Alice Cooper (band)

Alice Cooper was an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964. The band consisted of lead singer Vince Furnier (stage name Alice Cooper), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and Neal Smith (drums). Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and has had a solo career under that name since the band became inactive in 1975. The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows.[2] In 2011, the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3]

This article is about the rock band. For its lead singer, see Alice Cooper.
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper on the Killer Tour in 1972
Background information
OriginPhoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Genres
Years active1964 (1964)–1975 (1975)
(reunions: 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017)
Labels
Associated actsAlice Cooper, Billion Dollar Babies
Websitewww.alicecooper.com
Past members

After years of obscurity, the Alice Cooper band rose to fame in 1971 with the hit single "I'm Eighteen" and the album Love It to Death. Success continued with the popular single "School's Out" and the album of the same name in 1972. The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their next album Billion Dollar Babies and its tour, which broke box-office records previously held by The Rolling Stones.

History

Formative years

The band consisted of former members of the garage rock band the Spiders, formed in Phoenix in 1964 with three of the eventual five Alice Cooper members (Furnier, Dunaway and Buxton), who were classmates in high school. Michael Bruce and Neal Smith joined in 1966 and 1967, respectively. They created everything as a group and wrote virtually the entirety of what became the classic Alice Cooper canon.[4]

The band officially relocated to Los Angeles in 1967, having traveled there frequently for shows, and were briefly renamed Nazz. In 1968, the band learned that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, and found themselves in need of another name. The legend is that the name "Alice Cooper" came from a session with a Ouija board and was the name of a 17th century witch. However, Furnier described the incident with the ouija board as "just pure urban legend...but it was a great story."[5] Furnier stated the name was chosen simply as a gimmick, because it sounded innocuous and wholesome, in humorous contrast to the band's image and music.

After a 1968 gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California, where most of the club's patrons left after hearing the band play just ten minutes, they were approached by music manager Shep Gordon, who saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction.[6] Shep arranged an audition for the band with renowned musical artist and record producer Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock" for an audition. The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of music at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough for him to sign them to a three-album deal.[6] "Frank was the only one who stuck out his neck for us, for me," recalled Alice himself. "He was the one who said, 'Here's a band that everybody in the business is laughing at – I like 'em.' … He was the outcast in L.A. and so were we."[7] The first three Alice Cooper albums were released on Zappa's Straight label.

Another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs, were encouraged to dress up the Alice Cooper band members in women's clothing and heavy makeup, and played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look.[8]

The band was the subject of media criticism after Furnier threw a live chicken into the audience during the 1969 Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival. The audience ripped the chicken to shreds.[9] In 1970, the band appeared on a Warner Bros sampler album, Zapped, featuring acts produced by Zappa.

Finding success

Slow sales of the band's first two albums, as well as Californians' indifference to their act, led the band to relocate again in 1970, this time to Pontiac, Michigan near Furnier's original home town of Detroit. Here, their bizarre stage act was much better received by Midwestern crowds accustomed to the proto punk styles of local bands such as the Stooges and the MC5. "L.A. just didn’t get it," Furnier stated. "They were all on the wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else."[10]

Hooking up with young producer Bob Ezrin, Alice Cooper released the single "I'm Eighteen" in late 1970, and it became a surprise Top 40 hit. The single's success convinced Warner Bros that the band could be a viable commercial act, leading to much stronger investment in the third Alice Cooper album, Love It to Death. The album was initially released on Straight Records, but was reissued on the Warner label following its buyout of the imprint from Zappa, giving Alice Cooper even greater exposure. Under Ezrin's direction, the band's sound moved from psychedelic rock to a tighter, guitar-driven hard rock sound, even as much of the lyrical content continued to explore "decadence, perversion and psychosis."[11]

With Love It to Death and its follow-up album Killer both charting well, the band was able to afford a more elaborate stage show, including sophisticated props and elements of gothic horror, and they became a highly popular concert attraction in the US and UK over the next few years.[12] Calls by members of British Parliament in 1972 to have the group banned from performing in the UK only solidified the band's legend,[13] and the next year's Billion Dollar Babies tour broke box office records. Cindy Dunaway (Neal Smith's sister who married Dennis Dunaway) designed the band's costumes and occasionally performed in the stage show (she was the "dancing tooth" on the Billion Dollar Babies tour).[14][15]

Following Killer, Alice Cooper released three more hit albums – all three charting in the US Top Ten – and headlined major tours from 1972 to 1974, before breaking up.

