Article Database
1980 - 1985
Alice Cooper: Nightmares, baby dolls & snakes
(Circus, 1980-00-00)
He danced with a boa constrictor, had Black Widow eyes, hacked dolls to death, splattered himself with blood, threw live chickens into the audience, was attacked by a giant Cyclops, had himself executed in an electric chair and was deemed "ugly" by...
Flush The Fashion Album Review
(Billboard, 1980-05-17)
Cooper is out to prove he was shocking parents long before any of the punk/new wave bands even thought of going into music. No ballads are present this time as all songs are uptempo rockers with typical new wave lyrics about world...
Flush the Fashion Review
(Daily Record, 1980-06-08)
"I love what's been happening in music in the past few years," says Alice Cooper in an interview accompanying his new album. "When I listen to Devo and then go back to PRETTIES FOR YOU, there's very little difference."...
Tamer Cooper is still cheered
(Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1980-07-00)
Alice Cooper wasn't electrocuted, guillotined, hung or even chased by an amorous tooth last night at the Coliseum. You'd think that 10,000 faithful fans would have been ready to shoot him, right? But they were up on their feet, even...
Two Faces Has Alice
(Trouser Press, 1980-07-00)
I first saw Alice Cooper in 1968 at Los Angeles' Whisky a Go Go. It was the height of the long-hair, peace-sign, love-in era. Black lights, psychedelia and attaining higher consciousness were all in vogue. Guys were wearing paisley shirts and buckskin jackets...
ALICE COOPER, TRIUMPH, BILLY SQUIER
(Scene, 1980-07-31)
Last Friday's triple-bill at the Coliseum theatre offered variety: something old, something new and something recycled. The new kid in town was Billy Squier, making his first Cleveland appearance in support of his debut album, THE TALE OF THE TAPE. Although his show suffered from lack of original, arresting material and a mediocre back-up band, Squier's vocal delivery and onstage manner were professional enough to bring the scattered crowd still filtering into the Coliseum to attention....
Alice changes props in theater of absurd
(Detroit Free Press, 1980-08-10)
There is still room in the '80s for Alice Cooper's rock theatrics, or at least 22,000-plus fans at Joe Louis Arena Friday seemed to think so. Gone were the props that made Cooper's '70s act such an elevated form of shock rock — no more blood-filled rubber...
Flush The Fashion Album Review
(Creem, 1980-09-00)
"Goodbye. Hey, goodbye guys! Maybe I'll see — maybe I'll see y'around sometime, huh? Hey, don't make a stranger of yourself, huh? Remember the Coop, huh? I hope — I hope y'don't forget me or nothin'. Goobye..." Alice, "Alma Mater," 1972. A real...
Flying Tigers
(Rock Scene, 1980-11-00)
When one group fights another group for glory and gain that's called war!! That's a lot like the rock scene.a war of musicians battling each other to get to that mythical "top." The battlefield is the staqe and the weapons are the music. Here is a group that calls itself the Flying Tigers, a nom de guerre for four very talented guys who are in the war to win! The day that Rock Scene talked to Neal Smith and Paul Roy they had just come to New Haven for a gig at "The Great American Saloon," having journeyed down from a very successful show at "Uncle Sam's" in Boston. We arrived late and Dennis Dunaway and David Stackman had to leave. We're sorry we couldn't talk to all four Tigers, but two Tigers at a time are plenty....
Pop Star of the Month
(Song Hits, 1980-11-00)
Late afternoon. Inspiration surrounds us. This is no cold, congealed publicist's office, no smarmy press party replete with fatuous gladhanding and stale finger sandwiches, no baronial mansion or sun-dappled pool side. ...
Alice Cooper
(World of Velvet, 1981-05-00)
VINCENT DAMON FURNIER, better known to rock fans as Alice Cooper, has been playing his own bizarre brand of horror-theater rock for over my 15 years. The Alice Cooper band began with an uneasy anger that made most early audiences uncomfortable, if not outright sick. In the early days, Alice was seen as a joke. People would go to an Alice Cooper club date for a laugh, or join the ever-growing walk-out-on-Alice fan club....
Special Forces Album Review
(Billboard, 1981-09-12)
"Special Forces" is an appropriate followup to "Flush The Fashion" in that Cooper continues his exploration of sparser sounding audio techniques. His vocal delivery is cool and distant while the instrumentation is minimal...
1972: Alice Cooper
(Circus, 1981-10-00)
Alice Cooper's impact of rock in 1972 can't be measured solely by his record sales. (Perhaps researching that year's fortunes of the cosmetics industry would provide a better barometer.) It's not true that Cooper was responsible for bringing theater to rock...
