your in depth thoughts and observations concerning Alice and his band members are particularly astute. thanks for the positive comments on my contributions to the Cooper legacy. it's good to be remembered and acknowledged. The trip was intense and was an important part of my life, so I thank you once again. DA DA is my favorite Cooper album, but there are many individual songs from other records that I equally love.
Dick Wagner
your in depth thoughts and observations concerning Alice and his band members are particularly astute. thanks for the positive comments on my contributions to the Cooper legacy. it's good to be remembered and acknowledged. The trip was intense and was an important part of my life, so I thank you once again. DA DA is my favorite Cooper album, but there are many individual songs from other records that I equally love.
Dick Wagner
Thanks a million!!! I can't go on enough about the solos on "I'm Eighteen" from the Alice Cooper Show because that was what turned me on to be a huge fan of Coop (That was my first Cooper album). I would've loved to have seen what kind of tour & stage show could've been done with 'Da Da'
Nothing wrong with that DZedaj but if you like those songs there are plenty others that have a similar sound. Check out "The Best Of Alice Cooper: Mascara & Monsters" It's a great retrospective of his career & I bet you'd find more than a few songs that you'd like on it
Nothing wrong with that DZedaj but if you like those songs there are plenty others that have a similar sound. Check out "The Best Of Alice Cooper: Mascara & Monsters" It's a great retrospective of his career & I bet you'd find more than a few songs that you'd like on it
your in depth thoughts and observations concerning Alice and his band members are particularly astute. thanks for the positive comments on my contributions to the Cooper legacy. it's good to be remembered and acknowledged. The trip was intense and was an important part of my life, so I thank you once again. DA DA is my favorite Cooper album, but there are many individual songs from other records that I equally love.
Dick Wagner
Professional Wrestling & Rock & Roll always seemed to draw the same type fans. Fans that would likely be at Pro Wrestling events screaming at the villains were likely to also attend concerts. By the late 70’s/early 80’s wrestlers were using rock tunes for their ring entrances. The Road Warriors came out to “Iron Man”, The Fabulous Freebirds came out to “Freebird”, Kerry Von Erich came out to “Tom Sawyer” & his brother Kevin always came out to “Strangle Hold”. There are way too many to list as basically every wrestler uses an entrance song nowadays. Wrestler, Jake “the Snake” Roberts who was in his prime in the 1980’s always brought a snake in a sack to the ring & after he defeated his opponent with a DDT he would bring his snake “Damien” into the ring & place it on his defeated foe. On March 29, 1987 at Wrestlemania III the Honky Tonk Man (an Elvis wannabe) with his manager “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart (who actually was a member of the Gentrys who had a huge hit with “Keep on Dancing”) faced Roberts. Accompanying Jake to the ring was none other than…Alice Cooper. Unfortunately the Honky Tonk Man cheated to win but afterwards Jake got hold of Honky Tonk Man’s guitar & smashed it on the ring post just missing Honky’s head which caused him to retreat. Meanwhile, Alice & Jimmy Hart squared off. Jake grabbed Hart from behind & Alice grabbed Damien (the snake) & tormented Hart with it.
After Alice’s ‘Live in the Flesh’ tour ended Alice took off a year before going into the studio to work on his next album. In between he recorded a new live version of “Under My Wheels” with Axel Rose for the ‘Decline of the Western Civilization’ movie & for the movie ‘Iron Eagle 2’ he covered Spirit’s “I Got a Line on You” both appear on the box set also.Alice had decided to leave his record label (MCA) & start fresh again. He was immediately signed to Epic Records & Alice decided to get away from the dark Horror Metal style & go with a bit more Pop Metal style with, of course, an Alice Cooper twist. He brought in ace producer Desmond Child to produce the album & brought in several special guests for the album such as Joe Perry, Steven Tyler, Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Stiv Bator, & Joan Jett. In July of 1989 Alice released his next album ‘Trash’.
Trash
Released: 1989 Label: Epic Records Song Titles: Poison/ Spark in the Dark/ House of Fire/ Why Trust You/ Only My Heart Talkin’/ Bed of Nails/ This Maniac’s in Love With You/ Trash/ Hell is Living without You/ I’m Your Gun
Removed dead video
‘Trash’ had a style which fit in perfect with the Hair Metal & Monster Ballad era which was happening at the time in the late 80’s & Alice’s new album hit the top 40 charts reaching as high as #2 in the UK. The lead off track “Poison” was Alice’s first top 10 single since “You & Me” from 1977 & one listen to this tune can tell you why. It has the raspy dark Alice vocals & lyrics combined with part Metal & part Monster Ballad style with a catchy chorus. “Spark in the Dark” is a rocker with Bon Jovi rhythms & some great lead guitar work by John McCurry. One listen to “House of Fire” & you could tell right away that Joan Jett had a hand in writing it. The song has a definite Joan Jett style which is complimented by guitars from Joe Perry. “Why Trust You” is a great rocking tune with great hooks & some sizzling guitars. The tune ends with the music stopping & Alice just snarling out “Why Trust You!!!” & without a second in between it goes into the awesome ballad “Only my Heart Talkin’” which features Steven Tyler sounding as good as ever on backing & shrieking vocals. “Bed of Nails” has some dark humorous lyrics with a chorus straight off of Bon Jovi’s ‘Slippery When Wet’ album. “This Maniac’s in Love with You” has a cool sound with some great guitars once again & features some of Alice’s twisted & psychotic lyrics. My favorite tune on the album is the title track which is probably the hardest rocker on the album featuring Alice’s vocals at their best, great backing vocals by Bon Jovi, the Aerosmith rhythm section of Tom Hamilton & Joey Kramer & some great guitar work by Mark Frazier & Jack Johnson. “Hell is Living Without You” is another cool ballad which features the duo of Steve Lukather & Richie Sambora on guitar. The album closes with a fast paced rocker called “I’m Your Gun” with Kip Winger on backing vocals.
