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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 th ...read more
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 byraw, 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 propssthat 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 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. There, 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
tochart.Thegroup'sreputation 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,releasedthefollowing year,was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain; the album's first
single, "No MoreMr.NiceGuy," became aTop Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. Muscle of Love appeared late in
1973, yet it failed tocapitalize on the success ofBillion Dollar Babies. After Muscle of Love, Furnier and the rest of Alice Cooper parted
ways to pursue otherprojects.Having officially changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier embarked on a similarly theatrical solo
career; the rest of the bandreleasedoneunsuccessfulalbum under the name Billion Dollar Babies, while Mike Bruce and Neal Smith
both recorded solo albums that wereneverissued.In the fall of 1974, a compilation of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled Alice
Cooper's Greatest Hits, became a Top Tenhit.
For his first solo album, Cooper hired Lou Reed's backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal -- guitarists Dick Wagner
andSteveHunter,bassistPrakash John, keyboardist Joseph Chrowski, and drummer Penti Glan -- as his supporting group. Welcome 2
MyNightmare,AliceCooper's firstsolo album, was released in the spring of 1975. The record wasn't a great departure from his
previous work, andit becameaTop Ten hit inAmerica, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed"; its success put an end to
any idea of reconveningAliceCooperthe band. Itsfollow-up, 1976's Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, was another hit, going gold in the U.S.
After Alice Cooper Goes toHell,Cooper'scareer began toslip, partially due to changing trends and partially due to his alcoholism.
Cooper entered rehabilitation in1978,writing analbum about histreatment called From the Inside (1978) with Bernie Taupin, Elton
John's lyricist. During the early '80s,Coopercontinued torelease albumsand 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-
metalbandsthatpaidmusical homage to his classic early records and concerts. Constrictor, released in 1986, began his comeback, but
it was1989'sTrashthatreturned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven hitmaker Desmond Child, Trash featured guest
appearances byJonBonJovi,Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith; the record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at
number 20 in theU.S.,goingplatinum."Poison," a midtempo rocker featured on the album, became Cooper's first Top Ten single since
1977. After the releaseofTrash,hecontinued to star in the occasional film, tour, and record, although he wasn't able to retain the
audience recaptured withTrash.Still,1991'sHey Stoopid and 1994's The Last Temptation were generally solid, professional efforts that
helped Cooper settle intoacomfortablecultstatus without damaging the critical goodwill surrounding his '70s output. After a live
album, 1997's Fistful of Alice,Cooperreturned onthesmaller Spitfire label in 2000 with Brutal Planet and Dragontown a year later. The
Eyes of Alice Cooper appeared in2003 andfoundAliceand company playing a more stripped-down brand of near-garage rock. Dirty
Diamonds from 2005 was nearly as raw andhitthestreetsaround the same time Alice premiered his syndicated radio show, Nights
with Alice Cooper. Three years later he returnedwithAlongCame aSpider, a concept album that told the story of a spider-obsessed
serial killer. In 2010, he released the live album TheatreofDeath,alongwith a download-only EP of redone Cooper classics titled Alice
Does Alice. 2011's Welcome 2 My Nightmare, a sequeltohis1975,conceptual classic of the same name (minus the 2), was recorded
with longtime co-conspirator Bob Ezrin, and featured 14brandnewcutsthat spanned multiple genres and relied on the talents of a host
of previous members of the Alice Cooper band (includingSteveHunter),aswell as a guest spot from pop superstar KeSha. « hide |
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