Cooper's use of macabre has dwindled to absurd
(Dallas Times Herald, 1981-10-27)
Sunday night an estimated 2,000 people, mostly young and mostly male, were gathered at the Wintergarden Ballroom to hear, see and experience an Alice Cooper concert. Many of their expectations were high....
Striktly For Konnoisseurs
(Kerrang!, 1981-11-00)
Lookit those clothes! Gold lame pants, yum-yum! Pervets. Before Alice Cooper took up celebrity golf and dried out, before he cut 'Love It To Death' even, Frank Zappa let him make a couple of albums just so Alice would quit annoying him. And this is the better one kids. Produced by Neil Young's pal David Briggs(!), it bangs it's way around from minute to minute without a hint of direction, but is plenty revealing all the same....
Apocalypse Alice: the flash and trash can't hide the rock
(Globe & Mail, 1981-11-25)
Out of the rising smoke came two men in camouflage outfits, rushing onto the Maple Leaf Gardens' stage carrying flashlights and looking fearfully up into the bleachers. (Drum rolls; shriek of guitars. Enter Alice Cooper, hair pulled back, carrying a whip and dressed in leather.) The grunts in camouflage grabbed guitars, and the band sprang into the opening song, Who Do You Think We Are? Apocalypse Alice is a new creation, but it has a lot in common with some of the old ones, including the black eye makeup, wild rolls of the eyes, and that up-and-down-the-stage marching strut....
Interview
(New Musical Express, 1982-00-00)
I interview Alice Cooper, the American singer, in his modest French hotel room. Resembling a Harryhausen hybrid of a prune, a crow and a well-Becketted Billie Whitelaw, his liquorice thin frame is bent awkwardly into a chair and he's blowing Q-tips...
The All-American Boy
(Hit Parader, 1982-01-00)
The Alice who sits in his New York hotel room now is a changed man. Oh, he's as skinny and long-haired as ever, but his energy level is unstoppablee. He switches from his role of proud father (his and Sheryl's first child, daughter Calico...
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1982-02-00)
Alice Cooper, one of the leaders in glam rock will play two dates in Britain in February. They are Birmingham Odeon, February 12 and Hammersmith Odeon, 14. It is expected that more dates will be added but no further details are available at the moment. Tickets for the shows are £5, £4.50 and £4.00. Alice, who hasn't toured Britain since the mid-seventies, is expected to appear with the full works of make-up, costumes and, of course, the snake. He has had to apply to the Home Office for a permit to bring the creature over....
All About Alice
(Kerrang!, 1982-02-11)
ALICE COOPER'S return to British concert halls this month mark his first appearances in the country for more than half a decade. Much has happened since his last visit. Indeed, several years ago, the man who became an international superstar in the...
The Monster Mash
(Melody Maker, 1982-02-20)
After sex, drugs and gratuitous violence, the strongest selling force that keeps rock rolling has got to be nostalgia. Now Alice has the lot. I can remember ages ago my first girlfriend's best friend telling me that Alice at Wembley...
A Clown Called Alice
(Melody Maker, 1982-02-27)
SLA-A-A-A-P! The Savoy room door swings open, this maniac anorexic takes two strides inside and skins my middle knuckle with a thick black leather riding crop. Sla-a-a-a-a-p! A sneering death's head, pore-clogged and filthy from 15 years...
Feature
(Kerrang!, 1982-03-00)
Cosmetic pioneer Alice Cooper may be re-recording his '72 hit 'School's Out' with the equally mascara'd Adam Ant. Cooper, on the brink of his first British tour for six years, also has a video-cassette on the way and while Adam won't appear the much publicised snake might. ...
Welcome To The Nightmare
(Kerrang!, 1982-03-10)
Rock fashion being the cyclic thing it is, it was perhaps inevitable that there should be a resurgence of interest in Alice Cooper. Adam Ant claims him as hero and inspiration, while the concept of 'putting on a show' as opposed to simply playing gigs has never been more fashionable. Ol' Snake Eyes could scarcely have chosen a better time to reconquer Europe, and on the strength of this show and the fact that his planned UK dates are almost sold-out, I'd say that is precisely what he is going to do....
Alice's Cash-In
(Melody Maker, 1982-03-20)
WHAT'S WITH all this Alice Cooper publicity? Here we are complaining as ever, about the state of "new music" and the lack of attention given to embryonic groups when, suddenly, you get the chance to cash in on a recent tour and flog a few copies....
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1982-04-08)
Alice Cooper addicts may well be interested to lean that a video of his 'Welcome To My Nightmare' show is now available in Britain. The footage comes from 1976 Wembley dates and basically the 84 minute film comprises an entire show from start to finish. Most of the 'Nightmare' songs are featured, as well as other classics like 'Eighteen', 'No More Mr Nice Guy' and 'School's Out'. One of the highlights is the lengthy guitar battle between Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner. The overall quality is pretty good as far as video concerts go and it's worth noting that this is not the same as the 'Strange Case Of Alice Cooper' video film which has been available over here for some time. Mind you, a copy of 'Welcome To My Nightmare' will set you back £39.95 but those interested should contact PMA Video, 18 Warren Court, 291 Euston Road, London NW1 3AA...
