In a new interview with “Mosh Talks,” TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider talked about the 2000s rock and metal, and how the guitar-driven styles lost their prominence to rap and hip-hop during this time.
After interview noted: “When I grew up, nu-metal was my thing, so we still had a place at the mainstream table. Are we just less dangerous, are we less appealing now? Is that why rap stars are out there saying that they’re the rock stars?” Dee said (as transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar.com): “First of all, we f*cked up. I talked about this at length, and there’s a study that headbangers grow to be healthier adults than non-headbangers, and Psychology Today interviewed me and said, ‘Why?’
“I said, ‘I know exactly why — because we give a place to let out the darker emotions, hate, frustration, depression, heartbreak, anxiety, all those things; all those emotions are released through heavy metal,’ he continued. “We went into a period during this screamo… the whiny 2000s, where we didn’t allow that. It was a complainy, whiny, b*tchy time lyrically, and up stepped the hardcore rap, gangsta rap gave that outlet, that middle finger factor that we needed, that had disappeared from metal.
“I’m sorry SOUNDGARDEN — I love SOUNDGARDEN, but it was too whiny, complainy, and depressed, OK? It wasn’t angry enough,” Dee added. And hip-hop stepped in and said, ‘Hey, white kids’ – I’m sorry, but it’s white kids who went over there — ‘here’s some news for you, unless you get that sh*t out…’
“And I love hip-hop, by the way, because it has that, ‘Yeah, f*ck you.’ So now metal’s gotten back to that, but we gave away our crown at one point, so that was a problem. And then, of course, the free downloading and social-media marketing, the whole game changed, so it’s tough to get back that. We have no exposure to get back that place at the table that we gave up to the hip-hop community.”
