Album Guide

Being described as a legend in one's own time is certainly a most blatantly abused cliche. But no-one has taken a vivid imagination and invigorating stage show to the people with as much controversy and success as Alice Cooper. Call him Master of Shock Rock, Black Humorist Supreme or simply one of rock's great showman, his mark has been undeniable on countless performers and fans alike and he can be looked upon as nothing less than a legend. Now, Alice Cooper returns with his debut album for CBS Records, Trash.

Unleashing his 20th release, Trash is just as controversial as previous Alice albums. It oozes with sexuality and songs about relationships in the nineties, with the twisted attitude only Alice Cooper can project. It's not always pretty, it's not always nasty, but it's always unmistakably Alice.

Going for a radically theatrical approach with costumes and fog machines (virtually inventing shock-rock), Alice Cooper's debut turned the industry upside down with a nonconformist attitude, an anomaly in an age of Peace and Love. Alice, intending to "drive a stake through the heart of the Love Generation", played hard rock powered by crunching riffs, blazing guitars and lyrics that seemed to connect directly to the dissatisfied teenage psyche. Aiming to out-shock even the Stones, Alice succeeded with a wit and humour few have been able to duplicate since.

From the very first gig to the evolution into colossal concert tours, Alice achieved triumph after triumph. "When 'Eighteen' became such a big hit, suddenly we could afford to do all the things we wanted to. It was like a license to thrill", recollects Alice. The elaborate concerts have become standard for others to be compared to. The albums Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out, Muscle Of Love and Billion Dollar Babies shot up the charts. The gold albums were followed quickly by platinum albums, including such timeless anthems as "Elected", "School's Out" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy".

Alice set many rock'n'roll trends, especially with his elaborate production of the "Welcome To My Nightmare", TV special. Years before MTV, it became the first long form rock video, consisting of MTV-style conceptual video clips for each song on the album. And even before that, in 1972, Alice's "Elected" video was one of the very first actual story line, non-live performance promo video clips ever.

The late seventies showed Alice Cooper going through many changes, but always staying ahead of his time and remaining true to his rebellious attitude towards authority. Albums like Lace & Whiskey, Goes To Hell, the intellectually conceptual From The Inside and the audacious statements of Flush The Fashion took his music to new adventurous levels, experimenting with new sound and new musicians.

Taking a break in 1983, Alice took time out to recover from fourteen years of non-stop touring and to reflect upon his career. "It was a time when disco was at its peak. There was no rock'n'roll around and I absolutely hated it. I wasn't going to do pop or techno music! So when hard rock came back in the mid-eighties, I was back in business!"

Signed to Epic Records in 1988, Alice hooked up with songwriter Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Joan Jett) as both co-writer and producer. "The rarest of moments is when I find myself turning up the radio in my car, and it almost always seems to have been from hearing a Desmond Child tune. There is this certain crazy insanity mixed in with genius", states Alice regarding his decision to record and write with Child.

Attacking the record with the fervor and excitement of a first record, Trash blends the Alice Cooper legacy with the flashy musicianship and fluid songwriting of the nineties, hard-edged yet melodic.

Moving away from the blood and gore of previous albums, Trash explores the good, the absurd and the scary things about sexuality. "Poison" is about that strange, nightmarish relationship which is thrilling to get into but soon turns into a horror story. This title song, featuring Jon Bon Jovi on harmony vocals, refers to the various classes of society who all become nothing but "trash" as they hit the sheets for sexual conquest.

"Spark In The Dark" is a pure summer lust song, with a gyrating guitar line to drive it home. "Bed Of Nails" is a frightening but often true commentary of a rocky relationship that is kept fresh and exciting through the combination of pleasure and pain. "House Of Fire" is a soon-to-be classic, with an anthemic chorus about burning love.

Trash also offers sensitive ballads — "Hell ls Living Without You", co-written by Alice, Desmond Child and both Bon Jovi's Jon and guitarist Richie Sambora and "Only My Heart Tai kin'"", featuring a harmony vocal by Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.

"This was the first time I was able to call somebody up and say that I had a song that was perfect for that person to do with me", explains Alice. And so friends like Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith and Kip Winger (former bassist for Alice and now lead singer of his own group) all stopped by to add their musical talents to the album.

"Everybody relates to trash. Kids get trashed by the cops, trashed in school, trashed at home. We live in a highly pressured time", states Alice. "Drugs are a much bigger deal today; the fear of addiction is right there! Living is harder, sex is harder -• it used to be that when you got into trouble from sex you got a shot of penicillin, now you die! It's a dangerous world and Trash is what it's about".