"I don't like 'Clones'"
(Live!, 1982-06-00)
Here is the end of this exclusive interview with Alice Cooper that we presented in the last edition of Live! Speaking of your old band, why did you leave it? Because of musical differences. We parted on good terms....
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1982-09-09)
Talking of weeping, Alice Cooper's wrenching new album, due around the same time (next month), is titled 'Zipper Catches Skin'. Kerrang has always approved of honesty in rock....
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1982-09-23)
Yet another rock'n'roller to contribute music for a movie is Alice Cooper who has written and recorded a brand new tune titled 'I Am The Furture' for the film 'Class Of 1984'....
Zipper Catches Skin
(Kerrang!, 1982-11-04)
"Ouch," Alice seems to whimper from the back cover; "ouch," thought I listening to this. Alice is not a healthy man as the last couple of albums have shown and this doesn't do much to convince me he's getting any better. Believe me, Alice, it pains me to write this, I really wanted to love this album to death. You remember in 'Sunset Boulevard' how Gloria Swanson shut herself off from the world to watch old movies and answer the fan mail sent by her manservant? Well, in the ivory tower Alice has constructed over Beverly Hills he has a huge video screen that spews out movies all day long. I counted at least six film titles that were either directly named or infered on 'Zipper Catches Skin' and even then I probably missed some....
Welcome To My Nightmare
(History of Rock, 1983-00-00)
It was Alice Cooper who drew first blood. Early in the Seventies, Alice (real name Vincent Furnier) showed his commercial acumen in realizing that rock music and horror could be harnessed in on sensational, shocking showbiz package. Dressed as a ghoul...
Dancing around Alice
(Arizona Republic, 1983-02-03)
Sheryl Cooper, wife of rock star Alice Cooper and a new resident of the Valley, will teach a workshop in intermediate and beginning jazz dance at 2 p.m. Saturday at Profile for Dance, 1509 W. Thomas Road. Mrs. Cooper has appeared...
Jokers Wild
(Hit Parader, 1983-03-00)
It's a quiet night in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Alice Cooper has returned to the land of his youth for a brief escape from California's craziness. Here we can imagine the perennial adolescent Alice — working out with boxing gear, playing...
I Am The Future
(Kerrang!, 1983-04-07)
From the reportably appalling 'Class Of '84' film which by all accounts is 'Happy Days' meets 'The Warriors', we have an equally limp soundtrack from the one time master of menace - re-mixed especially for the occasion. As much as I would really like to like this (being a total fan of the man) it's nothing more than a cliched cop out, aiming for the charts and MOR fans. This was not made for Alice Cooper fans....
"I Bore Alice Cooper's Child!"
(Phoenix New Times, 1983-09-07)
The man of the house - unshaven, barefooted and clad in jeans, a tee shirt and a baseball cap - rummages through the kitchen looking for something to eat. The wife, who is curled up on a couch in front of the TV screen, smiles affectionately as her husband enter the living room fresh from his raid on the family fridge....
Dada Review
(Calgary Herald, 1983-11-05)
On one song off the latest from Alice Cooper, he tells the story of someone who likes going around draining blood from his various victims, sort of an urban Dracula (maybe they could make a flick out of it with John Travolta in the lead?). Well, DaDa sounds...
Alice continues astounding career
(South Bend Tribune, 1983-11-27)
ALICE COOPER'S 17th album "DaDa" for Warner Brothers features nine original new songs and the reunion between Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin....
Hearing on support scheduled in Alice Cooper divorce case
(Arizona Republic, 1983-12-15)
Maricopa County Superior Court officials say they have set a Jan. 30 hearing to determine how much support rock star Alice Cooper should pay his estranged wife while their divorce is pending. Sheryl Cooper, 27, filed for dissolution...
Dada Album Review
(Kerrang!, 1983-12-15)
"Come now, lay down on the couch and watch the swinging locket. You're eyes are getting heavy. You are sleeping deeply. Now, what's the trouble?" "I've got this daughter, I mean son, sorry, called Alice Cooper, doc..." "Oh dear, now I begin to understand the problem." Imagine it - being 'Da Da' (or 'Ma Ma') to this guy. Alice's parents must spend a fortune on analysts bills - almost as much as him! This record, his umpteenth at last count, has Alice continuing through his third vinyl decade as gracefully, yet tastelessly, as his terminally twisted mind will allow. He may have long since lost the ability (or probably the desire) to write punchy rock anthems but he can still come up with mature and quirky AOR (never bland like it's sickly FM relative).
