I Wanna Rock

"I Wanna Rock"
Single by Twisted Sister
from the album Stay Hungry
Released	1984
Format	CD single, 7", 12"
Genre	Heavy metal, glam metal
Length	3:02
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Dee Snider
Producer	Tom Werman
Certification	2x Platinum (CRIA)
Twisted Sister singles chronology
"We're Not Gonna Take It" (1984) "I Wannna Rock" (1984) "The Price" (1984)

"I Wanna Rock" is a song from the album Stay Hungry (1984) by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister. In 2009 it was named the 17th VH1 Greatest Hard Rock Songs by VH1. The song was also covered by the pop punk band Lit on 2001 Twisted Sister tribute album, Twisted Forever.

Music video

Like the earlier "We're Not Gonna Take It", the video features actor Mark Metcalf, best known as the sadistic Neidermeyer from the movie Animal House. Here, he plays a ferocious teacher who harasses a student for drawing the Twisted Sister logo on a book, shrieking: "What kind of a man desecrates a defenseless textbook?! I've got a good mind to slap your fat face!!" (echoing his line from Animal House: "What kind of man hits a defenseless animal [a misbehaving horse]? I've got a good mind to smash your fat face in."). After his attempts to stop his rock-loving students fail, he crawls into the principal's office – only to be confronted by the principal, played by Stephen Furst (Flounder from Animal House). Furst even gets to reprise one of his big lines from the movie: "Oh boy, is this great!" as he squirts water at the mean teacher.

Media appearances

"I Wanna Rock" is subject to numerous media appearances, including:

Video games

• It was used as the title song for the 2003 game Will Rock.
• It was used as a soundtrack for 2008's Burnout Paradise, as well as 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
• A master track from Still Hungry album, a remake album of Stay Hungry, is a playable track on the PlayStation 2 video game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. This song, along with Scandal's "The Warrior" (also playable master track) make use of fade-outs, as opposed to the ending treatment given to other songs in Guitar Hero series.
• A master track from the original album "Stay Hungry" appears as a playable track in 2009's Guitar Hero Smash Hits, the Guitar Hero that featured the song from previous Guitar Hero series selected by fans. This time, player will be able to play guitar, bass, drum and/or singing parts, as opposed to the use in Guitar Hero Encore above, which players can only play guitar part.
• The song also appears in the soundtrack of the game Freestyle MetalX.

Movies

• The characters sang-along to the song, playing on the radio of the bus, in the 2000 movie Road Trip.
• Mackdawg productions used the song as the intro of their 2001 snowboard movie called The Resistance, featuring the forum team.
• It was also heard in the 2008 movie The Rocker.

Cover versions

• Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French made a political song supporting Barack Obama titled "I Want Barack", to the tune of the song.
• New Jersey singer-songwriter Christian Beach recorded a bluegrass version of "I Wanna Rock" for the 2008 album Hair Apparent – The Main Man Records Tribute to Hair Bands.
• The song is New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira's entry music.
• This song is covered by alternative rock band Lit in Twisted Forever, a tribute album to Twisted Sister. This version was later included as a soundtrack for the baseball game Triple Play 2002.
• Also featured in the Broadway show "Rock Of Ages", which has productions in other countries such as Australia.

Other uses

• American record producer, composer, and musician Tom Rothrock, with actor, writer, composer, and musician Jim Wise, recorded a version of the song titled "Goofy Goober Rock" for the climax of the 2004 film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
• The tune of this song was used in a "Parody" in an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants under the title "I'm a Goofy Goober".