Billion Dollar Babies

It was alright. Didn't feel like anything special. No real desire to revisit.

An album that captures a moment of eclosis: the glam butterfly emerging from the chrysalsis of garage. An album that asks: what if Ziggy Stardust was a SICKO and TWISTED?! It's basic rock and roll played for high drama, leaning into the HORROR persona and SHOCKING SICKENING REPULSIVE content that would come to define the band. Even if the spectactle of the band was something DEMONIC, these are still 60s guys at heart who can't away from the damn harmonica and white boy blues rock rhythms and so musically this is pretty boring stuff. Wish it was half as SATANIC and SCARY as the pearl-clutchers feared...

Nowhere near as awful as I expected.

It’s okay. I don’t have a taste for Alice Cooper, the schtick feels really contrived. And these tunes have a phony weirdness to them that’s off putting. Kind of dumb really.

Ganz cool, ganz cool

Not for me. Kinda cheesy. Of it's time I suppose.

Learnt that The Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated is 100% a rip off of Elected.

2.5/5. Raising to 3.

Ya know, even though I've seen Alice Cooper live twice, I've managed to have never heard this album in full before. And, as I have learned, Billion Dollar Babies is a fantastic rock album. At this point, I shouldn't have to tell you that Alice Cooper is an incredibly charismatic performer and his personality is felt throughout this whole thing. The sound here also has a sort of theatrical flair which adds a little camp, but Alice Cooper has enough real cool factor that there is kind of a neat balance struck here. It also helps that on songs like Unfinished Sweet, those theatrical elements almost get kind of art rock-y, and it contributes to this album feeling so unique and memorable. The lyrics strike another balance, a lot of these songs are tongue and cheek, but the writing is up with rock's best. Elected is super catchy, tons of fun, and bitingly satirical. And while some may think I Love The Dead is a bit much, I think it pulls off something really difficult: it isn't too funny to be kind of genuinely uneasy, and it isn't too dark for some comedy to shine through. The songwriting is is also amazing, No More Mr. Nice Guy is a hell of a catchy rock song, and the title track is covered in great riffs and cool sections. You also have some cool soundscape stuff here on songs like the aforementioned Unfinished Sweet (with it's dentists' drills) and Sick Things, which has a really cool atmosphere. We even get a short ballad with Mary Ann. This is a remarkably consistent and incredibly unique rock album which serves as a reminder that Alice Cooper is more than a great image and a hell of a performer. The music is definitely there, and I really enjoy it.

Before I even hit play this was getting top marks from me. Love Alice Cooper, I really hope I can get to see him live someday before he calls it quits. As for the album, it’s brilliant. Cannot fault it at all.

Top Track - I hate picking the cliche option but No More Mr. Nice Guy is a classic for a reason

They said it best in Waynes World, We’re Not Worthy!

A few good songs, the rest were pretty forgettable. Figured there'd be better stuff on an Alice Cooper album. 3/5

It's very basic classic rock, but fun nonetheless. It can get a bit too tryhard poorly aged edgelord at times but it's a fun and goofy album if you don't really take the shock in shock-rock seriously. The hits on here are good, I really like Elected. There's a bunch of nice deepcuts as well, pleasant surprise overall.

A couple of saves here

From the guy who taught us all what the name 'Milwaukee' means, it's Alice Cooper and his album 'Billion Dollar Babies', which delivers a nice blast from the 70s rock scene and provides us with a few classic rock tunes that are unfamiliar to the seasoned fan. It's nothing experimental, and it never strays into the paths of cheesy or unique, but that might actually be a good thing in this case. Alice gives us what he's good at, and it's displayed neatly in this album.

Classic 70s. I liked a lot 🤘

The Good: We won’t have to worry about college tuition for our Babies!
The Bad: Finding out that the dollars are play money…
The Ugly: Trying to get Alice Cooper to give you your money back…

Of course the song No More Mr Nice Guy is a classic… yet I’d never listened to this album before, so most of the songs were new for me.
While listening, the thought that constantly ran through my mind was “how can this album from 1973 sound like an album from the ‘80s?”

By the way, this is my second AC album on this list, the second album I never listened to, and the second time that I have wondered why I’d never listened to his albums before, because they’ve all been really enjoyable.

So does this mean that I will dish out 5*? No, and the reason is simple: too many songs drag on too long, which results in one wanting to press skip to next if you are really paying attention to the album.
However, I am not going to nit-pick, I will give this album 4 1/2* downgraded to 4*, but definitely an album which I will be playing again!

I considered it OK until the end, that was great.

This was much better than i expected. Solid 70s rock

Meh. I'm starting to think I only like Mr. Cooper's hits. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" is truly the only standout track musically. Lyrically, I appreciate a lot of the subversive themes, but I feel like I'm supposed to laugh at the subversion and I can't find the actual humor. Trust me, I'd be the first to laugh at a song about necrophilia or sexual harassment. It doesn't work that well for me here. Maybe it's a little too subdued for me and I prefer a more in-your-face approach. And maybe that's what this was at the time, but now it feels relatively tame.

I always thought Alice Cooper was a woman. Some cool brass in elected.
A nice album, but I can only do so much 70s-80s dad rock, 3*

This reminded me a lot of an American The Who. A lot of super interesting song ideas and concepts. Sometimes the “edgier” parts come across a little corny to me from a modern perspective. Favorites were Elected, Generation Landslide, and I Love The Dead.

Catchy, a good rockin' tune with some commentary here and there.