Customer Reviews

Love Is for Suckers

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tis album was unfortunately the swansong of the band. It was overlooked and underrated by the critics. Real American Rock lovers however dont take it that way. Hard core fans may disagree but for my personal opinion this is the best Twisted release ever. Songs were all catchy and album just gets better and better with every listening. Even the gaps between songs are so short this album is guaranteed to leave you breathless. From the great opener "wake up" to the last cut a twisted rollercoaster take the listener to the heaven of hard rock of 80s. Just for the song "hot love" this album can be purchased. Album cover is also one of my personal favourites ever. If you are in the good ol' US hard rock of 80s dont miss this one.They dont make them they used to. A damn good & twisted release.

Yes folks, it was a sad time indeed, the 80's and all it's glory and silliness was coming to a close. Sadder yet was the fate of Twisted Sister. The monster steam-rolling band that exploded onto the scene, exited with barely a whisper. Gone was the makeup and outrageous outfits. Now they were dressed like leather-clad bikers, but their time was over. Too bad too, considering this was a good album.

I remember the day I bought the tape. I was walking home from work and it was pretty damn cold. I had a few bucks to burn, so on the way home I stopped at a record store. Even though 'Love is for Suckers' hadn't been out that long. I walked home listening to it. Back then when I walked everywhere, my WalkMan was a must have.

I remember walking the rest of the way home listening to the first song, 'Wake up the Sleeping Giant'. My favorite tune on the album, great opener. The title track is awesome, as is 'Hot Love', 'Me and the Boys' (ode to the infamous boy's night out and rock n roll) and the touching tongue in cheek) "You are all that I need'. Sorry, can't tell you anything about the 'new' tracks, but I'm sure they are good with Dee at the helm.

Twisted Sister is credited as being one of the original and most influential sleaze rock bands ever. But, not all of their records are remembered. Of course, Stay Hungry will always have a place in the annals of metal history with classic cuts like "I Wanna Rock," "We're Not Gonna Take It," and my personal favorite Twisted Sister song ever which is also the title track of that record. But, Love is for Suckers is not quite as remembered. As a matter of fact, I'm a big "SMF" and even I hadn't heard the 1987 release until recently.
I assumed it was some "swing and a miss" record that would just be a dust collecting jewel case in my CD library... Boy, was I off on that one!

The album opens up with such a cool track. Arnold Schwarzenegger used "We're Not Gonna Take It" as his campaign theme when he ran (and became) Governor of California. President Bush should use this track, "Wake Up the Sleeping Giant" as his campaign theme. It is about being pushed too far and fighting back. Sounds like it fits, doesn't it?

Hot Love is up next. Hot Love is the only track off the record I actually heard on the radio a few times. This song is such a cool hair metal track. I can't help but sing the chorus out loud which is a problem if you are wearing headphones and happen to be in a quiet environment. That's a good way to see the inside of a padded van, actually.

The title track "Love is For Suckers" follows next. Another cool song! And, at some point or another, we've all felt the things Dee sings about here. Something about this track reminds me of Alice Cooper's more up beat 80's material.

"I'm so Hot for You" and "Tonight" are cool "commercial friendly" songs.

"Me and the Boys" reminds me of a 60's girl group song such as "Leader of the Pack" with a lot more guitar influence. For that matter, "One Bad Habit" follows suit with that same style. KISS also did this with "Then She Kissed Me" off the Love Gun album.

"I Want This Night To Last Forever" follows with an opening that probably inspired the opening of Warrant's "Cherry Pie." When you talk about classic hair styled metal, you mean this track!

"You Are All I Need" is a beautiful song. It's as far "soft" as Twisted Sister will go which isn't "soft" at all! This is a fantastic song that you can't help but sing along to.

"Yeah Right" is a song that probably would fit on any of Twisted Sister's other records. It's a cool song to close out!

There is a sad epidemic among metal fans that claims if an album makes you sing along, it's a no good. The are the ones that make fun of the bands I like and like death metal bands from the Netherlands that eat each other. Bottom line, this record does not deserve the insults it gets by the pretentious "journalists." What it does deserve is air play! Lots and lots of air play! Fantastic record that I recommend to all who love hard rock, hair rock, and all points in between!

O.K before I begin this review, let me just say that I am a big Twisted Sister fan..makes sense since I bought this album and will take the time to review it.....so a little biased towards TS I might be...and since I have received no formal training as a music critic and could really care less about the technical aspects of the music or how proficient the bass player is in playing his instrument( I'll leave that for the true MUSIC GEEKS out there) I do care about one thing....DOES IT ROCK???...does it make me wanna stay in my car to hear the next song????...does it take me back to a time when acid wash jeans were the style and DEE SNIDER was the baddest frontman in rock???? A BIG YES TO ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!!!.....if you want music to save the world, listen to U2...if you want bad poetry put to a boring beat, listen to Coldplay...if you wanna hear some white guy pretend to be black and pick on his mom on every fckin song,listen to Eminem....but if you wanna be honest with yourself and admit that almost all of todays music sucks you will come to the same conclusion that I came to as well.....the best record i bought in 2005 was made in 1987.....LOVE IS FOR SUCKERS....now go save the world Bono!!!!

