Twisted Sister guitarist, Eddie Ojeda, joined VRP Rocks to discuss his career and the conversation got around to the challenges and consequences of musicians engaging in activism, most notably Dee Snider's appearance at the Senate to fight the PMRC.
Despite their initial belief in the cause, Ojeda reflects on the aftermath and shares his newfound perspective from their engagement with congress, including possible phone tapping, and its effect on the band's popularity.
Says Eddie in the video below: "That, I wish we would've stayed out of [...] I think we went a bit far with it. I mean, I think it was kinda cool to stand up for your rights, but, you know, I think in the long run, it, you know, wasn't a good thing to go to congress and try to, like, take them on because they don't like to lose. And, you know, Dee did a great job of representing himself, and, they weren't happy about it. They thought they were gonna get some drunken drugged out fool show up and embarrass himself and, you know, put more nails in the coffin, so to speak. But it didn't go that way. So, yeah. I think it ended up, even though it was a positive thing, it also took a toll, you know, on the band.
He adds: "I just thought it hurt our popularity, and I don't know if they had something to do with it. I think some of the guys' phones were tapped, stuff like that."
Eddie also says: "I didn't know if they had influence with the radio stations or whatever. It was just kinda weird. You know, we sorta had a bit of a hard time after that."
(Photo - Mark Weiss)
