Alice Coopers - why don't I like him?

[mentalextra]

After all I should. I'm a 'rocker' and he ticks all the boxes. I grew up on stuff like this. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, AC/DC. And that was back in the day when they weren't just churning it out to pay off the ex wives. But, Alice Cooper's never seemed to float my boat and I could never quite pin down the reason. I watched the concert last night on TV when he played Wembley years ago, hoping to see any new insight and it still leaves me cold. Maybe its because he always sounds like he is doing it by the numbers, a tick box menu of what any rock track should contain. Maybe the occult references and obsession with death is over played these days, but you can't blame Alice for that, plenty of other groups use it as a tool also. I've even heard plenty of interviews outside of music business and he actually sounds like a decent guy compared to some others at his level, and it not up his own arse or off with the fairies either!. Without appearing like I'm trolling/hateing, or trying to annoy the fan club, why dont I like his music? And believe me I have really tried?

[madshadows]

Schools Out for Alice Cooper for you then !!

John

[mentalextra]

[quote name='madshadows' timestamp='1390057022' post='2340991']
Schools Out for Alice Cooper for you then !!

John
[/quote]

I asked for that, didnt I!

[arthurhenry]

His earlier stuff is very unique, proggy and arrangement heavy. Very far from the likes of the awful "Poison" etc. Dennis Dunaway's bass playing is fantastic too.

[Billy Apple]

I like some of Alice's tunes, from both his old and new stuff. Plus I saw him at Reading once, and even though I'm not a big fan, the gig was awesome.

But when he presents on the radio, I absolutely cannot stand him. He comes over like an arrogant, un-funny bore.

Edited January 18, 2014 by Billy Apple

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1390058696' post='2341017']
His earlier stuff is very unique, proggy and arrangement heavy. Very far from the likes of the awful "Poison" etc. Dennis Dunaway's bass playing is fantastic too.
[/quote]

absolutley

have a listen to [b][url="http://www.allmusic.com/album/love-it-to-death-mw0000650017"]Love it to Death[/url][/b] and [b][url="http://www.allmusic.com/album/billion-dollar-babies-mw0000651048"]Billion Dollar Babies[/url][/b]

[Johnm93]

Maybe i'ts the projected image you don't like, rather than the tunes.
He went down a storm at last year's Cropredy Festival - which is a folk event.

[madshadows]

His early stuff was great, Billion Dollar babies is an amazing album but he seemed to lose it a bit after the Welcome To My Nightmare record, some of his more recent stuff isn't bad, I have the AC greatest hits CD on my iPod and when you listen to that it makes you realize what great songs he has released, saw him live in the 70's and he was great and again in the late 90's at Wembley Arena and he still had it live

John

[BetaFunk]

Like a lot of music it depends what are when it was released and you heard it or if you first heard it some years after it's release. That has a massive effect on how you may view it. Million Dollar Babies was just another LP by a pop group of the time. Nothing wrong with that but it's not what i would have chosen to listen to at the time. I would imagine that on it's release it was bought mainly in the UK by kids in their early teens so put it firmly in the Top Of The Pops teeny listening bracket.

[merello]

I like some of his stuff but there's a lack of earthiness due to his pantomime approach.

[Roger2611]

There is always going to be artistes from your chosen genre that you just don't connect with, I love most things old school punk but could never connect with Siouxsie and the Banshees, don't know why it just has never happened. I wouldn't worry about it

[steve-bbb]

[url="http://youtu.be/pRbjlXob31U"]http://youtu.be/pRbjlXob31U[/url]

[bonzodog]

Maybe there is a sub consious side that he doesnt appeal because hes on his own not a band. He obviously has a band but i grew up on same music as you and i loved the idea of the whole band thing with a group of guys. Just a thought

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Went to see him for the one (and only) time back in '85. Constrictor tour. Wembley arena. Enjoyed it at the time.
As he was doing a record signing at virgin megastore on the following Monday, I thought I'd pop over to see him .
What a miserable b@stard I thought to myself. He didn't speak , and was thoroughly p@ssed off over something.