A good album but a different lyrical approach. At this point TS had made their success with Stay Hungry in 1984 but with the success of TS came the loss of Dee Snider's inner-fire of angry youth that was the lyrical inspiration for Stay Hungry, and Come Out and Play. Now a success Dee focused the bands direction into romance rock, with his wife Suezette as an inspiration, the approach was like a "Def Leppard" type love-rock music which tho great to listen to and not sappy like other love songs but was an ultimate betrayal to their "angry-youth" fan base. Even Mark Mendoza was ticked at Dee for his decision and resentful for a long time.

Another thing that did this album in before its time was the fact MTV gave them no other airplay after "I Wanna Rock" deeming "Be Chrool to Your Scuel" too grotesque, basically a zombies in school video with a "Thriller" feel. Then after that no videos were shown on MTV for "Love is For Suckers."

All their early 1970s stuff thru the 1980s was all hard rocking material done well, the 70s material was anti-disco and songs about quirks in life, from 1980-85 angry youth, sports chants and stadium rock hits, 1987 success, loss of inner "anger-fire"
on Dee's part but not a loss of inspiration and creativity on this album. We see how Dee combines love-lyrics with heavy-metal. Different subject but still the same TS style.

If you have a girlfriend who's into Def Leppard rock this would be a great CD for her.

1987 and 1988 the whole RAP scene was coming into play, along with many artists betraying what made them famous, which is why, sadly, I never bought the tape in 1987, Van Halen and Quiet Riot were broken-up, and ballad rock dominated what little hard-rock was being played on MTV, so at the time I didn't want to risk it however since listening to the samples at CD Now I have found it to be as great as everything else they have done and I now own the CD.

I've done this with Stryper, Joan Jett, Poison, & Blondie other talents that lost the spotlight to the Rap genre in the latter 1980s.

Personally Mark shouldn't have been so bitter towards Dee. There were many other factors denying the public the rock consistency of the early 1980s. Genre change, new politics at MTV, and then the scapegoat status of what was wrong with rock. A sad promotion but a great album. Had this been promoted right TS would've been up there with Def Leppard, Led Zepplin, and Poison.

The album ROCKS and is a must for any fan.

This is one of Twisted Sister's best efforts. Trademark raw power with some of their best hooks. Dee Snider's masterful high energy lyrics. It would have been triple platinum if it had come out five years earlier, but times were a changin'.

Really, if you are a TS fan, this is a must have. Wake up the sleeping giant is an anthem for any heavy metal fan. TS needs to do a new greatest hits and include many of these songs on it.

The four bonus songs I can do without, but digitally remastered, it is simply great!!

This is, in my opinion, the best Twisted Sister album and I was delighted to find it for sale on Amazon. I've not had a copy for over 10 years and it still rocks my world today. This album is full of good, honest 80's rockin' fun and it's great for singing along. The riffs get stuck in your head all day. If you're new to Twisted Sister I recommend this for a first album. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I liked the album to begin with, and I like it even more with the bonus songs. There is one thing everyone seems to agree upon. This is not the usual TS album. The 'Live at Wacken' extras, and I think the behind the music special, tell us that this was supposed to be a Dee Snider solo record, but the label wanted a TS album. In retrospect, after 'Come Out And Play' I think a change of pace was good for TS. That gives us 'Love Is For Suckers'. I thought the album cover was a creative illustration for the title. I have to agree that 'Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)' and 'Yeah Right!' are the heavy hitters on this one. Wake Up could have been a huge hit had it arrived a couple years sooner. The overall content is different in its references to women/sex, but that goes with the theme of the title. The music does come across softer than previous TS offerings as well. Songs like the title track, 'Me And The Boys', 'One Bad Habit', and 'Tonight' are solid tracks. 'Hot Love', 'I'm So Hot For You', and 'You Are All That I Need', which are good songs, really represent the rock scene in the late eighties. Had Bon Jovi or Poison put these out they probably would have been hits... but Twisted Sister? Good songs, just out of character.
I really enjoyed the bonus songs. 'If That's What You Want' and 'Feel Appeal' are the strongest I would say.
I give this remastered album 4 stars. I would give the original 1987 version 3 stars.

I hate to agree with some of the previous reviewers...the music on this album is very good, but it's not the kind of thing you'd expect Dee Snider to write. Most of the album pretty much implies sex (but not half as much as stupid rap does). If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say that the album implies sex, then you should look up the lyrics and take a good look at them. Does "do you wanna play" from "I'm So Hot for You" ring a bell?
All in all, I love the album because the music is so good, but it bothers me that Dee Snider would end up writing songs that are completely based on sex.
Another thing that irritates me is the lyrics that were included with the album. They look like they were written by someone who was on sleeping pills! I found that some lines were missing, and the wrong words were used in the wrong places. Also, lyrics for the bonus tracks were not included, which made it hard for me to make out the lyrics properly.
One thing that I really liked about the album is new drummer Joey Franco's style. He did a lot more on the drums than A.J. Pero did, and did a couple different beats. That's not to say that A.J. Pero is a bad drummer, because he's really good too.