After years of publicly and vehemently vowing he would never reunite Twisted Sister, frontman Dee Snider has revealed the deeply personal reason for his change of heart: a recent “health scare” that “shook me up” and forced him to re-evaluate his own mortality. In a new, remarkably candid interview, he explained that the experience left him with one burning question: “Do I really wanna do that without rocking one more time?”
Speaking with radio host John “JP” Parise, Snider addressed the backlash he has received for reversing his long-held, anti-reunion stance, a position where he had often criticized other legacy bands. “I own [my previous] statements. I said that and more,” he admitted as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “I ranted and raved about this, and I expected to get excrements for this, but I’m getting hit hard.”
He then revealed the true, previously undisclosed catalyst for his decision. “I’m not gonna lie, and I can only tell you so much, but this is the total truth,” he began. “I turned 70 this year and I had a health scare. And I’m okay… But it really made me re-evaluate a lot of things. [When I was] 40, 50, 60, I thought I was superhuman… and then [at] 70, something happened and it was a re-evaluation, quite honestly.”
That life-changing experience led him to initiate the call to his bandmates Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda, who he said were surprised after accepting for years that a reunion was off the table. While he acknowledged that the financial offers for a reunion are significant, he insisted that money was not the driving force.
“It really was this sort of looking in the mirror going, ‘Hey, man, that was scary. And I don’t wanna go out like that,'” he explained. “I do not wanna go out quietly. Kicking and screaming, man — that’s the way I wanna go.”
“You never know when you’re gonna go quietly to the night. You never know when your time is up. And do I really wanna do that without rocking one more time.”
To that end, the 2026 50th-anniversary celebration will not be a grueling, traditional tour. Snider clarified that it will be a limited run of “about 20, 25 shows around the world, festivals almost exclusively.” This format is more manageable for the now 70-year-old frontman, who also gave a rare insight into his “manic” and “miserable” pre-show preparations.
“I sit there writing a list of the exact time I’ve gotta eat my protein and what time I’ve gotta do my neck stretches and a hot bath and vocalizing. I write it down on a sheet, and I check it off. I’m, like, manic,” he admitted, explaining that the intensity is why his wife Suzette rarely joined him on the road.