Breakup of the original band

The original Alice Cooper band played their final show on April 8, 1974 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[16] There are varying reasons former band members have given for the breakup. Smith said the members wanted to take a year off to slow down and possibly do solo projects, and just never reunited. Cooper said there was disagreement over how much money to sink back into stage shows, which had become costly. Bruce contends that Buxton's issues with substance abuse, which at one time led him to pull a switchblade on the band's tour manager, likely hastened the breakup.[17]

The breakup was made public in 1975.[18] Vincent Furnier took "Alice Cooper" as his own name and carried on as a solo artist with a new group of musicians,[15][19] the original band becoming officially defunct. Furnier later stated that the name change was one of his most important and successful career moves.[20]

The four surviving original members of Alice Cooper at Wembley Arena in November 2017

Bruce, Dunaway and Smith would go on to form the short-lived band Billion Dollar Babies, producing one album – Battle Axe – in 1977. While occasionally performing with one another and Glen Buxton, they would not reunite with Alice until October 23, 1999, at the second Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend for a show at CoopersTown in Phoenix (Buxton having died in 1997). They reunited for another show, with Steve Hunter on guitar, on December 16, 2010, at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix.[21] This lineup would perform together again (televised) on March 14, 2011, at the induction of the original Alice Cooper group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as on May 11, 2011, at London's Battersea Power Station at the Jägermeister Ice Cold 4D event (webcast). Bruce, Dunaway and Smith appeared on three tracks they co-wrote on Alice's 2011 album Welcome 2 My Nightmare.

A documentary about the band entitled Super Duper Alice Cooper premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2014, and was scheduled to be screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival a week later.[9]

On October 6, 2015, a surprise reunion show took place in Dallas at Dunaway's book signing session. He was joined by Bruce, Smith, Cooper and Ryan Roxie, who replaced the late Glen Buxton.[22][23][24] The surviving members of the band were set to record and release an album.[25] However, the only material to surface was two bonus tracks on Cooper's 27th studio album Paranormal.

The four surviving original members reunited again for a five-song set on May 14, 2017, at a show in Nashville, Tennessee.[26] The four reunited yet again later that same year for a UK tour.[27]

The Spiders
The Spiders
Background information
OriginPhoenix, Arizona, United States
Genres
Years active1964 (1964)–1968 (1968)
Associated actsAlice Cooper
Past members
  • Vincent Furnier
  • Dennis Dunaway
  • Glen Buxton
  • John Tatum
  • John Speer
  • Michael Bruce
  • Mike Hughes
  • Neal Smith

The Spiders were a 1960s garage rock band consisted of Vincent Furnier, Dennis Dunaway, Glen Buxton, John Tatum, John Speer and Michael Bruce.[28] Formed by Furnier and Dunaway, both high school friends at Cortez High School in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, they later evolved into the band Alice Cooper, which, in turn, Vincent Furnier eventually took to be his stage name.[28]

In 1964, 16-year-old Furnier was eager to participate in the local annual Letterman's talent show, so he gathered four fellow cross-country teammates to form a group for the show: Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, John Tatum and John Speer.[29] They named themselves The Earwigs.[28] They dressed up in costumes and wigs to resemble the Beatles, and performed several parodies of Beatles songs, with the lyrics modified to refer to the track team: in their rendition of "Please Please Me", for example, the line "Last night I said these words to my girl" was replaced with "Last night I ran four laps for my coach".[30] Of the group, only Buxton and Tatum knew how to play an instrument—the guitar—so Buxton and Tatum played guitars while the rest mimed on their instruments.[31] The group got an overwhelming response from the audience and won the talent show. As a result of their positive experience, the group decided to try to turn into a real band. They acquired musical instruments from a local pawn shop, and proceeded to learn how to play them, with Buxton doing most of the teaching, as well as much of the early songwriting.[31] They soon renamed themselves The Spiders, featuring Furnier on vocals, Buxton on lead guitar, Tatum on rhythm guitar, Dunaway on bass guitar, and Speer on drums.[28] Musically, the group was inspired by artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, the Doors, and the Yardbirds. For the next year the band performed regularly around the Phoenix area with a huge black spider's web as their backdrop, the group's first stage prop.[28]

In 1965, the Spiders recorded their first single, "Why Don't You Love Me" (originally performed by the Blackwells), with Furnier learning the harmonica for the song. The single's B-side track was the Marvin Gaye Tamla Records hit, "Hitch Hike". The single was released by local record label, Mascot Records, owned by Jack Curtis, a concert promoter who also owned the Stage 7 teen club which later became the VIP Club where the Spiders were the house band.

