59-799: Billion Dollar Babies is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper , released on February 27, 1973 by Warner Bros. Records . The album became the best selling Alice Cooper record at the time of its release, hitting number one on the album charts in the United States and the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America . The album has been retrospectively praised by such critics as Robert Christgau , Greg Prato of AllMusic , and Jason Thompson of PopMatters , but The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) gave
118-439: A "hilarious and gorgeously catchy" take on the idea of sexual harassment by PopMatters ' s Jason Thompson. "Unfinished Sweet" is about visiting a dentist with sound effects recorded by Gerry Lyon. The title track was co-written by Reggie Vinson (credited on original pressings of the album as "R. Reggie", i.e., "Rockin' Reggie Vinson"), who had played guitar on and performed vocals for School's Out (1972). Donovan described
177-493: A "motor city garage rock " sound. Their "psychedelic-tinted music" has influenced glam, hard rock, metal and even punk. Alice Cooper has been categorized as hard rock, glam rock , shock rock , heavy metal , glam punk , proto-punk and rock 'n' roll , while their early work has been labeled as psychadelic rock and acid rock . Original band members Additional members 1973–1974 Studio albums Compilations School%27s Out (album) School's Out
236-441: A contemporary review for Creem magazine, Robert Christgau said that Billion Dollar Babies is Cooper's "most consistent album", even though it lacks a song as strong as " School's Out ". In a retrospective review, AllMusic 's Greg Prato awarded the album four and a half out of five stars and called it "one of Cooper's very best; it remains one of rock's all-time, quintessential classics". Jason Thompson of PopMatters praised
295-642: A five-song set on May 14, 2017, at a show in Nashville, Tennessee . The four reunited yet again later that same year for a UK tour. In 2021, the surviving members of the band reunited for Cooper's Detroit Stories album. Producer Bob Ezrin as well as Cooper himself have hinted that a new album with the surviving members may be possible. Alice Cooper is influenced by 60s rock, such as Elvis Presley , Chuck Berry , The Beatles , The Rolling Stones , The Who , The Yardbirds , Love , The Doors , Jim Morrison , Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys . Many people over
354-507: A highly popular concert attraction in the US and UK over the next few years. Calls by members of British Parliament in 1972 to have the group banned from performing in the UK only solidified the band's legend, and the next year's Billion Dollar Babies tour broke box office records. Cindy Dunaway (Neal Smith's sister who married Dennis Dunaway) designed the band's costumes and occasionally performed in
413-411: A key influence on his writing. " Hello Hooray ", the album's opening track, was written by Canadian singer/songwriter Rolf Kempf and was previously recorded by Judy Collins . The band wanted their version of the song to sound like "Alice Cooper meets Cabaret". The album's third track, "Elected", is a rewrite of the song "Reflected" from Pretties for You (1969). "Raped and Freezin ' has been called
472-434: A live chicken into the audience during the 1969 Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival. The audience ripped the chicken, whose name was Dutchess, to shreds. In March 1970, the band released the album Easy Action , which did not chart. Also in 1970, the band had two songs ("Titanic Overture" and "Refrigerator Heaven") that appeared on a Warner Bros sampler album, Zapped , featuring acts produced by Zappa. Slow sales of
531-571: A permanent part of setlist and "Gutter Cat" was last performed in 2004 on the Eyes of Alice Cooper tour. Short instrumental "Street Fight" was never performed until the 1980 Flush the Fashion tour, and was last played on the School's Out for Summer '97 tour, whilst "My Stars" was a regular part of setlists on the 1973–1974 Billion Dollar Babies Tour but never played again until 2019 when it became
590-535: A student at Cortez High School , was eager to participate in the local annual Letterman's talent show, so he gathered four teammates from his high school's cross-country team to form a group for the show: Glen Buxton , Dennis Dunaway , John Tatum and John Speer. They named themselves the Earwigs. They dressed up in costumes and wigs to resemble the Beatles , and performed several parodies of Beatles songs, with
649-464: A surprise reunion show took place in Dallas at Dunaway's book signing session. He was joined by Bruce, Smith, Cooper and Ryan Roxie , who replaced the late Glen Buxton. The surviving members of the band were set to record and release an album. However, the only material to surface was two bonus tracks on Cooper's 27th studio album Paranormal . The four surviving original members reunited again for
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#1732801524639708-751: Is the fifth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper , released in June 1972. Following on from the success of Killer , School's Out reached No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on the Canadian RPM 100 Top Albums chart, holding the top position for four weeks. The single " School's Out " reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 , No. 3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart and went to No. 1 in
