Come Out and Play (Twisted Sister album)


Come Out and Play is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released by Atlantic Records on November 9, 1985. The album was significantly less successful than its predecessor Stay Hungry, both critically and commercially, although it achieved Gold status by selling more than 500,000 copies.

Overview

After the massive and unexpected success of 1984's Stay Hungry which established Twisted Sister as one of the world's top recording acts, the band were faced with the question of whether they should continue in a more pop-oriented direction or return to their heavy metal roots. They ultimately attempted to do both, but the approach proved unsuccessful and Come Out and Play marked the start of the band's commercial decline. The album's first single, "Leader of the Pack", a Shangri-Las cover, was intended to continue the band's popularity and commercial appeal, but the song proved very unpopular with fans. Ultimately, neither "Leader of the Pack" nor second single "Be Chrool To Your Scuel" received the positive reaction that the band and their record label were expecting, marking the beginning of the band's decline.
The supporting tour was a fiasco, with cancelled dates and low attendances. Drummer A.J. Pero left the band after the tour ended in 1986, contributing to the chaos which eventually led to band's breakup after the release of Love Is For Suckers in late 1987.
From a musical viewpoint, the album was not a huge departure from Stay Hungry, despite a little more commercial sounding production by Scorpions producer, Dieter Dierks.
The music videos for "Leader of the Pack" and "Be Chrool to Your School" followed the comedic nature of band's earlier videos, but the latter, featuring Alice Cooper, was banned by MTV on the grounds that it was too offensive. There was no video made for the album's final single, "You Want What We Got".
In 1986 the band released the Come Out and Play: The Videos home video on VHS, which included four videos tied together by scenes of Dee Snider in a metal scrapyard being visited by kids and others questionables in need of advice to their problems, to the tune of "Come Out and Play". This home video has not since been issued on DVD.
The title track featured Dee Snider clicking bottles together saying "Twisted Sister, come out and play" several times in the beginning, a reference to the 1979 cult classic movie The Warriors, when the main villain, Luther, chants "Warriors, come out to play" while clicking bottles together as well.

Track listing

Credits

Twisted Sister

The following people appeared only in the song's official video:

Album

Singles

Certifications