Twisted Sister

Initially released in 1987, fifth Twisted Sister outing Love is for Suckers should have been called This Album is for Suckers. Easily their most confused effort, thanks to in-fighting and label pressure to release frontman Dee Snider's solo material as a band affair, from misled, unilateral subject matter to hollow production, the album suffers. It struggles to keep up with the vacuous hair metal/cock rockers Twisted Sister were lumped in with instead of maintaining their anthemic AC/DC-meets-bluesier essence. Moreover, seeing dudes dressed up like a drag queens the morning after singing a half-dozen songs about being hot for someone, partying all night and more love, love, love over empty riffs and half-time crooners is a bit disgusting. Where are the empowering chants? The fun-loving, rollicking ditties? Absent and replaced by impassivity, that's where. While lead single "Hot Love" has its moments, despite coating itself in the aforementioned air-headedness of the band's "contemporaries," it isn't enough to save this turkey. At that, cleaning up the sound only serves to amplify the overall lacklustre essence ― polishing a turd, so-to-speak. With the safety of hindsight, it's no wonder Dee's vocals are the only aspect worth mentioning. Still, even he should be thankful for dodging the bullet that could have been his post-Sister career. This isn't even for suckers; it just sucks.