Alice set out on another massive tour from October 1988 through August 1989. Alice started out the show without his usual Alice Cooper make-up & rocked through a few of his old standards including “Desperado”(which was a surprise) & a few tunes from ‘Trash ‘. After “This Maniac’s in Love With You” Vincent Price’s voice (a tape from Alice’s Mad House Rock Tour) rings out saying “Alice you’re sick…Tell me how it started Think back…way back…” Then the band breaks into “Steven” & at the end during an instrumental break a couple of doctors with surgical masks on drag Alice to the ground & struggle to hold him down. A nurse walks out holding a black leather jacket with a red spider on the back & a pair of black leather pants. She then takes out a mascara pencil & colors in Alice’s classic make-up. Alice then sings “Welcome to my Nightmare” & meets up with Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, & Jason. Alice is then straight jacketed & then the band launches into “Ballad of Dwight Fry”. Alice then goes into “Gutter Cats vs the Jets” & gets into a street fight knife wielding match with a gang member. Alice slits the throat of the gang member who turns out to be a woman. Naturally “Only Woman Bleed” is next followed by Alice’s execution during “I Love the Dead” which is by the guillotine. “Poison” is up next followed by…”Muscle of Love” which was another surprise. A few more new songs from ‘Trash’ mixed in with “School’s Out” & “Under My Wheels” & the show is over. Alice had a great touring band featuring Pete Friesen & Al Pitrelli on guitars, T- Bone Carradonna on bass, Derek Sherinian on keyboards, & Jonathan Mover on drums who was replaced by Eric Singer during the tour. A video from the tour was released titled ‘Alice Cooper Trashes the World’ which is now available on DVD which is worth getting.
Early in 1991 Alice was back in the studio & was working with the same styles & themes of ‘Trash’ for his next album. Alice once again brought in a bunch of special guests including Steve Vai, Vinnie Moore, Slash, Ozzy, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, & Joe Satriani for his latest release ‘Hey Stoopid’.
Hey Stoopid
Released: 1991
Label: Epic Records
Song Titles: Hey Stoopid/ Love’s a Loaded Gun/ Snakebite/ Burning Our Bed/ Dangerous Tonight/ Might as well be on Mars/ Feed My Frankenstein/ Hurricane Years/ Little by Little/ Die for You/ Dirty Dreams/ Wind-Up Toy
‘Hey Stoopid’ is definitely a heavier sounding album than its predecessor ‘Trash’ & it’s filled with great songwriting & musicianship. The title track kicks off the album & it’s a great song that will have you singing along with the chorus upon your first listen. The outstanding guitar work is supplied by Slash & Joe Satriani. “Love’s a Loaded Gun” is a well written song both lyrically & musically which features a heavy acoustic sound mixed with great lead guitars. “Snakebite” is a decent song which would fit in great on ‘Trash’ as it has the same style only a bit darker. “Burning our Bed” is a well written ballad that features Satriani on guitars. “Dangerous Tonight” features a great orchestration of keyboards by Rob Bailey & some ripping guitar work by Stef Burns. This leads directly into the best written & arranged tune on the album “Might as Well be on Mars” which was written by Alice, Desmond Child, & back again…Dick Wagner.
Up next is “Feed My Frankenstein” which features Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, & Nikki Sixx on this heavy rocker that will split you eardrums with the guitar work. “Hurricane Years” is a kick-ass rocker featuring Vinnie Moore showing off his talents. “Little by Little” & “Die For You” decent rockers & “Dirty Dreams” is another of my favorites as it has the sound of Hanoi Rocks complete with harmonica playing that sounds similar to Michal Monroe’s style. The album’s closing tune “Wind-Up Toy” has the feel a 70’s Alice Cooper song from the “Welcome to My Nightmare” era & at the end you hear someone cry out “Steven”.
Alice embarked on a co-headlining tour with Judas Priest following the release of 'Hey Stoopid' & the tour was called 'Operation Rock & Roll'. Opening the shows were Motorhead, Dangerous Toys, & Metal Church. Alice's stage set was similar to the 'Trash' tour & the set list combined the 2 recent Epic Records releases mixed with the classic Cooper tunes. This time Alice included "Elected", "Sick Things", & "The Black Widow". One of the highlights was that Alice brought back the split screen that was used with the 'Nightmare' & 'Mad House Rock' tours
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but if you like those songs there are plenty others that have a similar sound. Check out "The Best Of Alice Cooper: Mascara & Monsters" It's a great retrospective of his career & I bet you'd find more than a few songs that you'd like on it
