Twisted Logic

Who would've thought that a heavy metal band harangued by Tipper Gore back in the 1980s would end up endorsing her husband for president?

Yes, Twisted Sister has gone on record to say that Al Gore should be elected, despite lead singer Dee Snider's uncomfortable appearance before Gore's Senate committee on commerce in September 1985. That was back when the Parents Music Resource Center, under the direction of Mrs. Gore, was waging a campaign to put warning stickers on albums. The effort was denounced by a musical Who's Who, including Frank Zappa and John Denver, both of whom joined Snider in appearing before the committee.

For Snider, that's all yesterday's news. Gore's love for the great outdoors now trumps everything.

"To me, everything else is moot if you don't have a planet to battle on," Snider said. "[Gore's] a big environmentalist." He added: "I'm 45 years old and faced with the prospect of my two nemeses becoming president and first lady of the United States. So I'm pretending it didn't exist."

Snider is not alone in forgetting the past. His bandmates are also backing Gore, as are Frank Zappa's heirs. (Ironically, the man who once asked the musical question "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" died from prostate cancer in 1993.) Zappa's widow Gail has showered the Clinton-Gore team with hundreds of thousands of dollars since 1995. Federal Election Committee records also show that the various Zappa offspring—Moon, Diva, Dweezil, and Ahmet—have also made contributions to Democratic candidates and causes, including some directly to Gore 2000.

Diva has even gone so far as to invite Tipper, the woman her dad once termed a "cultural terrorist," to sit in on drums during a performance last December.