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Cooper's Union of Rock and Bad Fun

THE MAN WHO TAUGHT 'rock 'n' roll to barf blood made his first New York appearance in nine years Monday night.

Alice Cooper's sold out show at the Ritz was as grisly as ever, only this time he balanced his most ghoulish hits with material from the undeservedly successful "Trash," his latest album. Regardless of the new audience that the LP must've rustled up for the Coop. Younger fans were nowhere in evidence at the Ritz. Instead, many in the crowd looked as if they could've last sung Alice's "Eighteen" back when it first came out, in 1971.

Luckily — for them and the performer — Alice's bad taste has proved to be timeless. It was hard not to get misty as The Coop once again had a nervous breakdown and was forced into a straitjacket during "Ballad of Dwight Fry." Or when he sang what remains the most poignant ode to necrophilia ever recorded — "I Love the Dead" — culminating in his own decapitation.

But the show wasn't all sweet nostalgia. "Welcome to My Nightmare" was updated with a free-for-all appearance from the unholy trinity of Freddie, Jason and The Shape from "Halloween," all taking on our hero. (Alice won, of course.) The singer even revived one of his obscure gems, "Gutter Cat vs. the Jets," complete with choreographed knife fight.

Unfortunately, Alice proved that even an arch satirist can go too far with his treatment of a dying woman in "Only Women Bleed." But the rest of the show was all in bad fun. Even the rote and corporate newer material worked better live. The ear­mauling sound system gave the songs the bite that was airbrushed out in the studio by the album's producer.

Still, the moment that probably captured Alice the best was the final "School's Out." Sporting a top hat and cane, the singer proved once again he's just a song-and-dance man after all.