Billion Dollar Babies

Favorite track(s): Elected, Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Generation Landslide,

This project made me listen to an Alice Cooper album, School's Out. That was a surprising blast. Probably should have left it at that as I found myself losing interest as this album progressed. Very forgettable.

I really, really, don't buy into the whole persona, and the last couple of tracks are pretty terrible. Strong start though, and honestly much better than I expected.

Pretty good time, but it lost me a little bit on the second side rather

Ik had duidelijk een verkeerd beeld bij Alice Cooper. Dit is gewoon kazig glamrock, haha. Overigens helemaal geen slechte kazige glamrock, maar het mag best ietsje spannender als je jezelf zo edgy presenteert.

Too much heavy rock on this list

I always thought of Alice Cooper as the dark, chews the head off of face bats fella. This was a lot more glammy than I was expecting. I won't say it was bad per se but I didn't find myself moved by it in a meaningful way.

The fact that Alice Cooper’s music is not for me is no reflection on his ambition or talent. He is there to entertain listeners with an amusing, flamboyant, glam form of hard rock. It is my dislike of hard rock that makes it hard for me to fully get onboard with what he is doing, but I have to admit there were multiple points across the tracklist where he made me smile and I was impressed at just how elaborate the performance was.

I’ve only ever heard the hits and now I know why. This was not that great, it was an ok glam rock album. It’s weird, Coopers look/act does not match the music. This is straight up glam à la New York Dolls. This is so tame, and not that memorable. The songs are pretty boring.

Too bad the only song I liked musically on this album talks about necrophilia…

It sounds like the band figured out what their shtick was over the course of this album. And that is what it is: shtick. One of the shtickiest bands of all time.

I knew that going into this. But, the first half of this album actually surprised me. It was fun, catchy, well performed, and the themes weren’t quite as creepy-coded as I thought they’d be. It seemed like a surprise 4-star power pop gem.

But then the shtick kicked in, and the final few songs were as eyerollingly macabre as I’d gone in expecting from Alice Cooper. Look, it’s fun, it’s kitschy, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it’s a bit too goofy for my taste.

So, a surprise 4-star first half, and an expected 2-star second half. It averages out to 3.

this was ok

Alis kuper

Perfect listen for the local boomer bar, but outside of the slightly nostalgic No More Mr Nice Guy there's very little I actively enjoyed. I will say that this level of glam surprised me out of a 1973 album; it feels way closer to an 80s sound to me.

Standouts: Unfinished Sweet • No More Mr. Nice Guy

Holy SHIT this was boring. I thought Alice Cooper was supposed to be some sort of demonic weirdo? The album was fine, but in no way do I understand why the hell this man courted any controversy whatsoever. He's absolutely harmless!

Alice Cooper, a pioneer in being obnoxiously "transgressive" for shock value and making incredibly mediocre music for white guys to feel edgy about listening to.

Straightforward rock with some dramatic flair thrown in. Mr. Cooper knows how to entertain. Rises a cut above standard classic rock.
3.5 stars.

Subversive heavy rock, pretty fun. Worthy of Uber regarded classic

Sjekker Last.fm og ser at Billion Dollar Babies er mitt 93. mest spilte album (jeg har scrobblet siden 2008). Det var nesten tilfeldig at jeg oppdaget det, fordi jeg kjøpte det på CD fordi jeg visste at Donovan sang på tittelsporet. For Donovan var jeg stor fan av, og er vel fortsatt.

Jeg tror Alice Cooper, som på dette tidspunktet fortsatt var et band og ikke soloartist, ofte blir satt litt i samme bås som en del glam-rockere. Men glamrock er jo en såpass vag sjanger når man tenker at den skal romme både Cooper, T. Rex, Elton John og New York Dolls. Av alle ligner kanskje Cooper mest på Ziggy-perioden til Bowie. Og det er jo bra!

Musikalsk er det det mest interessante albumet til Cooper. Selv om de var mer psych på de første platene, så er de langt mer gjennomtenkte her. Åpningssporet er ment å være cabaret møter hardrock, og det funker overraskende bra. Du har riffrockeren «No More Mr. Nice Guy», mens på «Generation Landslide» høres det ut som en spirituell arvtaker til «Bob Dylans 115th Dream» og flere av låtene hans fra samme tid. Ja og avslutte med nekrofili-allsang. Det er smått genialt at alt henger sammen så bra som det gjør.

Tekstene er subtilt drøye, og smart skrevet. Ting man egentlig ikke syns er gøy blir plutselig uimotståelig morsomt, og det føles bare feil og pirrende. Så skammer man seg kanskje litt over alt det mørke i deg Alice Cooper klarer å lyse opp med det ubehagelige lyset sitt. Plata er kognitiv dissonans, at det skal ikke være mulig eller lov å lage lystig musikk om overgrep eller nekrofili. Men de klarer det uten å fremstå som edgelords.

Jeg hører ikke på plata så mye som jeg pleide å gjøre, men da jeg hørte den igjen så var den til og med litt bedre enn jeg husket.

I’ve always found it hard to take Alice Cooper seriously. The whole image is so much schtick and always felt juvenile. Now, having listened to an album in full, I can confirm that the lyrics are basic and painfully obvious and the simplistic, sophomoric musical compositions are not performed by anyone that could be called a virtuoso on their instrument. Like a bad night at a high school Battle of the Bands.