We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song)

"We're Not Gonna Take It" is a 1984 hit song by the American glam metal/heavy metal band Twisted Sister from their album Stay Hungry. The song was first released as a single (with "You Can't Stop Rock & Roll" as the B-side) on April 27, 1984. The Stay Hungry album was released two weeks later, on May 10, 1984. The single reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, making it Twisted Sister's only Top 40 single. The song was ranked #47 on 100 Greatest 80's Songs and #21 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

The song premiered for the first time in San Bernardino in 1984, along with many other songs from Stay Hungry (album).

The song was written by vocalist Dee Snider. As influences for the song, he cites the glam rock band Slade, the punk band Sex Pistols, and the Christmas carol, "O Come, All Ye Faithful".

The song is notable for its popular music video directed by Marty Callner, with its emphasis on slapstick comedy, where a parent gets the worst of the band's mischief. Controversy arose when the depiction of the family in the video caused a public outcry long before the "explicit lyrics" warning was placed on records, cassettes, and CDs. This led to the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center, co-founded by Tipper Gore (who later became Second Lady of the United States). Mark Metcalf, the actor portraying the father in the video, had previously played Neidermayer, the ROTC student commander in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). In a reference to his role in the film, Metcalf says "A Twisted Sister pin? On your uniform?!" in the video. Snider himself can also be heard cursing and swearing the question "A pledge pin? On your uniform?" at the end of the song.

In 1999, the US rock band Lit parodied the opening scene in their video for "Zip Lock".

Cover versions

The song has been covered by various artists including:

• American ska punk band Less Than Jake for the 1997 punk rock/emo compilation Where's The Beef (later compiled on their album Goodbye Blue & White)
• American The Huntingtons for their 1998 album All the Stuff (And More)-Vol 1
• American hardcore-punk band A Global Threat on their 1999 album What The Fuck Will Change?
• Canadian rock singer Bif Naked for the Ready to Rumble soundtrack in 2000
• American Joan Jett for a 2001 tribute album Twisted Forever - A Tribute To The Legendary Twisted Sister
• All-female Finnish rock band Thee Ultra Bimboos on their 2003 single "Sleeping Dogs"
• German pop punk band Donots in 2002 (which became a minor hit in Germany, reaching 33 in the Singles Chart)
• Chilean band Los Mox in Spanish for their album Con Cover (the title of the song in Spanish is "No lo aceptaremos")
• Mexican pop-rock band Moderatto in Spanish ("No lo Aceptaremos") which was released in 2007 for the Mexican Consejo de la Comunicación, the organization connected to the Ad Council, anti-corruption advertising campaign
• Australian pop duo The Veronicas, which was available for download and also used in a 2008 birth control pill commercial called Yaz
• Swedish trio Hellsongs on their 2008 album Hymns In The Key Of 666 (used in Damages Season 3 Episode 3)
• Holland street rock'n'roll band Discipline on their 2008 album Old Pride, New Glory
• Spanish oi! band Oi! The Arrase for the album Anarkoi in 1997 with other lyrics but same music (the title of the song is "Somos de Mallorca")
• Swedish dansband Larz-Kristerz at Dansbandskampen 2008 and on the 2009 album Hem till dig.^[3]
• Kidz Bop Kids on Kidz Bop 80's Gold (this is their first heavy metal cover).
• The classic rock musical Rock of Ages, which premiered on Broadway in 2009.
• The Finnish Power Metal band Nightwish.
• Powerviolence band Charles Bronson primarily used this song on their track "Can't Take This"
• American street punk band Total Chaos on their 2001 album "Punk Invasion".
• The song was featured in episode 1.02 of the reality show The Glee Project ("Theatricality") on Oxygen. Contestants filmed a music video of the song.
• American industrial metal band Powerman 5000 in the 2011 cover album Copies, Clones & Replicants

Parodies

• American singer "Weird Al" Yankovic included the song in the "Hooked on Polkas" medley from Dare to Be Stupid.
• German Comedy Metal Band J.B.O. also did a German version of it, called "Wir wollen's nicht mehr nehmen" as part of their "Drogen?"-Medley on their 1997 Laut! album
• American ska/punk band, Reel Big Fish, used the melody to the song as part of their song "Everybody's Drunk" but altered the lyrics to: "We're all gonna get drunk! We're all gonna get drunk! Oh wait we're already drunk!".
• Canadian ska band Whole Lotta Milka also covered the song on their Got Milka album under the title "Twisted".
• The Chilean band Los Mox also covered the song in their disc Los Mox Con Cover, the song in this disc is called ``No Lo Aceptaremox´´
• Japan professional soccer league "J-league" team "Vegalta-SENDAI" supporters chant.
• Canadian-Quebec band LUCKY UKE recorded a hit ukelele version of the song and video www.luckyuke.com
• In Regular Show Mordecai and Rigby sing it at a karaoke bar (badly).
• In Spanish, some people called "Huevos con Aceite".

References