"I Wanna Rock"
Single by Twisted Sister
from the album Stay Hungry
Released1984
Genre
Length3:00
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Dee Snider
Producer(s)Tom Werman
Twisted Sister singles chronology
"We're Not Gonna Take It"
(1984)		 "I Wanna Rock"
(1984)		 "The Price"
(1984)
Music video
"I Wanna Rock" on YouTube

"I Wanna Rock" is a song written and composed by Dee Snider and performed by his band Twisted Sister. It was released on the 1984 album Stay Hungry.

Reception

Cash Box called the song "an exercise in hard rocking" that doesn't break new ground but "does what it does well."[5] Billboard said that Twisted Sister "strip down their stadium-sized sound to a minimum of power chords and slogan lyrics."[6]

In 2009, "I Wanna Rock" was named the 17th-Greatest Hard Rock Song by VH1.[7]

Music video

Like the earlier "We're Not Gonna Take It", the video features actor Mark Metcalf, best known as the abusive ROTC leader Douglas C. Neidermeyer from the movie National Lampoon's Animal House.

In the video, he plays a teacher with a similar personality to Neidermeyer, who harasses a student for drawing the Twisted Sister logo on one of his textbooks. He chastises the student by shouting, "What kind of a man desecrates a defenseless textbook?! I've got a good mind to slap your fat face!", which echoes a line from Animal House ("What kind of man hits a defenseless animal [a misbehaving horse]? I've got a good mind to smash your fat face in!").

Metcalf's character reprises his question from the "We're Not Gonna Take It" video, "What do you want to do with your life?!" This provides a lead-in for the track, as the student answers with the first line of the song, "I wanna rock!", after which he and four of his classmates are instantly transformed into Twisted Sister's five members.

The abusive teacher's repeated attempts to stop his rock-loving students not only fail; they also backfire on him. He crawls into the school principal's office, only to be confronted by the principal, played by Stephen Furst, who played Kent "Flounder" Dorfman in Animal House, opposite Metcalf. Furst's character, who suddenly approves Twisted Sister and its music, reprises one of his lines from the movie, "Oh boy, is this great!", before he sprays water from a seltzer bottle at the teacher, who collapses in defeat.

SpongeBob cover

"Goofy Goober Rock", a cover of the song with modified lyrics, was performed in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) by voice actor Jim Wise and musician Tom Rothrock. Dee Snider explained the experience of licensing the song for SpongeBob by saying, "Are you kidding me? This is my music. This is my art. How much? They paid me a lot of money. It's called Goofy Goober Rock. God bless 'SpongeBob SquarePants.'"[8] The song was released on the album The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – Music from the Movie and More.... Nerdist ranked "Goofy Goober Rock" as the fourth-best song from the SpongeBob series.[9]

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Argentina[10] 4
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 43
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] 44
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 10
Norway (VG-lista)[14] 5
South Africa (Springbok Radio)[15] 3
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[16] 10
UK Singles (OCC)[17] 93
US Billboard Hot 100[18] 68
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[19] 35

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[20] 2× Platinum 200,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-76034-546-7.
  2. ↑ Greenblatt, Leah (January 17, 2015). "Tunes from TV commercials". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Dee Snider Joins Broadway's 'Rock of Ages'". Billboard. Associated Press. October 1, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  4. ↑ Riddle, Tree (April 12, 2012). "Black Veil Brides Perform 'I Wanna Rock' with Dee Snider at 2012 Revolver Golden Gods". Loudwire. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 13, 1984. p. 7. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Singles Reviews". Billboard. October 6, 1984. p. 62. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  7. ↑ Winistorfer, Andrew (January 5, 2009). "VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs list only slightly less annoying than their hip-hop list". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Twisted Sister's Dee Snider: Why I Allowed 'I Wanna Rock' to Be Re-Recorded with New Lyrics for 'The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie'". Blabbermouth.net. April 18, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  9. ↑ Warner, Noelle (November 29, 2018). "The 9 Best Songs from SpongeBob SquarePants". Nerdist. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Cash Box - International Best Sellers" (PDF). worldradiohistory.com. Cash Box. 11 May 1985. p. 37.
  11. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 19. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9636." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  14. ↑ "Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock". VG-lista. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  15. ↑ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (T)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  17. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  18. ↑ "Twisted Sister Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  19. ↑ "Twisted Sister Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  20. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Twisted Sister – I Wanna Rock". Music Canada.
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