The Alice Cooper Thread

[Susan Foreman]

From the opening song on the 2000 'Brutally Live' tour, promoting the 'Brutal Planet' tour

[Susan Foreman]

April 29th, 1977 - 43 years ago today, the 'Lace And Whiskey' album is released

It's an album that many fans love to hate. While it's not a classic, a lot of the material is still fun. A lot of people don't like the disco element that was sneaking in on 'Love At Your Convenience' or the Country and Western sound of 'Damned If You Do', but elsewhere there are still some great rock songs on it

It was after the completion of the 1977 tour to promote the release that Alice checked himself into a New York-based sanitarium for his first treatment for alcoholism.

Maybe not essential but still well worth getting.

[SymbioticFunction]

I like Lace and Whiskey. It's Hot Tonight, the album's titular track, I Never Wrote Those Songs and My God are all great tracks. But it is hard to defend No More Love At Your Convenience!

[Susan Foreman]

"ATTN MINIONS: STAR IN ALICE COOPER'S NEW VIDEO "DON’T GIVE UP"

Alice Cooper will be launching a brand-new song, “Don’t Give Up” on May 15 and he is calling on you to be a part of this special song! Share a photo/video of you holding a sign featuring a word from the lyrics to the song and you could be in the final video!

How and what to submit

• Select ONE WORD from the lyrics below and take a photo or video of yourself holding a sign with that word in BIG, BOLD LETTERS. Alice will pick the best ones to feature in the video.
• The bigger the sign, the better!
• Photos/Videos with good lighting and without props work best.
• Photo/Video must be shot in landscape on your phone or camera and in high resolution (1080p for video).
• Submit multiple photos of different lyric words for a better chance of being featured!
• Entries must be submitted in the form by Monday, May 4, 2020 to be considered.

lyrics

Yeah, I know you’re struggling right now
We all are - in different ways
It’s like a new world that we don’t even know
It’s hard to sleep…even harder to dream
But look: you’ve got 7 billion brothers and sisters all in the same boat
So don’t panic. Life has a way of surviving and going on and on...
We’re not fragile - and we sure don’t break easy!

You know it’s so hard to cope
When you’re just hoping there’s hope…

We’re all hanging on by a thread
We’re all staring at the razor’s edge
But we’re not going to step off the ledge.
No!

Our enemy is a cold, indiscriminate monster
It doesn’t care if you’re old or newborn…it exists to kill
You and I are nothing to it
It has no heart or soul or conscience.
Do we fear it? Yeah.
Do we cower before it? Hell no.
We’re the blood and guts human race…and we win!

You know that it’s right
So we just gotta fight...

Yeah, we’re all hanging on by a thread
We’re all staring at the razor’s edge
But we’re not going to step off the ledge.
No!

This is Alice Cooper in Detroit…Let’s keep fighting…Don’t give up!

T&C's

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

You've probably got more chance of featuring if you go with 'a' or 'it's' or 'so', for example as everyone who thinks they are cool and wants to be famous for a tenth of a second will go with 'Monster', 'razor's', 'human', 'blood' and so on.

[Susan Foreman]

The Alice Cooper Solid Rock Celebrity Golf Tournament 2020: Lockdown Version

[Susan Foreman]

In memory of Betty Wright (1953 - 2020)

'No Tricks', the 'B' side to the 'How You Gonna See Me Now' single, released in 1978

"[Alice]
No tricks up my sleeve
I kicked the downs and now I'm clean
No shakes up my spine
I beat the speed and I dumped the wine
No tracks, that was yesterday
I changed my style, the way I play
[Betty] Don't you believe it
No blues
No depression
No more panic
Or obsession

[Betty]
Don't you believe
Anything he said
All them junkies talk that way
It's just as bad as it was before
I see the man knockin' at his back door

[Alice]
... this kid's straight
And put on ice
The street corner deals at any price
Come on and check my veins
And check my eyes

No tracks, that was yesterday
I changed my style, the way I play
[Betty] Don't you believe it
No blues
No depression
No more panic
Or obsession

Some tricks just go away
And other tricks they're here to stay
[Betty] Oh don't you know me
Sometimes my spirit's willin'
The flesh is weak and
That's what's killin'

[Betty]
Don't you believe anything he said
All them junkies talk that way
It's just as bad as it was before
I see the man knockin' at his back door

[Alice]
Hey now this kid's straight, put on ice
The street corner deals at any price
Come on and check my veins
And check my eyes

[Alice]
I tried so hard
But I'm hurting for another fix
It's just this habit
I, I can always kick
What do you say there friend?
[Betty] Don't you call me..
It's just a game
And I can beat it any day
No matter what this lovely lady say
Hey, wanna be my friend?

