I didn't contribute a lot to the 'zine as I was only there for a few months but one thing I did enjoy doing was a retrospective on the one and only Mr Alice Cooper to tie in with his big Halloween gig at Ally Pally in 2011 and the then-new "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" that had just hit the shops at the time. I'm still a huge Coop fan and thought that this blog would be a good place to re-print the article along with a few audio links to spice it up a bit. I've also brought it up to date to include Alice's "Hollywood Vampires" collaboration album from this year. Hope you enjoy...
40 YEARS OF SHOCK ROCK - A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO ALICE COOPER
As Alice's big Halloween gig at Alexandra Palace approaches, Sinzine's Andy James takes a look back at 40 years of albums from the man who wrote the book on Shock Rock and assesses the good, the bad and the downright weird...
Alice Cooper is, of course, a man who needs no introduction. As well as being the man who invented shock rock and, arguably, goth as well, it's fair to say that he casts a shadow over nearly any alternative musical genre you'd care to mention. 2016 will mark the fifty year anniversary of Alice's first single and what better way to honour the Grand Lord of all things Dark and Twisted than by doing a retrospective on his albums. No easy task as the title suggests, it's now 46 years since the Alice Cooper band (as they then were) made their recording debut and when you've made close to thirty albums, not all of them are going to be stone cold classics. But from the classics to the good, the bad and the plain insane, this has been one mammoth but incredibly fun feature to compile. So here it is a full guide to the musical history of the Coop complete with handy ratings. Enjoy...
The Alice Cooper band rose up out of San Francisco in the late '60s under the tutelage of Frank Zappa under whose guidance they released 1969's "Pretties For You" (4/10) and 1970's "Easy Action" (4). They're not without a curious trippy sort of charm in places but they really don't bear any relation to what came afterwards and there's an awful lot of filler on both. The story really starts with the group's 1971 album "Love It To Death" (9) and the spooked out single "I'm Eighteen" that brought the band into the public consciousness.
Even forty years later the sheer darkness of songs like "Black Juju" and "The Ballad Of Dwight Fry" send shivers down the spine so Lord only knows what it must have sounded like to a world which had never really experienced anything like this before the Doors had the darkness but were much less heavy while the Stooges had the chaos but not the sinister themes at its core. Mix in some killer rock anthems like "Caught In A Dream", "Hallowed Be My Name" and the deliciously sinister "Is It My Body?" (which still contains one of the best riffs to an Alice song ever) and you've got a stone cold classic.
And as if that wasn't enough, it only took them a matter of months to follow up "Love It To Death" with the equally awesome and aptly named "Killer" (9). Bursting into life with the sheer power of leadoff single "Under My Wheels" and the laid back cool of "Be My Lover", this album really is all killer no filler. "Halo Of Flies" took the prog rock template and twisted it into all kinds of nasty new shapes while the haunting Wild West ghost town lament "Desperado" and the downright ominous closing duo of "Dead Babies" and "Killer" still sound thoroughly vicious today. Want to know where shock rock all started? This is the place.
1972's "School's Out" (7) was a concept album of sorts (the first of many that Alice has done over his career as we'll see through this article). The title track officially put the band in the big time, reaching the top of the charts both in Britain and the States and remains a classic of its time. Elsewhere, there's a bit of filler here and there but the skulking "Luney Tune" and the ferocious "Public Animal #9" show that this isn't a one-track album by any means and a worthy addition to your collection.
It would be 1973's "Billion Dollar Babies" (10) though that would make up the final part of the Holy Trinity of early Alice albums. A chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic, pretty much every track on this one could have been a single (as it turned out, it spawned four Top 10 hits in Britain in "Elected", "No More Mr Nice Guy", "Hello Hooray" and the title track, all with killer singalong choruses to match). Elsewhere, the sheer chaos of "Generation Landslide" and "Unfinished Sweet" shows that the unhingedness that made the band great was still running unchecked through the band and the ultra sick but wonderfully camp "I Love The Dead" which closes the album are all highlights as well. If you only listen to one Alice album, it really should be this one.
Fair to say that any group would have problems following an album like that and by 1974's "Muscle Of Love" (5), the group were on the verge of imploding. The weirdest thing about this album is that it sounds like it should have been made about four years earlier (somewhere between "Easy Action" and "Love It To Death") as it contains a lot of the same style of garage rock that the group were specialising in around this time but lacks the spookiness that made the latter stand out so much. It's not entirely without its charm (lead-off single "Teenage Lament '74" is the best of an otherwise unremarkable bunch), it just sounds rather tame in comparison to what's gone before.