767-680: The Jägermeister Ice Cold 4D event (webcast). Bruce, Dunaway and Smith appeared on three tracks they co-wrote on Alice's 2011 album Welcome 2 My Nightmare . A documentary about the band entitled Super Duper Alice Cooper premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2014, and was scheduled to be screened at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival a week later. On October 6, 2015,
826-465: The UK Singles Chart . The original album cover (designed by Craig Braun ) had the sleeve opening in the manner of a wooden school desk, similar to Thinks: School Stinks , by Hotlegs , released two years earlier. The band members' names appear in the form of graffiti carved into the desk. The vinyl record inside was wrapped in a pair of panties , though this was later discontinued as
885-580: The paper panties were found to be flammable. The desk photographed for the album cover is on display in the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. Ian Chapman has put forward a theory that it was a concept album about youth lost when leaving school. Although the title track remains the most-performed song in Alice Cooper's live shows, in accordance with the conceptual nature of School's Out ,
944-641: The Alice Cooper Group or the Alice Cooper Band , was an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona , in 1968. The band consisted of lead singer Vincent Furnier (who adopted the stage name Alice Cooper ), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and Neal Smith (drums). The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows. The Alice Cooper band
1003-497: The Nazz and we found out about Todd Rundgren's band who were called the Nazz. So I said let's not come up with a name that's dark, because they're expecting that. I said, "What if we sounded like we were somebody's aunt?" It was kind of like the all-American, sweet little old lady name. And I wasn't Alice Cooper. I was just the singer in the band Alice Cooper, like Manfred Mann . Pretty soon everybody called me Alice, they just assumed that
1062-570: The Number One band in the world, with people throwing money at us?" The title was also later used as the name of the group Neal Smith , Dennis Dunaway , and Michael Bruce formed after Alice Cooper group had split up. Cooper said, "The whole idea behind the Billion Dollar Babies album was exploiting the idea that people do have sick perversions." Alice Cooper, who wrote the majority of the album's lyrics, cited Chuck Berry as
1121-657: The Spiders. This lineup stayed intact through 1974. The band's first gig that used the name Alice Cooper was on March 16, 1968, at Earl Warren Fairgrounds in Santa Barbara. The posters still showed the band as the Nazz. After a 1968 gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California , where most of the club's patrons left after hearing the band play just ten minutes, they were approached by music manager Shep Gordon , who saw
1180-532: The album by singing on its title track. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin with Gerry Lyon as assistant in New York, Connecticut and London. Guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce both used Gibson SGs for the album. Three additional guitarists (including longtime band friend Mick Mashbir and New York-based session musicians Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter ) were retained to cover for Buxton, who suffered from alcohol abuse -related pancreatitis throughout
1239-605: The album can be found on the DVD-Audio release are untrue. The DVD-Audio release contains a newer 5.1 channel mix of the album, based on the original 2-channel tracks as opposed to the quad mix. The album's title comes from the fact that the five members of Alice Cooper were surprised about their success. Cooper related: "How could we, this band that two years ago was living in the Chambers Brothers' basement in Watts, be
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#17328015246391298-403: The album has overall a smaller representation in his live setlist than Love It to Death , Killer , Billion Dollar Babies , or Welcome to My Nightmare , accounting for only 6.8 percent of the songs Cooper has played live. "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets" and "Public Animal #9" were the only other School's Out songs played on the supporting School's Out For Summer '72 tour, but neither became
1357-566: The album inspired him to write the song, " Psycho Killer ". The Swiss extreme metal group Samael did a cover of the song "I Love the Dead" on their Rebellion EP . Italian heavy metal band Death SS covered the song "I Love the Dead" on their debut album, ...in Death of Steve Sylvester (1988). Billion Dollar Babies is the second most-represented album in Alice Cooper's live sets, behind only Welcome to My Nightmare (1975). The only song from
1416-423: The album only two and a half stars. Songs were recorded in both the state of Connecticut and London, England. Lyrics cover topics and themes such as necrophilia , dental fear , horror , and sexual harassment . At 40 minutes and 51 seconds, it is the longest studio album the band has ever released; this does not count any of Cooper's solo albums. Drummer Neal Smith has said that the album can be traced back to