It wasn't till I read somewhere, that he nearly died at the wembley gig! Apparently the noose was strangling him , as it was too tight .
I love the killer album, the poison single and the greatest hits. Other than that, I'm not a fan

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1390072969' post='2341223']
Maybe there is a sub consious side that he doesnt appeal because hes on his own not a band. He obviously has a band but i grew up on same music as you and i loved the idea of the whole band thing with a group of guys. Just a thought
[/quote]

Lest we forget, Alice Cooper was, originally, the name of the band.
As for the OP, you just don't like him/them. Don't worry about it. There are countless supposedly great and legendary bands I can't stand - The Doors and Guns n' Roses to name a couple. Rumour has it there are some folk on here who dislike the Beatles! Nutters, I know

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1390078459' post='2341295']
Lest we forget, Alice Cooper was, originally, the name of the band.
[/quote]
Precisely. All the good stuff, from Pretties For You (1969) to Muscle Of Love (1974) Alice Cooper was a band consisting of Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums), Michael Bruce & Glen Buxton (guitars) and fronted by Vincent Furnier, using the stage name Alice Cooper. Michael Bruce was the band's main writer & lyricist, and pretty much all of the material Alice Cooper is known for is from this era - School's Out, Elected, 18, No More Mr Nice Guy & so on.

Anecdotally, in 1975 after the Muscle Of Love album, the band was burned out & took a hiatus to record solo albums, as seemed to be traditional in the 70s. Alice Cooper the singer's solo album, Welcome To My Nightmare, was recorded, promoted & toured using session musicians and the band simply never re-formed.

Shame - Alice the singer never came close to anything Alice the band did - check out Halo Of Flies, from Killer - a 10-minute garage prog epic about international espionage. Genius!

Jon.

[MilkyBarKid]

I always liked his tale about him and Mick Jagger sneaking off for a round of golf, and being terrified that journalists would find out, and ruin their bad boy images.

[Cat Burrito]

I've seen him in 2002 and 2013, I'm not much of a heavy rocker but really like the Alice Cooper band and his early solo albums. I didn't care too much for Poison et al but he had Dennis Dunaway and Elton John's bass player for a while so he's alright with me.

[lojo]

Never really paid him/them much attention, then we started covering "Be My lover" , and I started to enjoy the band.

[megallica]

Nice to see a lot of support for Dennis Dunnaway's bass playing.

I always had a soft spot for the album 'from the inside' - kind of a concept album writen about a mental institute.

I read that the band wanted to move away from the theatrical side of the Alice Cooper show where Vincent wanted to do more theatrics.

The Trash era was okay but truly Desmond Child written big chorus stadium rock.

[bertbass]

I think it's because our Vince just can't sing, which is a bit of a disadvantage if you're the singer.

Personally, I think poison is the best song he's ever done.

I have the same problem as mentalextra but with Meatloaf.

Edited January 19, 2014 by bertbass

[dmccombe7]

Haven't liked much since before Poison album. Songs just kinda drone for me these days. He does put on a good show though.

Dave

[White Cloud]

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1390056524' post='2340976']
After all I should. I'm a 'rocker' and he ticks all the boxes. I grew up on stuff like this. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, AC/DC. And that was back in the day when they weren't just churning it out to pay off the ex wives. But, Alice Cooper's never seemed to float my boat and I could never quite pin down the reason.
[/quote]
Dude, if you don't know then I sure don't know....[i]you know![/i]

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1390135712' post='2341758']
I think it's because our Vince just can't sing, which is a bit of a disadvantage if you're the singer.

Personally, I think poison is the best song he's ever done.

I have the same problem as mentalextra but with Meatloaf.
[/quote]

ive never considered him a singer tbh more of a narrator (especially with the more theatrical material such as 'i love the dead')

[Phil Adams]

He never really did it for me. Apart from School's out, that driving bass is amazing.