...
Horror films inspire Arizona's bizarre star
(Tucson Citizen, 1983-12-16)
Vincent Damon Furnier, better known to the rock-music world as Alice Cooper, says he's a television junkie and that many of his bizarre concepts for albums come from watching "as many bad horror movies as I can — just about anything that's stupid."...
News Report
(Philadelphia Inquirer, 1983-12-26)
A hearing has been set for Friday to determine how much support rock star Alice Cooper should pay his estranged wife while their divorce is pending. Sheryl Cooper, 27, filed for divorce Nov. 15 and is asking $5,000 a month in temporary maintenance and $2,240 a month in temporary child support. She also is requesting temporary custody of the couple's 2-year-old daughter. Cooper, 35, whose real name is Vincent Furnier, married Sheryl in Acapulco, Mexico, on March 20, 1976. She was a former dancer in his bizarre concert shows. She moved out of the couple's posh home in suburban Phoenix, Ariz., on Sept. 30. She listed her monthly expenses as $1,200 for a housekeeper; $1,300 for food and supplies; $1,200 for car repairs, maintenance and gas; $1,000 for entertainment; $400 for clothing for herself and her baby and $400 for beauty-shop bills. ...
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1984-02-09)
The man who wrote the classic 'School's Out', ex-Alice Cooper Band member Michael Bruce, has just finished 'Rock Rolls On', his first solo album. Dino Dinelli and Gene Cornish, ex-Rascals, helped out....
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1984-03-22)
Alice Cooper has parted company with his longstanding record label, Warner Brothers. According to a spokesman for Cooper: 'He has fulfilled his contractual obligations to the company and is now negotiating a new deal which should be announced within the next few weeks."...
Wake Up Screaming
(Kerrang!, 1984-05-31)
Just think. If there'd never been an Alice Cooper, Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue would probably be wearing clumpy shoes now instead of those fetching stilettos, Dee Snider'd doubtless look like a lorry driver and Ozzy's dove might be safely hatching eggs in a little LA nest somewhere. Alice Cooper may not have invented outrage and perversion and nasty ghoulish kinkiness, but he did more than anyone to bring it out of the whip closet and put it up onstage before millions of drooling headbangers....
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1985-02-07)
It seems that Dee Snider of Twisted Sister recently had the chance of a lifetime when he met Alice Cooper. Apparently, Cooper read an interview with Snider published in the 'Los Angeles Times>', wherein the long-haired blond singer confessed that Alice had been his inspiration and brightened up an otherwise dreary adolescence. The two rock legends spent the whole night talking away, and there are rumours that the result of this pow-wow may be a joint vinyl effort sometime this year....
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
(Esquire, 1985-04-00)
There is a delicatessen near where I work; it has a service bar in the back, and sometimes at the end of the day I will stop in there. One night I did. The bartender said, "A friend of yours was in the restaurant the other day." "Oh?" I said. "Who's that?" "Alice Cooper," the bartender said. That seemed odd. "Are you sure?" I said. "It was him all right," the bartender said. "He had his wife and daughter with him." "What do you suppose he was doing in Chicago?" I said. ...
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1985-05-03)
What's long and thin and slimy and sends you screaming from the room? Alice Cooper's snake naturellement, which as we speak is being coaxed out of retirement in it's Beverley Hills home (Alice left it there while he and the missus scarpered off to Arizona) to go back out on the road....
Legends Of Rock
(Hit Parader, 1985-09-00)
"If Motley Crue is this generation's Kiss, than we are this generation's Alice Cooper"" once declared W.A.S.P.'s main demon, Blackie Lawless. If you thought outlandish bands like W.A.S.P., Motley Crue and Twisted Sister were originals...
Alice In Twisted Land
(Kerrang!, 1985-10-31)
Pictured above at the Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles are Twisted Sister lead vocalist Dee Snider and none other than Alice Cooper. TS were recently in LA putting the final touches to their latest album, due for release through the Atlantic label within the next month. Producer Dieter Dierks has been at the helm, beginning his chore at the Hit Factory in New York before moving lock, stock and mix-down equipment over to the West Coast....
Out to Lunch: Alice Cooper
(Hit Parader, 1985-12-00)
Each month Hit Parader takes a noted rock and roll celebrity out to lunch to find out if food really does make the man. This month's lunch muncher is rock's original master of the macabre, that ol' snake charmer himself, Alice Cooper. "My home life...
News Report
(Kerrang!, 1985-12-12)
Alice Cooper will be recording with producer Beau Hill in New York during January, testing out material for his latest studio album. If all goes according to plan these sessions will be used as the basis for his next LP. As yet untitled, the album is likely to be issued through MCA during the Summer....