1475-484: The album that has never been played live in any form is the short "Mary Ann", although "Generation Landslide" was not played until the tour eight years later following Special Forces (1981), on which it had been re-recorded. The 2001 CD reissue includes these additional tracks on a second disc: Alice Cooper group with: Technical Shipments figures based on certification alone. Alice Cooper (band) Alice Cooper , also known as
1534-441: The album, saying it was "arguably the original Alice Cooper Group's best album". However, the 2004 The Rolling Stone Album Guide was less positive about the album, giving it two and a half stars and criticizing songs like "I Love the Dead" for being "predictable". Daniel Bukszpan, the author of The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal , called it a "classic" and "arguably the original band's finest offering". In 2005, Billion Dollar Babies
1593-462: The all-female GTOs , were encouraged to dress up the Alice Cooper band members in women's clothing and heavy makeup, and played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look. In June 1969, Alice Cooper released its first album, Pretties for You , which barely cracked the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at No. 193. The band was the subject of media criticism after Furnier threw
1652-488: The audience and won the talent show. As a result of their positive experience, the group decided to try to turn into a real band. They acquired musical instruments from a local pawn shop , and proceeded to learn how to play them, with Buxton doing most of the teaching, as well as much of the early songwriting. They soon renamed themselves the Spiders, featuring Furnier on vocals, Buxton on lead guitar, Tatum on rhythm guitar, Dunaway on bass guitar, and Speer on drums. Musically,
1711-564: The band and three others were driving in Los Angeles in a van. An incident on the road caused the driver to lose control of the van and it went off the road rolling over four times. The van was destroyed, but all band members and the three other passengers survived without serious injury. In 1968, the band learned that Todd Rundgren also had a band called the Nazz , and found themselves in need of another stage name. Furnier also believed that
1770-534: The band released their second single, "Don't Blow Your Mind", an original composition which became a local #1 hit, backed by "No Price Tag". The single was recorded at Copper State Recording Studio and issued by local micro-imprint, Santa Cruz Records. By 1967, the band had begun to make regular road trips to Los Angeles to play shows. They soon renamed themselves Nazz and released the single "Wonder Who's Lovin' Her Now", backed with future Alice Cooper track "Lay Down and Die, Goodbye". Around this time, drummer John Speer
1829-544: The band was doing its first headliner tour. Backstage at a gig in Florida, a young woman came in with a boa constrictor coiled around her arm. This gave Furnier a fright, and after experiencing this kind of reaction, the idea of using a snake in the stage performance began. With Love It to Death and its follow-up album Killer both charting well, the band was able to afford a more elaborate stage show, including sophisticated props and elements of gothic horror, and they became
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1888-534: The band's first two albums, as well as Californians' indifference to their act, led the band to relocate again in 1970, this time to Pontiac, Michigan near Furnier's original home town of Detroit . Here, their bizarre stage act was much better received by Midwestern crowds accustomed to the proto punk styles of local bands such as the Stooges and the MC5 . "L.A. just didn't get it," Furnier stated. "They were all on
1947-412: The band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. Shep arranged an audition for the band with renowned musical artist and record producer Frank Zappa , who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records . Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock" for an audition. The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in
2006-419: The breakup. Smith said the members wanted to take a year off to slow down and possibly do solo projects, and just never reunited. Cooper said there was disagreement over how much money to sink back into stage shows, which had become costly. Bruce contends that Buxton's issues with substance abuse, which at one time led him to pull a switchblade on the band's tour manager, likely hastened the breakup. The breakup
2065-515: The charts in the US and UK and produced three UK top 10 singles. The supporting tour broke box-office records previously held by the Rolling Stones . The band split up in 1975. Vincent Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a successful solo career. In 2011, the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In 1964, 16-year-old Furnier, then
2124-520: The group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage. The legend is that the name "Alice Cooper" came from a session with a Ouija board , largely chosen because it sounded innocuous and wholesome, in humorous contrast to the band's image and music. However, in an interview with Mark Radcliffe on the Radcliffe and Maconie show on BBC Radio 2 on November 30, 2009, Vince Furnier described
