Dee Snider offered. Maybe Beto O’Rourke will “take it.” (Get it?)
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Yes, the Twisted Sister frontman has offered to sing the band’s signature hit, “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” in support of O’Rourke’s gubernatorial campaign in Texas. O’Rourke, a Democrat, is running against Greg Abbott, a Republican.
Going even further, Snider, who supports O’Rourke, has offered an all-star group to help back him up, as well.
Snider became a fan of the challenger after O’Rourke was recently filmed shouting an expletive at a heckler during one of his speeches on gun reform and gun control. (See video HERE.) As of this writing, the video has more than 8 million views on Twitter, alone.
“I would sing ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ for @BetoORourke’s campaign,” wrote Snider on Twitter on Wednesday (August 10). That came two days after the Texan was filmed shouting his expletive at the dissenter.
On Thursday, O’Rourke’s campaign played Snider’s signature song as his walk-off music while a packed audience of more than 1,000 left the Round-Up Inn in Fort Worth, Texas.
At the time, Snider almost couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.
“SO DAMN GLAD!” he wrote. “I wasn’t kidding when I said if you are pro-choice you have my blessing to use ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ as your song. Glad @BetoORourke took me up on my offer. Next we have to figure out when we’ll play it LIVE!”
Soon after, Snider said that Testament lead guitarist Alex Skolnick and Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns would join in the performance live.
Added Snider, “We got our bass player. it’s @BetoORourke!!! He plays bass! Now we need a famous drummer. … “
O’Rourke famously joined Willie Nelson on stage at his annual July 4 show in Austin, playing along with Nelson’s hit song, “On The Road Again.” Apparently, he’s good with a four-string bass.
The 67-year-old Snider’s blessing of O’Rourke comes amidst a recent history of his song being used by political candidates on both sides of the proverbial aisle. In 2017, Snider told then-President Donald Trump to stop using it at his rallies.
To date, the song has been played on YouTube some 65 million times.
Snider also recently tweeted support for Arizona Democrat and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, noting that Republican Kari Lake plays it at her rallies. “Hey idiots!” wrote Snider. “Read the 1st line: ‘We’ve got the right to choose!'”
Snider also recently gave his blessing for the use of the song as a Ukraine battle cry against the Russian invasion.
In 1985, Snider appeared before a U.S. Senate subcommittee to oppose censorship and “parental advisory” warning labels.
The now-49-year-old O’Rourke played in a 1990s El Paso punk band called Foss at the time when Snider’s signature song hit the charts.
(Photo by D Dipasupil/FilmMagic)
