Recently speaking to the VRP Rocks podcast, Dee Snider disclosed his post-fame financial struggles and desk job experience following the band’s 1980s peak.
The frontman reflected on the decline of his financial and professional status in the early ’90s, saying:
“I had huge success in the ’80s and by the late ’80s, well early ’90s really, but by the late ’80s, things were starting to on the down sliding, and by the early 90s, I was broke, and I can’t blame the management. I can’t blame drugs. I can’t blame the drink. It was me, and what did they say? ‘Well, why?’ I said, ‘Well, the ego that drives you to believe you’re going to get there when you arrive, that same ego won’t allow you to believe it’s over.'”
The Fall From Rock Stardom
He then recalled how, by the early ’90s, he found himself in a dire situation, having to work a desk job:
“I remember in 91 riding a bicycle to a desk job answering phones in an office for a couple hundred dollars a week. People walking in; this is 91, 92. Twisted’s heyday was 84, 85, 86. So it’s not that long, and people going, ‘Hey, aren’t you [Dee Snider]?’ and I’m lying, and I go, ‘No, no, I’m not him. I just look like him.'”
A Humbling Experience
Explaining what this experience taught him, the singer added:
“And they go, ‘It’s uncanny,’ and because no one would believe that that guy from MTV would be sitting there at a desk answering the phone, but that’s how dark and dire things gon. But I would say it’s the best thing that ever happened to me because it forced me. First of all, it humbled me. It brought me back to Earth.”
Rediscovering Success
In another interview with Rockpages.gr in October 2023, Snider elaborated on his financial struggles during the early ’90s. After talking about these darkest moments, he shared how he bounced back, noting:
“And I ask myself, over and over again: ‘How did I get here?’ And then it goes back to the beginning, and you see my whole rise. But then, it shows how everything comes apart and how I lost everything. But don’t cry for me, Greece! I’m happy, healthy, rich, and famous. And, you know, I discovered all other things like voiceover, radio, acting, Twisted Sister got back together, and suddenly the interest in what was old was suddenly new again.”
So, Snider didn’t give up on himself and ventured into voiceover work, radio, screenwriting, and acting, which got him back into good shape financially.
Watch his full VPR Rocks interview below.