2183-802: The group was inspired by artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones , the Who , the Kinks , the Doors , and the Yardbirds . For the next year the band performed regularly around the Phoenix area with a huge black spider's web as their backdrop, the group's first stage prop. In 1965, the Spiders recorded their first single, "Why Don't You Love Me". The single's B-side track was the Marvin Gaye Tamla Records hit, " Hitch Hike ". The single
2242-448: The incident with the ouija board as an urban legend . He said "We literally got that whole story about the witch thing the way you guys got it. It was like just pure urban legend. I heard about the witch thing probably the same day you did, but it was a great story." Eventually Furnier adopted this stage name as his own from 1969 onwards, being referred to as Alice Cooper on the cover of the band's debut album. He recalled: We were called
2301-419: The lyrics modified to refer to the track team: in their rendition of " Please Please Me ", for example, the line "Last night I said these words to my girl" was replaced with "Last night I ran four laps for my coach". Of the group, only Buxton and Tatum knew how to play an instrument—the guitar—so Buxton and Tatum played guitars while the rest mimed on their instruments. The group got an overwhelming response from
2360-522: The morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of music at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough for him to sign them to a three-album deal. "Frank was the only one who stuck out his neck for us, for me," recalled Furnier himself. "He was the one who said, 'Here's a band that everybody in the business is laughing at – I like 'em.' … He was the outcast in L.A. and so were we." The first three Alice Cooper albums were released on Zappa's Straight label. Another Zappa-signed act,
2419-552: The mutilation of the dolls symbolized child neglect . Between 40 and 50 people were employed and 26,000 pounds of equipment were used. In preparation for the tour, two semi-trailer trucks carried a wide variety of props including a dentists drill , four whips , a surgical table, six hatchets , 33,000 program books, 300 baby dolls, 22,000 sparklers , 58 mannequins , 280 spare light bulbs , 1,000 patches, 6,000 mirror parts, 14 bubble machines, 28 gallons of bubble juice, and 250,000 packages of bubble bath. Billion Dollar Babies
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2478-520: The second Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend for a show at CoopersTown in Phoenix (Buxton having died in 1997). They reunited for another show, with Steve Hunter on guitar, on December 16, 2010, at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix. This lineup would perform together again (televised) on March 14, 2011, at the induction of the original Alice Cooper group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , as well as on May 11, 2011, at London's Battersea Power Station at
2537-416: The sessions. A quadraphonic mix of the album was released on both 8-track and reel-to-reel format, as well as vinyl. This features radically different mixes of all of the songs, including different vocal tracks ("Raped and Freezin ' "), unfaded endings ("Generation Landslide"), and editing ("I Love the Dead"). Alice's lead vocals are more upfront in the quad mix than the stereo mix. Rumors that this mix of
2596-441: The singer's name was Alice. So, at that point, I legally changed my name to Alice Cooper. It was a total outrage at the time. Now it's a household name. The singer considers the name change one of his most important and successful career moves. The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of Furnier, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith – all former members of
2655-584: The song "Caught in a Dream" from the album Love It to Death (1971). The first recording sessions for the album took place in Greenwich, Connecticut , in a mansion called the Galesi Estate. To achieve certain vocal sounds and echoes, microphones were run through rooms of various sizes and through a greenhouse . Other sessions were held at Morgan Studios in London, where singer Donovan contributed to
2714-440: The song as a "horror story song". The album's closing track, "I Love the Dead", is a tongue-in-cheek song about necrophilia . After the album was released, the band embarked on a tour which broke the United States box office records previously held by the Rolling Stones and included a scheduled 64 concerts in 59 cities in 90 days. The gross revenue of the tour was anticipated to be close to $ 20 million, but only about $ 4 million
2773-476: The stage show (she was the "dancing tooth" on the Billion Dollar Babies tour). A 1973 gig in São Paulo, Brazil, was performed in front of 158,000 people. The Guinness Book of World Records gave the band the world record for playing in front of the biggest indoor audience ever. Following Killer , Alice Cooper released three more top ten albums, the pinnacle being 1973's Billion Dollar Babies which rose all
