SloopJohnB
Senior Member
I like this video someone used for the song "Beautiful Flyaway" from 1970. It's actually guitarist Michael Bruce doing the lead vocal on this one...
Alice Cooper (Official Thread)
- Thread starter rtbuck
- Start date
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
38 Years Ago: Alice Cooper Stages ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ Tour
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Kiss recently revealed that the staging for their upcoming tour will feature an enormous, fireball-spewing spider. And while the stage set is brand new, the idea is not — in fact, David Bowie‘s 1987 Glass Spider tour featured a huge spider set, and more than a decade before that, original shock rocker Alice Cooper used an oversized arachnid as part of his 1975 tour.
In 1975, Alice Cooper went from being rock’s most dangerous band to being a sanitized, vaudeville-meets-horror-films icon with the release of ‘Welcome to My Nightmare,’ the first solo album lead singer Vincent Furnier issued under the name Alice Cooper after taking the name of his former group.
He supported the new album with an ambitious tour that was specifically designed to introduce a more mainstream-friendly Alice Cooper persona to the masses, forgoing some of the gorier, edgier aspects of past live productions for a slick, almost cartoonish show that was produced, directed and choreographed by David Winters, who had previously choreographeded films starring Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret.
Framed as a nightmare experienced by a boy named Steven, the show included Alice Cooper classics like ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘I’m Eighteen’ and ‘School’s Out’ along with songs from the new album, staged in a slick multi-media production that featured filmed projections, four dancers, and elaborate sets and costumes. In the course of the nightmare Cooper encountered dancing skeletons, a faceless demon, a nine-foot cyclops and yes, enormous spiders (Take that, Kiss! Don’t think so, David Bowie!) during the song ‘Black Widow.’
And while Cooper’s spiders may not have been as high-tech as Bowie’s extravaganza, or the elaborate stage set Kiss have promised — in fact, they looked kinda like weird Muppets — it can still be rightfully said that he got there first in the classic rock world.
The Welcome to My Nightmare tour launched Cooper as a solo superstar, though he soon faltered with subsequent albums like ‘Alice Cooper Goes to Hell’ and went on to embarrass himself with an ill-advised ’80s foray into New Wave titled ‘Zipper Catches Skin.’ The tour was also documented in a 1976 concert film of the same name, which failed at the box office but has since become a cult classic.
SOURCE LINK
Kiss recently revealed that the staging for their upcoming tour will feature an enormous, fireball-spewing spider. And while the stage set is brand new, the idea is not — in fact, David Bowie‘s 1987 Glass Spider tour featured a huge spider set, and more than a decade before that, original shock rocker Alice Cooper used an oversized arachnid as part of his 1975 tour.
In 1975, Alice Cooper went from being rock’s most dangerous band to being a sanitized, vaudeville-meets-horror-films icon with the release of ‘Welcome to My Nightmare,’ the first solo album lead singer Vincent Furnier issued under the name Alice Cooper after taking the name of his former group.
He supported the new album with an ambitious tour that was specifically designed to introduce a more mainstream-friendly Alice Cooper persona to the masses, forgoing some of the gorier, edgier aspects of past live productions for a slick, almost cartoonish show that was produced, directed and choreographed by David Winters, who had previously choreographeded films starring Elvis Presley and Ann Margaret.
Framed as a nightmare experienced by a boy named Steven, the show included Alice Cooper classics like ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘I’m Eighteen’ and ‘School’s Out’ along with songs from the new album, staged in a slick multi-media production that featured filmed projections, four dancers, and elaborate sets and costumes. In the course of the nightmare Cooper encountered dancing skeletons, a faceless demon, a nine-foot cyclops and yes, enormous spiders (Take that, Kiss! Don’t think so, David Bowie!) during the song ‘Black Widow.’
And while Cooper’s spiders may not have been as high-tech as Bowie’s extravaganza, or the elaborate stage set Kiss have promised — in fact, they looked kinda like weird Muppets — it can still be rightfully said that he got there first in the classic rock world.
The Welcome to My Nightmare tour launched Cooper as a solo superstar, though he soon faltered with subsequent albums like ‘Alice Cooper Goes to Hell’ and went on to embarrass himself with an ill-advised ’80s foray into New Wave titled ‘Zipper Catches Skin.’ The tour was also documented in a 1976 concert film of the same name, which failed at the box office but has since become a cult classic.
Mr. Bob Dobolina
Senior Member
No question that "Welcome To My Nightmare" was a career high point for Alice, but "Goes To Hell" did feature one of his biggest chart hits in "I Never Cry". The new wave attempt was pretty bad, but I've always loved "Clones (We're All)".
Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
Ah, Gene will say theirs is better somehow. Claim Coop's spider was lip syncing or something.
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
You're probably right about that
METALPRIEST
Senior Member
Alice Cooper Guitarist Steve Hunter Releases New Album
SOURCE LINK
Guitarist Steve Hunter is the stuff of legend. He’s worked with many artists since the 1970s, including Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith and David Lee Roth.
But he’s best known for his stints with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, both of whom he worked with extensively, playing on classic albums like ‘Billion Dollar Babies,’ ‘Berlin’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.’ Hunter recently released a new solo album, ‘The Manhattan Blues Project,’ which features an impressive guest list, including Joe Perry, Joe Satriani, bassist Tony Levin, and actor/musician/pirate Johnny Depp.
‘The Manhattan Blues Project’ finds Hunter returning to the music that inspired him as a young guitarist: the blues. “Most albums I hear in regards to New York generally [are] jazzy, which is cool, but I wanted to do something different,” Hunter explains in a press release. “I wanted to do something in a bluesy way, because I kind of saw the more soulful part of Manhattan.”
Among the album’s dozen songs are Hunter’s take on Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill,’ a song that’s close to his heart, since he played on the original 1977 version. Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On” is the album’s only other cover.
The remaining tracks are Hunter originals, like ‘The Brooklyn Shuffle,’ which features two of the album’s biggest guests. “I have Johnny Depp and Joe Perry on a 12-bar blues,” Hunter exclaimed. “I was thrilled when that happened! I told them both, ‘Plug the guitars in and have a blast.’ And it sounds like to me they did.”
SOURCE LINK
Guitarist Steve Hunter is the stuff of legend. He’s worked with many artists since the 1970s, including Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith and David Lee Roth.
But he’s best known for his stints with Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, both of whom he worked with extensively, playing on classic albums like ‘Billion Dollar Babies,’ ‘Berlin’ and ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.’ Hunter recently released a new solo album, ‘The Manhattan Blues Project,’ which features an impressive guest list, including Joe Perry, Joe Satriani, bassist Tony Levin, and actor/musician/pirate Johnny Depp.
‘The Manhattan Blues Project’ finds Hunter returning to the music that inspired him as a young guitarist: the blues. “Most albums I hear in regards to New York generally [are] jazzy, which is cool, but I wanted to do something different,” Hunter explains in a press release. “I wanted to do something in a bluesy way, because I kind of saw the more soulful part of Manhattan.”
Among the album’s dozen songs are Hunter’s take on Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill,’ a song that’s close to his heart, since he played on the original 1977 version. Marvin Gaye’s classic “What’s Going On” is the album’s only other cover.
The remaining tracks are Hunter originals, like ‘The Brooklyn Shuffle,’ which features two of the album’s biggest guests. “I have Johnny Depp and Joe Perry on a 12-bar blues,” Hunter exclaimed. “I was thrilled when that happened! I told them both, ‘Plug the guitars in and have a blast.’ And it sounds like to me they did.”
Hurdy Gurdy Man
Senior Member
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In the past several months,I've seen a few things on tv about the band and their 70's glory days and I must say I really enjoy listening to Vincent Furnier talk about the road,alcohol addiction and all the other trappings of life as rock icon.Very contrary to what probably was most parents' perception of him at the time,Furnier is certainly NOT some sort of twisted weirdo who was in the business solely to make millions capitalizing on the need of youths to seek identity and rebellion in the form of rock music.He is most certainly a very thoughtful and insightful person whose outlandish concert productions were merely ENTERTAINMENT vehicles and were only meant as such.He was NEVER a freak.He was and is a true showmen who knows how to please his audiences.A true professional....
Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
No, but Alice Cooper certainly is.
That's the thing I think his critics don't fully grasp. Alice Cooper is a character, or alter ego, or whatever, that shows up on stage.
He says as much at right around :50 - 1:00 of this interview.
He doesn't seem 'himself'. I don't know if he's kind of in character, or under some sort of influence. You be the judge.
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stepcousin
stuck in the 70's
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I heard the song "We're All Clones" yesterday and couldnt get the song outta my head when I was at work. I was singing it (obviously nobody didnt know the song) and everybody thought I was a weirdo....*singing in my best robotic Alice Cooper-like voice*......"We're destroying the government, we're destroying time..."
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Vehicle
Aging Metalhead
Now it's stuck in my head.
Groovy.
Groovy.
