Come Out and Play (Twisted Sister album)

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Come Out and Play is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released by Atlantic Records on November 9, 1985. It was less successful than its predecessor Stay Hungry (1984) both critically and commercially.

Overview

After the success of Stay Hungry, Twisted Sister were faced with the question whether they should continue in a more pop-oriented direction or return to their early heavy metal roots. They tried to do a bit of both, but the approach proved unsuccessful since Come Out and Play marked the start of the band's decline. According to an interview with lead singer and songwriter Dee Snider, found in the CD sleeve of Club Daze 1: The Studio Sessions, The Shangri-Las cover "Leader of the Pack," which was first included on Ruff Cuts (1982) (an early E.P. mostly unknown to those outside the core fan base), was intended to boost the band's popularity while keeping old fans pleased. Eventually neither that nor "Be Chrool To Your Scuel", featuring such musical guests as Alice Cooper, Brian Setzer and Billy Joel among many others, received the reaction that the band and their record label were expecting.

Although the album sold more than 500,000 copies, earning it Gold status, the supporting tour was a fiasco, with cancelled dates and low attendances. Drummer A.J. Pero left the band after the tour ended in 1986, contributing to the chaos which eventually led to band's breakup after the release of Love Is For Suckers in late-1987.

From a musical viewpoint, the album was not a huge departure from Stay Hungry, despite a little more commercial sounding production by Scorpions producer, Dieter Dierks.

The music videos for "Leader of the Pack" and "Be Chrool to Your School" followed the comedic nature of band's earlier videos, but the latter, featuring Alice Cooper, was banned by MTV on the grounds that it was too offensive. There was no video made for the album's final single, "You Want What We Got".

In 1986 the band released the Come Out and Play: The Videos home video on VHS, which included four videos ("We're Not Gonna Take It", "I Wanna Rock", "Leader of the Pack" and "Be Chrool to Your Scuel") tied together by scenes of Dee Snider in a metal scrapyard being visited by kids and others questionables in need of advice to their problems, to the tune of "Come Out and Play". This home video has not since been issued on DVD.

The album was re-released by Spitfire Records in 1999 along with all the other albums of the band, except Stay Hungry.

The title track featured Dee Snider clicking bottles together saying "Twisted Sister, come out and play" several times in the beginning, a reference to the 1979 cult classic movie The Warriors, when the main villain, Luther, chants "Warriors, come out to play" while clicking bottles together as well.

Track listing

All songs written by Dee Snider unless otherwise noted.

1. "Come Out and Play" – 4:51
2. "Leader of the Pack" (Ellie Greenwich, Shadow Morton, Jeff Barry) – 3:48
3. "You Want What We Got" – 3:45
4. "I Believe in Rock 'n' Roll" – 4:03
5. "The Fire Still Burns" – 3:34
6. "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" – 3:53
7. "I Believe in You" – 5:23
8. "Out on the Streets" – 4:27
9. "Lookin' Out for #1" – 3:07
10. "Kill or Be Killed" – 2:47
11. "King of the Fools" [bonus track on cassette and CD versions] – 6:26

Credits

Twisted Sister

• Dee Snider – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Eddie "Fingers" Ojeda – lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
• Jay Jay French – rhythm & lead guitars, backing vocals
• Mark "The Animal" Mendoza – bass, backing vocals
• A. J. Pero – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Alan St. John – keyboards
• Don Dokken – backing vocals
• Gary Holland – backing vocals
• Alice Cooper – accompanying lead vocals on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Brian Setzer – guitar solo on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Billy Joel – piano on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Clarence Clemons – saxophone solo on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Crispin Cioe – baritone saxophone on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Arno "Cool-Ray" Hecht – tenor saxophone on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Bad Bob Funk – trombone on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Hollywood Paul Litteral – trumpet on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• The Uptown Horns – horn section on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Julia Waters – backing vocals on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• Maxine Waters – backing vocals on "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"

Production

• Dieter Dierks – producer, LP audio mastering
• Eddy Delana – sound engineer
• Craig Engel – assistant engineer in Los Angeles
• Craig Vogel – assistant engineer in New York
• Bob Ludwig – LP audio mastering
• Mikael Kirke – art director
• Mark Weiss – art director, photographer
• Barry Diament – CD audio mastering

Video guest stars

The following people appeared only in the song's official video:

• The comedian Bobcat Goldthwait
• The make-up artist Tom Savini
• Actor Luke Perry

Singles

• "Leader of the Pack"
• "Be Chrool to Your Scuel"
• "You Want What We Got"

External links

• Album lyrics from Twisted Sister's official web site