2832-510: The third Alice Cooper album, Love It to Death . The album was initially released on Straight Records, but was reissued on the Warner label following its buyout of the imprint from Zappa, giving Alice Cooper even greater exposure. Under Ezrin's direction, the band's sound moved from psychedelic rock to a tighter, guitar-driven hard rock sound, even as much of the lyrical content continued to explore "decadence, perversion and psychosis." In 1971
2891-618: The way to No. 1 on the US and UK album charts. The band headlined highly successful tours from 1972 to 1974, before breaking up. The band made so much money in 1973 and 1974 that Furnier appeared on the cover of Forbes Magazine in 1973. The article listed him among the highest-earning American "music superstars": "Lounging in a $ 160-a-day Beverly Hills Hotel suite, Alice Cooper, who's a he, ..." The original Alice Cooper band played their final show on April 8, 1974, in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil. There are varying reasons former band members have given for
2950-540: The wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else." Hooking up with young producer Bob Ezrin , Alice Cooper released the single " I'm Eighteen " in November 1970, and it became a surprise Top 40 hit by early 1971. The single's success convinced Warner Bros that the band could be a viable commercial act, leading to much stronger investment in
3009-414: The years have brought up both Arthur Brown and Screaming Lord Sutch as obvious influences, but this has never been confirmed by the band. AllMusic describes Alice Cooper as "gritty but anthemic hard rock " and psychedelic rock on their first two albums, Pretties for You and Easy Action . They're seen as precursors to punk rock , with Love It to Death , Killer and Muscle of Love taking on
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#17328015246393068-429: Was achieved. Cooper hired magician James Randi to design effects for the show, and Randi traveled with the tour to supervise and coordinate the effects. Randi even played a role in the stage show as "The Executioner". The live performances featured Cooper wearing a costume with fake blood stains at the crotch, tearing apart baby dolls, attacking mannequins, and being decapitated by a guillotine . Cooper has said that
3127-418: Was commercially more successful than Alice Cooper's previous albums; it went to No. 1 in both the United Kingdom and United States. The album's singles " Elected ", " Hello Hooray ", " Billion Dollar Babies ", and " No More Mr. Nice Guy ", all became hits on the Billboard Hot 100 . In March 1973 the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and in 1986, it went platinum. In
3186-471: Was in junior high, every Friday the teachers would let the kids play their favorite records. I brought in Billion Dollar Babies [Alice Cooper, 1973] and they wouldn't let me play it. They never vetoed anyone's choice before. It was then I knew that rock'n'roll could scare the fuck out of certain people." The Norwegian band Turbonegro made a song called "Zillion Dollar Sadist" as a tribute to Billion Dollar Babies . David Byrne of Talking Heads has said that
3245-433: Was made public in 1975. Vincent Furnier continued using his stage name "Alice Cooper", carrying on with a new group of musicians. He also adopted the name legally. Bruce, Dunaway and Smith would go on to form the short-lived band Billion Dollar Babies , producing one album – Battle Axe – in 1977. While occasionally performing with one another and Glen Buxton , they would not reunite with Alice until October 23, 1999, at
3304-414: Was one of the few glam rock acts to achieve mainstream popularity in the United States, rising to fame in 1971 with the hit single " I'm Eighteen ", from their third album Love It to Death . Success continued with the US top 10 and UK No. 1 single " School's Out ", from the album of the same name (1972). The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their sixth album Billion Dollar Babies , which topped
3363-474: Was ranked number 283 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time . The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Treble named it in its list "10 Essential Glam Rock Albums". Chris Cornell of Soundgarden stated that it was one of his favorite records. In an interview with Spin magazine in 1989, he commented that: "When I
3422-756: Was released by local record label, Mascot Records, owned by Jack Curtis, a concert promoter who also owned the Stage 7 teen club which later became the VIP Club where the Spiders were the house band. At the VIP Club the band supported bands including the Lovin' Spoonful , the Yardbirds , Them , the Animals , the Kinks and the Byrds . In 1966, the Spiders graduated from high school and after North High School footballer Michael Bruce replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar,
3481-417: Was replaced by Neal Smith . By the end of the year, the band had relocated to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, the band's lifestyle involved regular car trips into the desert. Activities included shooting rabbits with a 0.22 rifle. In 1967, Neal Smith moved into the range of Furnier's rifle as the latter was about to fire. Smith was hit in the ankle. He has the fragment in his ankle to this day. Around this time,
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