicit lyrics.

Performers cried censorship, but the Gores said they were only trying to help parents know what their children were listening to. The industry, with the threat of possible government action in the air, adopted a voluntary system shortly after the September 1985 hearing.

Gore campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway said the PMRC issue, which once caused considerable grief for the Gores, has faded over the years.

"A lot of people who thought that warning labels was a bad idea have reconsidered and felt that parents need all the help they can get to know what their kids are watching and listening to," he said.

Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for Republican George W. Bush, did not respond to two requests for comment.

In another move that shows how far Mrs. Gore has put the controversy to rest, she played drums on a song by Zappa's daughter, Diva, last December. Diva's dad once called Mrs. Gore a "cultural terrorist."

Twisted Sister, which has recorded only sporadically since 1987, was one of the hottest rock bands in 1985, with its signature tune "We're Not Gonna Take It" getting heavy airplay on radio and video networks.

Snider, with his straggly bleached-blond hair, antagonized Gore by daring the somewhat stiff senator from Tennessee to admit he was a Twisted Sister fan. Gore curtly replied he was not.

Snider, now a disc jockey at a Hartford, Conn., radio station, said, "I embarrassed him and insulted his wife. Now I'm 45 years oland faced with the prospect of my two nemeses becoming president and first lady of the United States. So I'm pretending it didn't exist."

Guitarist Jay Jay French, a self-described liberal Democrat whose mother served as campaign manager for many New York politicians, said the Gores used Twisted Sister to bolster their pro-family image.

Anytime a Democrat takes a reactionary posture like Gore did and Tipper did back then, I was freaked, said French. But he said he's voting for Gore because the vice president has the experience and connections to get his agenda through Congress.

"If you're not a player, you're not going to get anywhere, and anybody that thinks otherwise is nuts," French said. "I like insiders who have power and can get things done."

Guitarist Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda said Gore deserves at least some credit for a booming economy.

"The whole PMRC thing I've put to sleep," Ojeda said. "I'm not too crazy about having Tipper Gore as first lady, but she hasn't gone after that in a while."

"I think it was a bad experience for her as well as everyone else," Ojeda said. "She ticked off a lot of musicians and artists. I think she regrets getting involved in it, and I know we regret getting involved in it. But people should be aware of the kind of music they're buying."