Love Is for Suckers

Love Is for Suckers is the band’s last studio album of original material, released in 1987 before their breakup. Originally conceived as a Dee Snider solo record, it reached the world as a Twisted Sister album only because the label required the branding. Beau Hill, who had worked with Ratt and Warrant, produced, and session musicians — Reb Beach (guitar), Kip Winger (bass) and Joe Franco (drums) — are said to have played much of the album, with Beach’s guitar especially prominent throughout. The result adds more polished melody and glam-metal brightness to the band’s established rebellious identity. The anti-censorship “Wake Up (The Sleeping Giant)” and the energetic “Hot Love” and “One Bad Habit” pair pop instinct with rock momentum. Stepping outside the expected image, it reveals the group’s songwriting flexibility. It underperformed commercially, and soon after its release Snider left and the band broke up for a time. It is a final-chapter studio work reflecting the end of an era.