Some tricks yhey go away
And other tricks they're here to stay
[Betty] Oh don't you know me
Sometimes my spirit's willin'
My flesh is weak and
That's what's killin'

[Betty]
Don't you believe anything he said
All them junkies talk that way
It's just as bad as it was before
I see the man knockin' at his back door

[Alice]
I said this kid's straight
And put on ice
The street corner deals at any price
Come on and check my veins
And check my eyes"

[Susan Foreman]

The new song

Presumably the official 'fan video' is coming soon

[Susan Foreman]

The official video

[Susan Foreman]

New interview at the Phoenix New Times

"How Alice Cooper and His Family Are Keeping Busy in Quarantine

It was early March when Alice Cooper realized he needed to get home.

The coronavirus was sweeping through Italy and Spain. His show was canceled in Switzerland. He went to the airport in Berlin and hopped on a plane. Back in Arizona, he postponed his North American tour and hunkered with his family at their Paradise Valley home.

“I think God just told the world that it’s a giant time out,” Cooper says.

Still, his wife, Sheryl Cooper, says they’re still making good use of their time.

“We’re all taking tap lessons every Thursday night,” she says. “We have a live broadcasted teacher.”

“Everyone has tap shoes,” Cooper says. “Of course, Sheryl, [daughters] Calico and Sonora are much further ahead since they are professional dancers, but I am hanging in there!”

“I call us ‘artists in residence,’” Sheryl says. “I don’t like the word quarantine.”

In March, Cooper launched a new podcast full of old interviews from his radio show Nights With Alice Cooper. It’s called Alice Cooper’s Vintage Vault and includes chats with rock legends like Ozzy Osborne and Debbie Harry. He's also finishing production on the hard rock album Detroit Stories, which features players from his hometown of the Motor City, where it was also recorded.

The Coopers’ dedication to the Christian faith and charity also remains intact. The couple's Solid Rock Foundation, along with the Solid Rock Teen Center, located at 13625 North 32nd Street, has kept them busy. The center, which opened in 2012 and serves those between the ages of 12 and 20 years old, is closed temporarily due to coronavirus. But live performances and one-on-one lessons are being streamed daily.

Cooper says he got the idea for the center 25 years ago, when he observed an awkward drug deal between two kids on bikes on the west side.

“I looked at this kid and said, 'What if he is the best guitar player in town, but has no idea because he hasn’t had the opportunity?'” Cooper says. “That made us say, 'Let’s give them that opportunity. Let’s open up a place where all teens are invited. Let’s find out what your talent is and work on that.'”

“We have professionals teaching kids arts, music, dance, and production. But despite being free, the caliber of the artistic training is fantastic,” Sheryl says. “It’s not only educational. It’s vocational.”

Adds Cooper: “I tell kids up front: There are five guys in a band and 30 people who run the show. And I couldn’t do it without them. If you end up being a roadie or technician, that’s a pretty good living...They realize they are bringing art into the world, and that’s important.”

Among many others, the center has nurtured the career of American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, who appeared at Cooper’s annual Christmas performance before auditioning for the reality show competition.

The center is funded with grants and donations, and the financials have taken a big hit lately. The postponement of Cooper’s annual golf tournament in April, which is its second biggest fundraiser of the year, didn't help matters. Still, the Coopers hope to expand the center to other Arizona cities and the rest of the country. A second location of the center is set to open in Mesa, though due to the coronavirus, its opening will probably be delayed until December of this year — not this summer, as originally intended, says Mark Savale, the Teen Center's director.

“Detroit needs 10 of these,” Cooper says.

The necessity of places like the Solid Rock Teen Center was impressed upon Cooper by a rattling experience he had several years ago.

“A girl showed me her to-do list: ‘Get up, go to school, lunch with friends, go to the park, kill myself,’” Cooper says. “She said, ‘I had a pocket full of pills and a razor blade.’ She’s 14. But some kid said, on the way to the park, ‘Let’s go to Solid Rock.’ Ever since, she’s there every day at 3 p.m.

“Now, we don’t ask what their home life is. That’s not our job. We’re not psychologists. But this story made me say at the next board meeting that if 20 years of planning ends up being just this girl not killing herself, then it’s worth it. It shocked me. And I’m pretty hard to shock.”"