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44-594: At the time of the European leg of the tour the Destroyer album was already released and the band performed songs from that album, but they wore the Alive! costumes and had the Alive! stage show. At the time, the tour was referred to under the headline "Kiss tour", not "Alive! Tour" or "Destroyer Tour". The August 20 Anaheim, California show was the most famous show of the tour, the band played to over 42,000 people,

88-475: A Radio (which also featured the original version of the Alice Cooper song "Escape" from Welcome to My Nightmare ). Ezrin flat out rejected most of the material, as only heavily re-worked versions of "God of Thunder" and "Detroit Rock City" made it to the album, and another song "Mad Dog" was pilfered for lyrics to "Sweet Pain" and a riff for "Flaming Youth". Other songs from this demo were re-worked for

132-455: A departure from the raw sound of the band's first three albums. After attaining modest commercial success with their first three studio albums, Kiss achieved a commercial breakthrough with the 1975 concert album Alive! It was the first album by the band to be certified gold. The success of Alive! , which spent 110 weeks on the charts, benefited not only the struggling band but also their cash-strapped label Casablanca Records . Kiss signed

176-613: A joint review with Aerosmith 's contemporary release of Rocks praised Rocks while stating that Destroyer "stinks." The album returned to the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 11 the week after its re-release. In 2019, the record was released in orange translucent vinyl, retailed exclusively by Walmart in the U.S. All credits adapted from the original releases. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Welcome to My Nightmare Welcome to My Nightmare

220-498: A new contract with Casablanca in late 1975, partly because the label had been very supportive from the start of the band's career. The contract was for two albums, an indication that Casablanca was unsure if the group could duplicate the accomplishments of Alive! Rehearsals for Destroyer began in August 1975, while the group was embarked on their supporting tour for Alive! Bob Ezrin , who had previously worked with Alice Cooper ,

264-433: A show and given a backstage pass . He said of the performance, "It blew me away." Kelly was later commissioned by the band to draw the cover for 1977's Love Gun . Kelly's original version of the album cover was rejected by the record company because they felt the scene was too violent looking with the rubble and flames. Also, the original version had the members of Kiss wearing the Alive! costumes. The front cover shows

308-599: A story concept for the album, with Cooper telling the story of the nightmares of the character Steven. During the Bob Lefsetz podcast, Ezrin recounts that he and Alice Cooper initially created the storyline, in which a rock star named Steven and his mistress are on a private jet flying over the Rocky Mountains. The jet crashes, and both Steven and his mistress disappear. However, 28 days later, Steven emerges alone and unharmed. During those 28 days, Steven became

352-452: A synthesis of every mildly wicked, tepidly controversial trick in the Cooper handbook. But in escaping from the mask of rock singer which he claimed he found so confining, Cooper has found just another false face." In addition, Robert Christgau rated the album a B− grade, stating that it "actually ain't so bad – no worse than all the others". He stated that the varying compositions of

396-515: A vampire and he now lives out his days as a rock star by day and killer at night. The album was ultimately adapted into a television show called Alice Cooper: The Nightmare . The album has been described as featuring rock and hard rock . The opening track has been referred to as " Disco flavored". "Only Women Bleed" is a ballad , and "Some Folks" has been compared to cabaret . Welcome to My Nightmare received generally mixed reviews upon release. Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone called

440-588: Is "easily one of the best albums in the Kiss canon" and credited Ezrin for ushering along "even more of an art/hard rock album than Kiss's previous efforts." Canadian journalist Martin Popoff , described Destroyer as a "no party album, looming darkly, ponderous, almost haunting at times, basically uncommunicative and puzzling due to its stylistic over-extension" and judged it a "success of early no-chops metal". In 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it at No. 489 on its list of

484-491: Is the debut solo studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper , released on February 28, 1975 by Atlantic Records . A concept album , its songs played in sequence form a journey through the nightmares of a child named Steven. The album inspired the Alice Cooper: The Nightmare TV special, a worldwide concert tour in 1975, and his Welcome to My Nightmare concert film in 1976. The tour

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528-578: Is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss , released on March 15, 1976, by Casablanca Records in the US. It was the third successive Kiss album to reach the top 40 in the US, as well as the first to chart in Germany and New Zealand . The album was certified gold by the RIAA on April 22, 1976, and platinum on November 11 of the same year, the first Kiss album to achieve platinum. The album marked

572-456: Is the more tranquil yet eerie epic 'Steven'." He concluded by comparing the album to Cooper's subsequent solo efforts by stating: "Despite this promising start to Cooper's solo career, the majority of his subsequent releases were often not as focused and were of varying quality." The New York Times , describing the subsequent tour, said that Cooper was much tougher than he looked in concert. Since its release, Welcome to My Nightmare has become

616-510: The Kiss Army fan club. Destroyer sold well upon its release on March 15, 1976, and was certified gold on April 22. Although exact sales figures are not known, Stanley stated that the album initially sold 850,000 copies in the US, well over any of Kiss's first three studio albums. After peaking at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 album chart on May 15, Destroyer quickly fell and by August

