Music
25 Oct 23

Twisted Sister's Dee Snider reacts to the IDF playing 'We're Not Gonna Take it'

In an interview with TMZ, the Twisted Sister star said 'I wrote the song 40 years ago. I had no idea it was going to become this folk song for the ages'

Dee Snider, lead vocalist of the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, said yesterday that although he had no idea that 'We're Not Gonna Take it' was going to become a 'folk song for the ages', it was by design that the singer wrote the song so 'anyone could put their situation in it'.

The singer expressed his support of the use of the 1984 rock anthem being used as a 'battlecry' by the Israeli Defence Forces.

'We're Not Gonna Take it' has been used as a political anthem by various groups, having been used by Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, the 2018 Teacher's union strike in the United States.

The singer previously endorsed the use of the song by Ukrainian fighters during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Snider has previously lambasted the use of the song by American conspiracy theory movement QAnon, saying in a tweet that 'it was you and people like you that inspired every angry word of that song!".

ATTENTION QANON, MAGAT FASCISTS: Every time you sing "We're Not Gonna Take It" remember it was written by a cross-dressing, libtard, tree hugging half-Jew who HATES everything you stand for. It was you and people like you that inspired every angry word of that song! SO FUCK OFF!

— Dee Snider🇺🇸🎤 (@deesnider) August 26, 2022

'I never stop people from using it because that's censorship. I fought against censorship in the 80s.

The 'We're Not Gonna Take it' composer said "It's designed for people to use it as their battlecry. I got people on the left using it, I got people on the right using it.I got sporting events using it. I got kids using it".

Snider continued: "When someone who stands for something bad starts using it I try and speak out. I don't stop them from using it I just denounce it. You don't get my blessing."

Recently however, Sinder has expressed his support for the use of the song by the Israeli Defence Forces.

When asked to clarify if he is okay with the IDF using ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ as its battle cry, Snider said: “Oh, hell yeah.”

"People are saying the response is gonna be too intense for what happened. Well you don't get to decide on the response when you do things to civilians. You don't get to say 'Oh that's enough retaliation'- it doesn't work like that".

"I come from that school- you cross that line, you know shit's going to go down".

Watch the TMZ interview below.