I Wanna Rock

"I Wanna Rock"
Single by Twisted Sister
from the album Stay Hungry
Released	1985
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 Wanna Rock" (1985) "The Price" (1985)

"I Wanna Rock" is a song from the album Stay Hungry (1985) 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.
• Twisted Sister re-recorded the entire Stay Hungry album as Still Hungry, released in 2004. The re-recorded version of I Wanna Rock appears as a playable track in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, whereas the original 1984 version appeared as a playable track on Guitar Hero Smash Hits.
• The song also appears in the soundtrack of the game Freestyle MetalX.

Other media

• The song is New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira's entry music.
• Its music video appears in an episode of Beavis and Butt-head.
• 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.
• The song was featured on the Broadway musical Rock of Ages, and its subsequent movie adaptation.

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.
• 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.
• American record producer Tom Rothrock, with actor Jim Wise, recorded a version of the song titled "Goofy Goober Rock" for the climax of the 2004 film The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics