MetaChat - The original shock-rocker!

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24 October 2005

The original shock-rocker! →[More:]Without him there'd be no New York Dolls, no Kiss, no Twisted Sister, no marilyn manson and no Sex Pistols (Johnny auditioned by singing one of his tunes). I'm talking about Alice Cooper, the preacher's son who roared out of Detroit with anthems for the 70's kids for whom the pastoral promises of hippiedom rang hollow. It's enough to make you forgive him for being a Bush supporter. almost.

What the hell, the tunes are still great, and here's a few of the best

Teenage Lament '74
Under My Wheels
Eighteen
You and Me (duet with Miss Piggy, I remember watching the Muppet Show this is from *sniff*)

post by: jonmc at: 20:41 | 30 comments

Thanks for the tunes, jon. Wish I could play 'em here at work :(

(I could be wrong, but didn't the Dolls predate Coop?)

posted by bmarkey 24 October | 20:58

Pretties for You came out in 1969. The Dolls didn't form until 1972. Alice was first, dude.

posted by jonmc 24 October | 21:01

I stand corrected. Or would, if I were standing, but "I sit corrected" just sounds stupid.

posted by bmarkey 24 October | 21:02

Alice Cooper anecdote: I was shocked (shocked!) when I learned that the other voice on "Billion Dollar Babies" was none other than the Hurdy Gurdy Man himself, Donovan.

posted by goatdog 24 October | 21:27

Oh c'mon! You left out Poison and House of Fire! (Yahoo's Launch.com has the classic video for "Poison," if you're curious)

Your cruel device
Your blood, like ice
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill

I want to love you but I better not touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips are venomous poison
You're poison running through my veins
You're poison, I don't want to break these chains

posted by Edible Energy 24 October | 21:30

Jon: Yeah, Coop predated Dolls, but Coop was prog for the first two albums. He only hit his shockin' stride on the third.
And, frankly, Iggy Pop was already rollin' in glass in '70.

posted by klangklangston 24 October | 21:33

edible energy, Cooper's 80's work kinda sucked, IMHO.

klang, Iggy is most definitely a god among men, but the Coop deserves respect. His best ranks with anyone's best.

posted by jonmc 24 October | 21:35

yeah it sucks, it sucks out loud!
That's kinda the point for me. I've actually never heard any of the songs from when he was actually good, so these tracks come as kind of a shock to me (and thanks for postin em).
I was a little kid in the '80s, and the video for Poison was one of my earliest MTV memories.

posted by Edible Energy 24 October | 21:39

I love Alice.

Top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice - I wanna be elected!

posted by yhbc 24 October | 21:54

I was 17 the summer "I'm Eighteen" came out.

posted by quonsar 24 October | 22:03

Alice's golf locker is right next to my dad's best friend's at the country club. But it is a shocking locker.

posted by mullacc 24 October | 22:14

I also played roller-hockey with his kid once. Not so shocking, but sorta fat.

posted by mullacc 24 October | 22:15

Alice has made some incredibly great records, but when he failed, he failed on a grand scale. There are quite a few horrifically bad Alice Cooper albums out there. In fact, more than great ones. But even the bad ones have moments worth hearing.

1982's album Zipper Catches Skin was pretty damn bad, but it does have one of my favorite Alice Cooper songs. It's a bad song, but for some reason it brings me great joy. Of course, I'm referring to "I'm Alive (That Was the Day My Dead Pet Returned to Save My Life)".

How can you not like a song with the opening verse:

I was just kicking down the street
And the sun was in my eyes
So I couldn't see the truck
That was sixty times my size
And just seconds off from splattering me
Let me tell you
I was so scared I couldn't move
Like my boots were full of glue
Then I felt a little tug
And I thought of good Old Blue
And he pulled me from that catastrophe

posted by Slack-a-gogo 24 October | 22:19

What? No "No More Mister Nice Guy"?

posted by wendell 24 October | 22:29

wendell, thanks to Dazed & Confused I will always associate that song with male-on-male spanking.

posted by jonmc 24 October | 22:31

No "School's Out?" jon, i'm very, very disappointed in you.

posted by keswick 24 October | 22:48

i was aiming for something less obvious, keswick.

posted by jonmc 24 October | 22:50

I'd post a witty response, but aspirin damage prevents me from doing so.

posted by freshwater_pr0n 24 October | 23:00

When I was in high school, I had an early evening shift on another school's radio station. The week class ended, the station manager was pleading with us to restrict our playing of "School's Out" to once a show. I wonder if this is still a problem?

posted by bmarkey 24 October | 23:01

they don't call me a master of the obvious for nuffin. ≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by keswick 24 October | 23:02

i got it, jon, which much chuckle

i wish more people would drop the mr. nice guys with style.

i want a string of cheese and pop (or soda)
so i am making a thread

posted by ethylene 24 October | 23:10

add a but

posted by ethylene 24 October | 23:11

lose an s

posted by ethylene 24 October | 23:12

tries to unkill thread as i pop down the rabbit hole

posted by ethylene 24 October | 23:39

I used to say that in high school all the time. "Hey, Marilyn Manson: Alice Cooper called and he wants his act back."

I was always so ahead of my time.

P.S. This is why Jon is my hero.
P.P.S. Jon, I watched Fantastic Voyage this weekend, thinkin' of ya, buddy. Well, I was thinking more about Raquel Welch; you understand.

posted by Eideteker 25 October | 01:29

Pretties for You came out in 1969. The Dolls didn't form until 1972. Alice was first, dude.

Aye, but the (also Detroit based) MC5 had been around for a bit before '69, no? In fact, far as I've read, them and Phil Ochs were the only two acts that showed up at the '68 Chicago DNC before/during/after all the riots broke out.

posted by ufez 25 October | 02:49

Alice Cooper is now a Christian, btw.

posted by bunnyfire 25 October | 07:52

is bob dylan still a christian?

posted by ethylene 25 October | 08:05

Jerry Lee Lewis was the original shock-rocker.

A case could be made for Little Richard, but not as good a one as JLL.

That said, I think Alice Cooper is great, and have done so since the third grade. School's Out is one of those rare songs I knew before I ever even heard it on the radio, even if it is a smidge obvious.

posted by Hugh Janus 25 October | 09:05

Aye, but the (also Detroit based) MC5 had been around for a bit before '69, no?

Yes, and love the MC5 though I do, they're a completely different thing than Alice. They were political garage-rock agit-prop. Alice was a horror-movie set to music.

posted by jonmc 25 October | 10:37

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