Alice Cooper: Classic or Dud??

I love a good alternate universe thought experiment, too, but how many hard rock bands made it past '74 without succumbing to some dumb fads or attempts at commercial accessibility?

Well yeah, I'm sure you could look at the discographies of various hard rock bands and point to a moment or two where they attempted to have a go at then-popular styles, it's just that I find it difficult to imagine the original band attempting to play funk or making an album like, say, Moving Pictures.

I think '75 and '76 were great years for hard rock, myself. '78 an underrated year, too.

The Strand has a pile of signed copies of Dennis Dunaway's book.

My piece about the reunion show went up today at Noisey:

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/surprise-alice-cooper-reunion

Man!

Listening to 'Dead Babies' right now and thinking "christ, how goth/post-punk is that bassline?"

That song always strikes me as pretty Beatle-esque. Something about the harmonies.

Yeah that song is so goth. Tied with Black Sabbath's "Born Again" for gothest songs by heavy rockers.

Finally saw "Good To See You Again" which is now on some streaming service. I can't believe it hasn't come up more here. The non-concert parts are terrible, though in a funny way, but the actual music footage is insanely good.

Lot of weird stuff in that stage act, like roadies running on stage and pretending to fight. So right about the comedy bits in that movie. Painful to watch! Whoever made that film probably thought they were making the next "Head."

'Lace and Whiskey' and 'Alice Cooper Goes to Hell' are pretty much show tunes for an unmade John Carpenter musical. Very strange, I can see why the hard rockers went WTF at the time.

Back in the late 80s I used to frequent this rock and roll tshirt/head shop and the crusty dude that owned it and the guy from the health foods store next door used to hold court telling the young ones how it is. Those two guys loved Alice Cooper and pretty much hated everything after 'Welcome to My Nightmare' with a passion. Kinda weird to finally get around to hearing the records 30 years later and getting "I can see why you did not like 'em."

That said, they do have a car wreck interest, so I will probably listen to them again.

Sinatra covered "I Love The Dead" "You And Me".

Heard "Is It My Body?" while shopping for groceries today. It was very weird.

haha wow that is an odd one

I assume it segued into Dead Babies

Lol
I think it segued into "I Can See for Miles" tbh

"Is It My Body?" is in my top 3 Alice Cooper songs so I was excited to hear it.

Never a bad day to repost this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vozLrSIrtU

i love that version and i wish the album version, as good as it is, had the breakdown in it

even though it seems like he's ad-libbing the lyrics during that whole part

the ad libbing is so great!! the dig at your bones ---> just might be my owowowowowowowowowown-whoaaaaa-own part definitely belongs in every version of this song, not just this bizarro live tv version

goddamn that clip smokes

you mean smocks

smocks in frocks

I now must listen to Love It To Death immediately. What a great band Alice Cooper were.

1971 they were hungry, confident and best rock band in the world.

Killer vs Love it to Death is such a close call, both are pretty much perfect

Yes! I have to strain a bit to enjoy Schools Out, and strain more as the theatrics thicken.

top tier: Killer, Love it to Death
2nd tier: School's Out, Easy Action
3rd tier: Billion Dollar Babies, Pretties for You
after that you're on your own

is how i break it down to an extent

Top tier: Love it to Death, Killer, Billion Dollar Babies
Second tier: School's Out
Third tier: Muscle of Love
Not a fan at all: Easy Action, Pretties For You

yep thats pretty much it. Billion Dollar Babies is peak pop Alice for me. intro to the title track is maybe my fave rock intro ever?!?

Billion Dollar Babies is top tier imo
The songs aren't all good but the really good ones (including title track, Hello Hooray) always put me in a good mood. LOVE Hello Hooray!!!

hmmm, upon reflection I am moving Billion Dollar Babies to 2nd tier

we'll be releasing a full statement later today :)

I think Easy Action is great I don't get why ppl diss it

and obv these are all really great records

GOD I FEEL SO STROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
i love Hello Hooray
i was obsessed with that song for a while and the different versions of it. alice's is best imo. i would like to hear bob pollard give it a crack.

haha oh god yeah hello hooray chorus is totally GBV i never thought of that

even the "let the lights grow dim -- i've been ready" part sounds like BP's singing/songwriting to me

and yes i know Alice Cooper did not write it but his version is best as i previously mentioned

the original is not even close to AC's version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLEvosGeHA

If we're including solo Alice, hen Welcome to My Nightmare and DaDa are easy inclusions in the top tier for me.

I'm not much into 1976-1979 Alice. The coked up New Wave blackout years (1980-1982) are far more interesting, if spotty. I like some tracks from the hair metal period (1986-1991) although not entire albums. I suspect only the real absolute die hards are familiar with his work after 1994.

Huh, I've never heard that version of 'Hello Hooray' until now... I've heard the 1968 Judy Collins version (which is where I think Cooper/Ezrin got the song) and it really is nothing like Cooper's. They really made that song their own.

great album opener too

I have to strain a bit to enjoy Schools Out, and strain more as the theatrics thicken.

― eva logorrhea (bendy), Tuesday, December 18, 2018 2:16 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

School's Out was a bit of a departure for them in many ways - the rock gets toned down a touch and it starts to get a little more theatrical (hammered home by the brief West Side Story cover and things like 'Blue Turk' and 'Grande Finale') and there's more contributions from session musicians and more emphasis on production. It feels less sinister than the LP's before it and even the one after.

However! Dunaway's bass playing throughout is stunning and 'My Stars' is one of the very best Cooper songs, IMO.

even the "let the lights grow dim -- i've been ready" part sounds like BP's singing/songwriting to me

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, December 18, 2018 9:32 AM (thirty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah totally has that amthemic GBV vibe

Has there been an Alice Cooper artist poll on here yet?

Top tier: Love it to Death, Killer, Billion Dollar Babies
Second tier: Easy Action, School's Out
Third tier: Muscle of Love, Pretties For You

man, its so peculiar to me that anyone after the fact thinks that this band was at any time "the best rock band in the world," or even particularly good. Neal Smith, Buxton…fuck, all of the four instrumentalists' shit is pretty weak. Grand Funk and this band got the payday and acclaim that I would rather the Stooges and MC5 received. I watch that footage upthread, and I'm forever waiting around for this band to be revealed as the American Sabbath. But I always end up thinking it was correct for him to leave those guys behind, and I don't believe there's any other circumstance where I agree with "you're the star, you're the one with talent, ditch those losers." I'm surely the only ILMnik who thinks KIss is a sesquidillion times better than the Alice Cooper band.

I hope you are! Neal Smith was a great drummer and Dunaway churned out great bassline after great bassline, Glen Buxton was no virtuoso admittedly.

... Michael Bruce, good songwriter.

Yeah, Cooper's rhythm section was truly great and Michael Bruce was largely responsible for a lot of the evergreen Cooper classics that the solo Alice would never dream of leaving out of his live set.

Also, when listening to 'Halo of Flies', the band that I'm hearing doesn't square up with what veronica moser is saying/describing at all.

Ok so you're calling the Cooper band weak instrumentalists then stumping for KISS who were completely horseshit musicians except maybe sober Ace