In 1966, the Spiders graduated from high school and after North High School footballer Michael Bruce replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar, the band released their second single, "Don't Blow Your Mind", an original composition which became a local #1 hit, backed by "No Price Tag". The single was recorded at Copper State Recording Studio and issued by local micro-imprint, Santa Cruz Records.[28]

By 1967, the band had begun to make regular road trips to Los Angeles to play shows. They soon renamed themselves Nazz and released the single "Wonder Who's Lovin' Her Now", backed with future Alice Cooper track "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye". At around this time, drummer John Speer was replaced by Neal Smith. By the end of the year, the band had relocated to Los Angeles.[28]

In 1968, the band learned that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, and found themselves in need of another stage name. Furnier also believed that the group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage.[28] The legend is that the name "Alice Cooper" came from a session with a Ouija board, largely chosen because it sounded innocuous and wholesome, in humorous contrast to the band's image and music. However, in an interview with Mark Radcliffe on the Radcliffe and Maconie show on BBC Radio 2 on 30 November 2009 Alice described the incident with the ouija board as an urban legend. He said "We literally got that whole story about the witch thing the way you guys got it. It was like just pure urban legend. I heard about the witch thing probably the same day you did, but it was a great story.[5] "Alice Cooper" was a character on Mayberry R.F.D. (played by Alice Ghostley) at the time, probably coincidentally. Eventually Furnier adopted this stage name as his own. He later stated that the name change was one of his most important and successful career moves.[20] The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of Furnier, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith – all former members of the Spiders. This lineup stayed intact well into the 1970s.[28]

Band members
See also: List of Alice Cooper solo band members
Vincent Furnier a.k.a. Alice Cooper

Original band members

Additional members 1973–1974


Timeline

Discography
Main article: Alice Cooper discography
Studio albums
Compilations
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References
  1. P. Auslander, Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2006), ISBN 0-472-06868-7, p. 34.
  2. Waksman, Steve (2009). This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. University of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-94388-9.
  3. "Rock Hall makes it official: Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond among new class". SoundSpike. December 15, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
  4. Tom Larson. "History of Rock and Roll". p. 188. Retrieved 2015-10-13 – via Google Books.
  5. "The Radcliffe and Maconie Show." Guest Alice Cooper. BBC Radio 2. Episode 30 November 2009.
  6. Super Duper Alice Cooper. Dir. Reginald Harkima, Scott McFayden, and Sam Dunn. Banger Films in association with Eagle Rock Entertainment, the Movie Network, and Movie Central. 2014 – documentary
  7. "Alice Cooper". Mojo. March 2002.
  8. "Miss Christine". SickthingsUK. November 5, 1972. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  9. Howell, Peter. "Toronto 'chicken incident' sparked rage". Toronto Star, 24 April 2014.
  10. Dominic, Serene (October 8, 2003). "Alice doesn't live here anymore. But he can't forget the Motor City". Metro Times. Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  11. "Alice Cooper – American Rock Group". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  12. Earlwine, Stephen Thomas. "Artist Biography – Alice Cooper". allmusic. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  13. "Loads More Mr Nice Guy". Alice Cooper eChive. October 19, 2001. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  14. Walker, Michael. What You Want Is in the Limo: On the Road With Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and the Who in 1973, the Year the Sixties Died and the Modern Rock Star Was Born. Random House LLC, 2013.
  15. Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists – Pete Prown, HP Newquist – Google Books. 1948-03-16. Retrieved 2014-08-09 – via Google Books.
  16. "Early Days On The Road – Tour Dates – Alice Cooper eChive". Alicecooperechive.com. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  17. Rodgers, Larry (March 8, 2011). "Rock lifestyle caught up with Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  18. "40 Years Ago: The Alice Cooper Band Release Their Final Album". Ultimateclassicrock.com. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  19. Edmonson, Jacqueline. "Cooper, Alice (1948 – )".Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture. ABC-CLIO, 2013.
  20. "Alice Cooper's name change". Contactmusic.com. November 7, 2007. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  21. "Alice Cooper – Dennis Dunaway Interview". YouTube.com. 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
  22. "Good Records – Original Alice Cooper Group Snakes! Book..." Facebook. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  23. "Check Out Exclusive Photos + the Inside Story on Alice Cooper's Surprise Reunion". Ultimate Classic Rock. October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  24. "Video Footage Of ALICE COOPER's Surprise Reunion". Blabbermouth.net. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  25. DiVita, Joe (May 11, 2016). "Original Alice Cooper Band to Reunite for New Album". Loudwire. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  26. "ALICE COOPER Reunites With Original Band Members For Nashville Performance (Video)". Blabbermouth.net. May 14, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  27. "ALICE COOPER REUNITES ORIGINAL BAND FOR 2017 UK TOUR". alicecooper.com. September 29, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  28. Harkima, Reginald, Scott McFayden and Sam Dunn, dir. Super Duper Alice Cooper. Banger Films, 2014. DVD.
  29. Cooper describes in detail in his first autobiography, Me, Alice, how he was tasked with organizing an act for the show.
  30. Masley, Ed (June 6, 2015). "Alice Cooper bandmates reflect on their historic past". The Arizona Republic.
  31. Rodgers, Larry (October 1999). "Rock lifestyle caught up with Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton". The Arizona Republic.
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