Following disappointing sales of "Muscle Of Love", the group would splinter with Alice keeping the name and the rest of the group going off to form the Billion Dollar Babies. It would be the singer who'd emerge with the gold though in the form of his first solo album, 1975's "Welcome To My Nightmare" (8). A return to the sinister showmanship of "Billion Dollar Babies", it saw Alice adding a much wider variety of sounds to his repertoire, ranging from the almost jazz-funk title track through the Broadway musical stylings of "Some Folks" (one of the album's high points) to the straight down the line rock of "Cold Ethyl". It also gave Alice another monster hit with the AOR balladry of "Only Women Bleed" (ironically, probably one of the weaker songs on here). Sure, it doesn't always hold together as well as some of the earlier albums but, as the man himself has often said about it, that's the thing about nightmares, they rarely make any sort of coherent sense...
1976's "Alice Cooper Goes To Hell" (6) is effectively "Welcome To My Nightmare" only minus the best bits. It's another themed album, this time revolving around Alice going to hell (funnily enough) and meeting the Devil. However, it's hobbled by lacking the twisted variety of its predecessor and by the presence of too many ballads for its own good, presumably trying to follow up the success of "Only Women Bleed" though lead-off single "I Never Cry", a reflective look at the Coop's growing alcoholism at the time, isn't too bad. Elsewhere, the content ranges from the spooked out lounge rock of "I'm The Coolest" through to a couple of ill-advised attempts at disco in "You Gotta Dance" and "Wish You Were Here". Hit and miss basically.
Which is a good summary of 1977's "Lace And Whiskey" (6) as well (another concept album but this one doesn't really sit together as well as the previous two did). On the one hand, opening track "It's Hot Tonight" swaggers in on an absolute stormer of a riff and is a fine song while the vaudeville "King Of The Silver Screen" shows that Alice was still willing to try and branch out a bit as does his cover of the rockabilly classic "Ubangi Stomp" (which the Stray Cats would hit paydirt with a few years later). On the other hand, lead off single "You And Me" is a ballad by numbers and there's another abortive attempt at disco in "No More Love (At Your Convenience)". It's not quite the disaster that some people paint it as but it's really only average.
By now, Alice's alcoholism was running out of control and the early days of 1978 saw him thrown in a mental institution to get his head straight. The drying out process was actually fairly brief and he opted to stay around for a few more weeks writing about his observations about the place and its inmates. On his release, he teamed up with Elton John's co-songwriter Bernie Taupin to put these observations to music and came up with his best album since "...Nightmare" in "From The Inside" (7). Reclaiming a lot of the oddball charm that had been slightly absent from its two predecessors, it veers from the pure rock 'n' roll showmanship of the title track and the awesome "Wish I Were Born In Beverly Hills", an ode to broken down Hollywood socialites that you can almost imagine Elton singing in one of his rockier moments (and which Alice savvily reintroduced into his set some 25 years later when the mental breakdowns of the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were hitting the headlines) to ballads such as "The Quiet Room" and the heartstopping "How You Gonna See Me Now?" (written about Alice's nervousness at his wife seeing him sober for the first time) which had an added heart lacking in some of the slower songs on Alice's previous albums.
"From The Inside" would also be the last sighting for some years of the old mascara clad monster that was '70s Alice. 1980's "Flush The Fashion" (5) saw him doing an almost full 180 degree turn and entering the world of synth swamped new wave with a toned down image to match. This really is an album of two halves as the first five songs are generally pretty dreadful wishy washy synth rock which just doesn't leave any lasting impression. However, side two sees a bit of attitude and guitars return to the mix and "Nuclear Infected", "Grim Facts" and the hilariously wry "Dance Yourself To Death" (poking fun at the same synth-heavy new wave music that Alice was now semi-embracing) are well worth a listen.
1981's "Special Forces" (7) sees Alice getting to grips with the formula a bit better as he mixes his new musical stylings with some of his old school ferocity. It doesn't hit the target every time but the snarling likes of "Who Do You Think We Are?" and "You Look Good In Rags" are solid efforts and rock much harder than anything on "Flush The Fashion" as does the lead off single, a high-powered electro-rock cover of Love's "Seven And Seven Is". Elsewhere, there's the typical twisted Alice sense of humour with the hilarious stiff upper lip English vocals of "You're A Movie" and the tale of a transvestite vice squad policeman that is "Prettiest Cop On The Block". It's far from typical Alice but it's well worth a listen all the same.
