Alice Cooper - 2006
Face it: there are few trends in modern music that Alice
Cooper didn't anticipate; fewer still that weren't incorporated by this
innovative showman into one of the most bizarre and entertaining rock
attractions of all time.
The audacious, precedent-shattering, inspirational,
taboo-defiling hoodlum flamboyance of Alice Cooper did more than forever
alter the face of rock 'n' roll as we now know it. He virtually invented
rock as theater, created new fashion trends, sparked a new sexual revolution,
established higher standards for teenage decadence, and found time
on top of all this to write and record a library of classic rock 'n'
roll albums. The fact that Alice Cooper is rock 'n' roll's foremost legendary
statesman of outrage is far beyond reproach. Any act worth its weight
in rock 'n' roll, theatrics, makeup, and in-your-face, kick-ass punk
attitude owes more than just a passing nod of respect in the direction
of this malignantly macabre culprit.
And if you need proof, just ask
Kiss, Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, the New York Dolls, Nine Inch Nails,
Metallica, Iggy & The Stooges, Mötley
Crüe, Lou Reed, Hanoi Rocks, Boy George, Slade, Parliament-Funkadelic,
The Tubes, T. Rex, Elton John, The Runaways, Guns N' Roses, Gary Glitter,
Aerosmith, the Dead Boys, Adam Ant, Poison, Prince, the Sex Pistols,
the Ramones, Twisted Sister, Devo, Megadeth, the Plasmatics, Madonna,
Gwar, Cheap Trick, Zodiac Mindwarp, Alien Sex Fiend, W.A.S.P., The
Rolling Stones, The Cramps, Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth,
or even Elvis (the next time you see him at a White Castle)--to name
only a few.
And no less a personage than Bob Dylan (who's been known
to dip into the mascara himself from time to time) publicly proclaimed
in a January 26, 1978, Rolling Stone cover story: "I think Alice
Cooper is an overlooked songwriter."
(continued
on Alice Cooper's website)
Biography
from allmusic by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Originally,
there was a band called Alice Cooper led by a singer named Vincent
Damon Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly
theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock.
Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, heavy metal, and garage
rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs,
guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated
by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the
name for his androgynous on-stage personality. While the visuals were
extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly
as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs and melodies that derived
from '60s guitar pop as well as show tunes, it was rock & roll at
its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelia
and art rock. After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo
career as Alice Cooper, his actual music lost most of its theatrical
flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal, yet his stage show
retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock.
Furnier formed his first group, the Earwigs, as an
Arizona teenager in the early '60s. Changing the band's name to the
Spiders in 1965, the group was eventually called the Nazz (not to be
confused with Todd Rundgren's band of the same name). The Spiders and
the Nazz both released local singles that were moderately popular.
In 1968, after discovering there was another band called with the same
name, the group changed its name to Alice Cooper. According to band
legend, the name came to Furnier during a ouija board session, where
he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the
same name. Comprised of vocalist Furnier — who
would soon begin calling himself Alice Cooper — guitarist Mike
Bruce, guitarist Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal
Smith, the group moved to California in 1968. In California, the group
met Shep Gordon, who became their manager, and Frank Zappa, who signed
Alice Cooper to his Straight Records imprint.
Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties for You, in 1969.
Easy Action followed early in 1970, yet it failed to chart. The group's
reputation in Los Angeles was slowly shrinking, so the band moved to
Furnier's hometown of Detroit. For the next year, the group refined their
bizarre stage show. Late in 1970, the group's contract was transferred
to Straight's distributor Warner Bros., and they began recording their
third album with producer Bob Ezrin.
With Ezrin's assistance, Alice Cooper developed their
classic heavy metal crunch on 1971's Love It to Death, which featured
the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"; the album peaked at number 35 and went
gold. The success enabled the group to develop a more impressive, elaborate
live show, which made them highly popular concert attractions across
the U.S. and eventually the U.K. Killer, released late in 1971, was another
gold album. Released in the summer of 1972, School's Out was Alice Cooper's
breakthrough record, peaking at number two and selling over a million
copies. The title song became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and a number
one single in the U.K. Billion Dollar Babies, released the following
year, was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America
and Britain; the album's first single, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," became
a Top Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. Muscle of
Love appeared late in 1973, yet it failed to capitalize on the success
of Billion Dollar Babies. After Muscle of Love, Furnier and the rest
of Alice Cooper parted ways to pursue other projects. Having officially
changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier embarked on a similarly theatrical
solo career; the rest of the band released one unsuccessful album under
the name Billion Dollar Babies, while Mike Bruce and Neal Smith both
recorded solo albums that were never issued. In the fall of 1974, a compilation
of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled Alice Cooper's Greatest
Hits, became a Top Ten hit.
For his first solo album, Cooper hired Lou Reed's
backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal — guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter,
bassist Prakash John, keyboardist Joseph Chrowski, and drummer Penti
Glan — as his supporting group. Welcome to My Nightmare, Alice
Cooper's first solo album, was released in the spring of 1975. The record
wasn't a great departure from his previous work, and it became a Top
Ten hit in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women
Bleed"; its success put an end to any idea of reconvening Alice
Cooper the band. Its follow-up, 1976's Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, was
another hit, going gold in the U.S. After Alice Cooper Goes to Hell,
Cooper's career began to slip, partially due to changing trends and partially
due to his alcoholism. Cooper entered rehabilitation in 1978, writing
an album about his treatment called From the Inside (1978) with Bernie
Taupin, Elton John's lyricist. During the early '80s, Cooper continued
to release albums and tour, yet he was no longer as popular as he was
during his early-'70s heyday.
Cooper made a successful comeback in the late '80s,
sparked by his appearances in horror films and a series of pop-metal
bands that paid musical homage to his classic early records and concerts.
Constrictor, released in 1986, began his comeback, but it was 1989's
Trash that returned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven
hitmaker Desmond Child, Trash featured guest appearances by Jon Bon
Jovi, Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith; the record became a Top
Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison," a
mid-tempo rocker featured on the album, became Cooper's first Top Ten
single since 1977. After the release of Trash, he continued to star
in the occasional film, tour, and record, although he wasn't able to
retain the audience recaptured with Trash. Still, 1991's Hey Stoopid
and 1994's The Last Temptation were generally solid, professional efforts
which helped Cooper settle into a comfortable cult status without damaging
the critical goodwill surrounding his '70s output. After a live album,
1997's Fistful of Alice, Cooper returned on the smaller Spitfire label
in 2000 with Brutal Planet and Dragontown a year later. The Eyes of
Alice Cooper appeared in 2003 and found Alice and company playing a
more stripped-down brand of near-garage rock. Dirty Diamonds from 2005
was nearly as raw and hit the streets around the same time Alice premiered
his syndicated radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper.
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