You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll

You Can’t Stop Rock ‘N’ Roll was one of the very first heavy metal albums I had bought. I purchased it on cassette and along with Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil it made me realise there was more to rock music than just Kiss.

Being of a very impressionable age when I bought the tape the lyrical message hit home with its full impact. You’re Not Alone, I’ve Had Enough and I Am (I’m Me) made me feel that in Dee Snider and company I had cohorts that knew what I was going through in my youth. I did feel alone, my friends I didn’t really like and the ones that I could hang out with never understood my love of rock music. It was a tough time but when I put on tracks like We’re Gonna Make It I knew that I could get through it all. Of course like the majority of young teens, I did. I outgrew the acne and I did eventually find myself a girl or two.

This was Twisted Sister’s first outing on a major label; they had signed to Atlantic Records and produced an LP that cut the occasional speed metal riffs that had appeared on their previous independent release Under The Blade. You Can’t Stop Rock And Roll was a wholly more mid tempo record, full of more impressive hooks, larger anthemic choruses and a much firmer, solid production. Still, the label didn’t back the album totally and the band failed to break through until they released Stay Hungry a year later. At that point Atlantic realised that they had a cash cow on their hands, a band that could compete with Ratt and maybe even Def Leppard.

This album has all the makings of a classic but unfortunately bogs itself down with a couple of half-hearted filler tracks. I’ll Take You Alive is your standard early 80’s ego rock fare with little in the way of anything other than macho meat head posturing and as for The Power And The Glory (which Iron Maiden owe a debt to for their opening bass patterns with their Stranger In A Strange Land track), it’s simply not even fit for a b side.

Except for these two thorns the album is very much a classic. Ride To Live, Live To Ride is a great biking anthem, although how this relates to me and my Vespa PX125 is anybody’s guess. I Am (I’m Me) was an obvious single choice and every bit as brilliant as the likes of Motley Crue, Kiss or proper metal bands like Judas Priest could muster. Many a moment I spent trying to explain to my rock buddies in the latter part of the 80’s just how amazing this song was. I always included it on mix tapes and yet it almost always was spurned. My friends preferred Bad English, Queensryche and even Skid Row. Just utter morons, what can I say? The hit to shit ratio here is good enough to warrant further investigation into the band and that’s exactly what happened with me. If you don’t already know the band then I’m am pretty sure this record will do the same for you.