If there's one album in Alice's back catalogue that deserves the title of being something of a lost classic, it's 1982's "Zipper Catches Skin" (8). By this point, Alice was firmly back off the wagon to the extent that he claims to not even remember making it due to his booze intake, record sales were circling the bowl and yet somehow he managed to really hit the mark with this album. Marking a semi-return to his rock roots, it contains some of the most bizarre yet fun songs in the Coop's back catalogue with subjects as diverse as the death of Zorro (the storming "Zorro's Ascent"), tightwad millionaires (the ultra-camp "Make That Money (Scrooge's Song)") and directing slasher movies ("Tag, You're It") all getting the Alice treatment. There's also a real playful sense of humour at work on the likes of the pop-punk one-two of "I Like Girls" and "Remarkably Insincere" and the hilariously sarcastic "I Better Be Good" (probably the album's high point). And really, how can you honestly dislike an album which has both a semi-acoustic ditty about aliens ("No Baloney Homosapiens") and a song called "I'm Alive (That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned To Save My Life)"?
1983's "Dada" (6) is another album that Alice claims to have been too far gone on alcohol to remember making. Much darker than its predecessor, it's unfortunately not quite of the same quality. It has its moments "I Love America" sees the classic Alice sarcasm in full flow for the album's highlight while "No Man's Land" (a tale of a man working as Santa in an Atlanta department store who encounters a girl with a rather handy sexual fantasy while working on the job one day) is similarly entertaining. Elsewhere though, while the darker subject matter works in some places such as "Former Lee Warmer", other moments such as "Enough's Enough" and "Scarlet And Sheba" just sound dull.
Alice would finally kick the booze in the wake of its release and take a three year break from recording. Unfortunately, his comeback, 1986's "Constrictor" (4) remains probably one of his weakest albums to date. It has one standout moment, the teenage angst rock of opener "Teenage Frankenstein" but elsewhere it's hobbled by a mix of dated '80s production and below par songs. In retrospect, it's a bit of a bridge between the synth rock of early '80s Alice and the late '80s metal version but unfortunately it just combines the worst bits of both.
1987's "Raise Your Fist And Yell" (8) is a big improvement. Drawing heavily on the mid'80s shock rock bands who'd claimed his band's early work as an influence such as WASP and Twisted Sister, it's the sound of the scumbag Alice of old confidently announcing his return. The ferocious anticensorship ode "Freedom", the sneering "Lock Me Up" and the storming "Give The Radio Back" make for a fantastic opening one-two-three while elsewhere the sicko thrills of "Chop Chop Chop" and "Roses On White Lace" see him gleefully pushing the boat out to get a reaction from the Tipper Gore-led pro-censorship brigade. It could've been the start of a new dawn but unfortunately what followed it makes it more of a false dawn...
While 1989's "Trash" (4) gave Alice a massive radio hit in the form of rock club mainstay "Poison" (still a great track), it also contained some horribly over-produced mush-rock of the worst kind (then again, it was produced by Desmond Child so maybe not that much of a surprise). Follow up single "Bed Of Nails" and the Joan Jett co-penned "House Of Fire" both just about rock hard enough to earn a pass but elsewhere, the title track is dumbed down hair metal of the worst kind which is only outdone in the bloatedness stakes by the corpulent balladry of "Hell Is Living Without You" which stinks like a graveyard during a heatwave. It may have been a commercial highpoint for Alice but it was definitely a creative low.
1991's "Hey Stoopid" (5) was a small step back in the right direction but still not great. On the one hand it produced two killer Alice singles in "Love's A Loaded Gun" and his cover of Zodiac Mindwarp's "Feed My Frankenstein" and the epic "Might As Well Be On Mars" but there's an awful lot of filler on there even if it does suffer a lot less from the overproduction issues of its predecessors. Which makes what followed it all the more remarkable...
1994's "The Last Temptation Of Alice Cooper" (8) was arguably the best album Alice had done for over a decade. A return to the concept albums of late '70s Alice but with a much darker mid-'90s twist to them (the man who helped him with the ideas for the central story was none other than Neil Gaiman). Bursting into life with the driving "Sideshow", it's the story of a boy growing up in '90s American trying to stay true to himself and avoid the temptations of self-destruction. Songs such as the punky lead-off single "Lost In America", the almost musical-style "Bad Place Alone" and the unsettling "Unholy War" combine to make it a solid, varied and above all, very good album. Hell, there's even that most rare of beasts a good quality Alice ballad in the form of "It's Me" for you to enjoy.
Unfortunately, while "Last Temptation" was a good album, it didn't save Alice from the grunge backlash and failed to sell. Losing his record deal, he took a sabbatical from the music business, returning in 1999 with "Brutal Planet" (5). A much heavier affair than anything Alice had previously done, it owed a debt in its sound to Alice's late '90s successors like Marilyn Manson. Lyrically, it was incredibly stark with songs about the genocide in Rwanda ("Pick Up The Bones"), spousal abuse ("Take It Like A Woman") and neo-Nazi thugs ("Wicked Young Man") although "It's The Little Things" does at least allow a bit of Alice's trademark humour to shine back through. It's an intriguing listen but a bit lacking on the killer tunes front.
