LOOK, WE GOT A SNAKE!

Say what you will, as do I, about post-School's Out Alice Cooper. After that one they went from being a little scary to being a joke, a high school play. But their early LPs have some interesting stuff, like this one, "Halo of Flies". They can't figure out if they want a hard rock song (it is 1971), or maybe something psychedelic, or maybe just do the rock opera thing. It's not a hit. It's eight minutes of "Eh, this ain't so bad."

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Listen:
Alice Cooper - Halo of Flies mp3 at AM, Then FM

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE LISTENABLE

Here's three covers. One good, one competent but could use some more flair, and one that I couldn't even listen to, just because of the people involved in it. It seemed too contrived. A super group has to be organic, not just "this project that can't help but be a sure seller". But we'll get to that.

First up is Motörhead's cover of "Sympathy For the Devil", a song that's been covered a zillion times, but few measure up, because the original is so far superior. Motörhead, though, does it in their own inimitable style, which is to say they rip it a new one. That's the nice surprise tonight. In second place, the Black Lips with Boy George doing T Rex's "Bang A Gong". Interesting, if only because that combination seems so unlikely, but it's kind of tepid. Hands down, the dog of the night goes to the Hollywood Vampires. Oh holy shit, it's like Ringo Starr's All Star rejects piled into the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Alice Cooper dreamt the project up, and it could be seen as just some old rockers on a joy ride, but I don't like this idea one bit. This grouping just seems to be too self aware. I'm almost positive a few are narcissists. Cooper recruited Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, Paul McCartney, Perry Farrell, Dave Grohl, Brian Johnson, Robbie Krieger, Slash, Joe Walsh, someone named Orianthi and motherfucking Kip Winger. Thankfully Mike Love was busy that night.

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Listen:
The Hollywood Vampires - My Generation (streaming) at Cover Me Plus a more favorable blurb.
The Black Lips with Boy George - Bang a Gong (video) at Vimeo
Motörhead - Sympathy For the Devil (streaming) at Soundcloud

ALL THAT HAIR. AND A SNAKE.

A couple days ago, I put Alice Cooper make up on George Gershwin. I gotta be honest, I think it made him look pretty sharp. One thing I failed to do was give Alice Cooper props for one of the greatest lines ever written. In "School's Out", the second verse goes as follows: "We've got no class, we've got no principles, we've got no innocence, we can't even think of a word that rhymes." Genius. Why bullshit, right? Not only that, the song is an upmost declarative fuck you to the nine month prison that is school, a last day of school anthem for anyone who was of that age in the decade or so that followed it's release. 

There's a lot of early Alice Cooper that's worth hearing. Here's just a couple, Oh, and in another oversight from the earlier post, I remembered there's another show tune that I like. In Alice Cooper's "Gutter Cat versus the Jets" the second half of the song is Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim's "The Jet Song" from "West Side Story". So that's two songs from musicals I'll cop to. Oh yeah, watch out, I'm a musical dandy.

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Listen:
Alice Cooper - School's Out mp3 at William Burkey (?)
Alice Cooper - Under My Wheels mp3 at Synthesis Radio Dig the Horns.
Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen mp3 at Roy Blakely (?)
Alice Cooper - Gutter Cat vs the Jets (streaming) at YouTube
Video:
Alice Cooper - School's Out at YouTube
The Jet Song from West Side Story at YouTube

DAD WAS PISSED

A week or so late, but still, I feel obligated. I was actually still in school when Alice Cooper's "School's Out" came out. Imagine wanting nothing more than to be cut loose from the grind, with only a couple weeks separating you from three months of total goofing off, and hearing it for the first time. During the summer, it as a constant reminder of where you weren't. It was like living in some sort of corny teen flick. And, surely one of the best rock lyrics ever in the fourth line of the second verse, "We've got no class, we've got no principles, we've got no innocence, we can't even think of a word that rhymes!"

"Under My Wheels," ca. 1971

Alice Cooper wasn't the first singer to become a parody of himself, and he's surely not the last. But, boy, back in the day, did he know how to get kids riled up. That lasted all of three or four LPs. Then a series of less challenging albums and tours featuring his well worn schtick of eye make up and stage props. I can't remember exactly how he gained entry to my Who's Who of Rock Schmucks but he's been there for some time, well before he said of Sarah Palin "I think she's totally a breath of fresh air," in 2008. But, if it's a rocker, I'll admit it. And "School's Out" was, as were several others on those first few. Still, he's out.

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Listen:
Alice Cooper - School's Out mp3 at William Burkey
Alice Cooper - Under My Wheels mp3 at USSMullinex
Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen mp3 at Sibling Shot on the Bleachers