Dee Snider says he wrote the album “Stay Hungry” in 45 minutes

Twisted Sister was formed in New York City in 1972 but reached their peak 12 years later, in 1984, with the release of their best-selling album “Stay Hungry”, which had the hits  “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock”. Over the years, the record gained multi-platinum status in the United States and sold more than 3 million copies.

In an interview with Vintage Rock Pod (Transcribed by Killer Guitar Rigs), he revealed that he wrote the album in only 45 minutes. All the lyrics to the songs were written by the band’s vocalist.

Dee Snider says he wrote the album “Stay Hungry” in 45 minutes

“I would have my song titles and I would get my tape recorder, handheld usually. And I would just look at a song title and get inspiration from the title. Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’…

“I mean, ‘Stay Hungry’ album, our biggest selling album, I wrote in 45 minutes, essentially wrote the entire record. My son was asleep in the crib, my wife went out to go to the grocery store, and I said, ‘Okay, I got a few minutes, let me turn on the faucet.’ I look at it now like that.”

He continued:

“And I worked on some song ideas. I put a bunch of ideas on tape. And these are little bits and pieces. Usually, the whole song but not every word. And when she came back after 45 minutes, she said, ‘How’s it going?’ I said ‘I think I got some good ideas for the new record.’

“And every song from ‘Stay Hungry’ was on there except ‘The Price,’ which I had written in Jimmy Page’s bathroom while we were recording ‘You Can’t Stop Rock ‘n’ Roll.’ But that’s another story,” Dee Snider said.

Besides Snider, the band was also formed at the time by Eddie “Fingers” Ojeda (Guitar), Jay Jay French (Guitar), Mark “The Animal” Mendoza (Bass) and A. J. Pero (Drums).