2001's "Dragontown" (6), while stylistically similar to its predecessor, at least adds a bit more melody to the proceedings as evidenced by the driving opener "Triggerman" which keeps the ferocity of "Brutal Planet" but adds a bit more nous to it. It's not all plain sailing the likes of "Deeper" and the ominous title track drift a bit too close to the best-forgotten nu-metal sounds of the time for comfort. However, you can at least see glimpses of the old Alice trying to break through the guitar swamp on this one such as on the sarcastic "Fantasy Man", the surprisingly poignant ballad "Every Woman Has A Name" and the hilarious Beatlesesque "It's Much Too Late" (about a righteous man who ends up in Hell through an administrative error). It was a sign of what was to come the following year when nu-metal collapsed and Alice was free to return to his roots...
The reinvention duly came with 2003's "The Eyes Of Alice Cooper" (8) which saw Alice returning to the garage roots which originally brought him to the public attention in the early '70s. Bursting with shit-kicking rock 'n' roll stormers like "Between High School And Old School" and Alice's ode to his hometown "Detroit City", it sees his trademark sense of humour and playfulness returning on the stormingly sarcastic "Man Of The Year" and the brilliant pisstake of manufactured pop that is "The Song That Didn't Rhyme". No question, this one definitely saw the Coop back on top form.
Realising he was on to a good thing, the follow up, 2005's "Dirty Diamonds" (7) was pretty much a straight continuation of its predecessor. Although this one's not quite as good, it's still a solid offering with the frenetic "Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies)" and "Your Own Worst Enemy" and the storming title track definite highlights while the countrified tale of a transvestite jailed for shooting up a redneck burger bar "The Saga Of Jesse Jane" is well worth a listen. It's only real problem is that it sounds a bit contrived in places especially when put against its predecessor.
2008's "Along Came A Spider" (6) saw Alice returning to the concept album theme that had served him so well in the mid-'70s, this time about a serial killer with an arachnid obsession. Unfortunately, this isn't in the same league as its other post-1980 equivalent "The Last Temptation". It's a bit like a bridge between the previous two garage Alice albums and what would come next but it just doesn't sit together as well as it could and also strays a bit too close to the humourless bludgeoning of "Brutal Planet" at times. That's not to say it doesn't have its charm though the storming "Vengeance Is Mine" (complete with a guest spot by Slash on guitar), the lean mean "Wrapped In Silk" and the Stonesy "I'm Hungry" are all well worth a listen but this feels like a bit of an opportunity missed.
Which is not something you could say about the follow-up "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" (8). Probably the most ambitious album that Alice had done in quite some time, it was a great musical present to the fans drawing on influences throughout his career but quality-wise it harked back to his '70s heyday. From the opening sinister slow-building ballad "I Am Made Of You", this takes in ferocious rockers like "Caffeine" and "Runaway Train" (which featured the four surviving members of the original Alice Cooper Band reunited at long last), slinky garage rock ("I'll Bite Your Face Off"), music hall pizazz ("Last Man On Earth") and even a well-aimed piss-take at disco kids ("Disco Boogie Bloodbath Fever"). It basically does what you'd have put good money it'd fall short on and proves itself to be a worthy follow-up to the original "Welcome To My Nightmare". Well worth your time and money in other words.
Since then, a new Alice album outright has been slow in coming although this year did see him put a supergroup together along with co-collaborator and longtime fan Johnny Depp to put out the self-titled "Hollywood Vampires" (6) covers album (albeit with a couple of new originals in the form of the storming "Raise The Dead" and the seasick "My Dead Drunk Friends") and featuring a guestlist of everyone from Paul McCartney through Brian Johnson to Christopher Lee. The quality of the covers is variable as you'd expect - on the one hand their versions of "My Generation" and "Cold Turkey" are both done well. On the other, their butchering of the Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park" is brutal to put it mildly.
So where does this all leave Alice as 2016 and the fiftieth anniversary of the forming of the original Alice Cooper band approaches. Well, put it this way, I'm pretty sure we've not seen the last of him. As the man said himself in an interview many years ago, he's like one of those sharks that lurks just below the surface letting the other smaller ones splash about and grab the limelight. Then, when they're least expecting it...BANG! I think I can safely say that I'll continue to roll with the guy as long as he's around - hopefully a new album of originals should be coming soon and when it does rest assured I'll be right at the front of the line to buy it. Respect.
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