660-484: The New York Philharmonic . One musician not credited was Dick Wagner , from Alice Cooper's band, replacing Ace Frehley on the track "Sweet Pain". Wagner also played the acoustic guitar found on the song "Beth". The success of Alive! and Destroyer enabled the band to embark on their first tour of Europe . The cover art for Destroyer was painted by fantasy artist Ken Kelly . Kelly was invited to

704-526: The 500 greatest albums of all time , calling it "a ridiculously over-the-top party-rock album that just gets better with age". In anticipation of the 35th anniversary of the release of Destroyer , producer Bob Ezrin approached Simmons and Stanley about doing a remix and re-release of the original album. With their approval, Ezrin acquired digital copies of the original 16-track analog master tapes. In addition to re-equalizing elements of each song, Ezrin also added in some parts of tracks that had been omitted from

748-497: The Alice Cooper band’s 1973 studio album Billion Dollar Babies , produced by Ezrin. Subsequently, Ezrin produced and performed on Lou Reed ’s 1973 concept album Berlin , including Hunter, Wagner, and Tony Levin . Reed’s band on his following live album Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974) was composed of Hunter, Wagner, Prakash John , and Pentti Glan . Ezrin and Cooper hired all four members of Reed’s live band, plus Levin, to work on Cooper’s new album. Wagner and Ezrin would co-write

792-456: The Frost , with a new title provided by Cooper and revised lyrics written by Wagner and Cooper. The remastered CD version adds three alternate version bonus tracks. A sequel concept album, Welcome 2 My Nightmare , was released in 2011. The Alice Cooper band broke up by spring of 1974, with Cooper beginning work on his first solo project. Cooper intended the music to be more theatrical than

836-484: The Trash Tour on November 21, 1989; while "Some Folks" and "Escape" were never performed after the album's support tour apart from a handful of performances of the latter song in 2001. Alice started playing "Escape" again on his 2019–2020 Ol' Black Eyes Is Back Tour. Musicians Additional personnel Technical Shipments figures based on certification alone. Cooper talked with Rolling Stone over

880-401: The album "a TV soundtrack that sounds like one. The horn parts are so corny you might imagine that you're listening to the heavy-metal Ann-Margret ." He noted the absence of the original Alice Cooper band, stating, "without the wildness and drive of the sound the Cooper troupe had, the gimmicks on which Alice the performer must rely are flat and obvious." He concluded by saying that it "is simply

924-496: The album Cooper's best solo work, despite the absence of the original band: "While the music lost most of the gritty edge of the original AC lineup, Welcome to My Nightmare remains Alice's best solo effort – while some tracks stray from his expected hard rock direction, there's plenty of fist-pumping rock to go around." However, he maintained that "the rockers serve as the album's foundation – 'Devil's Food', 'The Black Widow', 'Department of Youth', and 'Cold Ethyl' are all standouts, as

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968-559: The biggest US crowd the band had played to. Bob Seger , Ted Nugent and Montrose were the opening acts. The J. Geils Band , Point Blank and Seger opened for them at their July 10 show in New Jersey, which was recorded and released on DVD decades later as "The Lost Concert". Opening act Bob Seger would back out of a few dates on the tour so that he could complete work on his next album, in which he did not perform in Toronto. In

1012-478: The drink-smoke-drive-die saga 'Detroit Rock City' to the touching 'Do You Love Me?'". The album was also featured in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . In 2006, it was placed at No. 60 on Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. Greg Prato of AllMusic described Destroyer as "one of Kiss' most experimental studio albums, but also one of their strongest and most interesting." Pitchfork 's Jason Josephes said that it

1056-578: The following album Rock and Roll Over and Gene Simmons ' 1978 solo album while others remained unreleased until the 2021 release of Destroyer as a 2CD set and Super Deluxe box set. The first recording sessions for the album took place on September 3–6, 1975 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City , during a brief break between the Dressed to Kill and Alive! tours. The basic album tracks were recorded during this time. The majority of

1100-399: The group striding on top of a pile of rubble, and a desolate background spotted with destroyed buildings, some of which are engulfed in flames. The back cover shows a similar scene, but with more buildings on fire. The front of the inner sleeve featured a large Kiss logo and the lyrics to "Detroit Rock City". The other side displayed the lyric "Shout it out loud", as well as an advertisement for

1144-521: The list of the "Top 100 Album Covers of All Time". Famed horror film star Vincent Price provided a monologue in the song "Devil's Food". The song "Escape" was a rewrite of a song by the Hollywood Stars from their shelved album Shine Like a Radio – The Great Lost 1974 Album , which was finally released in 2013. The ballad " Only Women Bleed ", released as a single, is a song originally composed by guitarist Dick Wagner for his late-1960s band

1188-429: The majority of the tracks with Cooper. In 2020, while being interviewed on the Bob Lefsetz podcast, Ezrin recalls that; Alice Cooper's manager Shep Gordon, had a clause that allowed the Alice Cooper band members to make a soundtrack album for another label. As a result, the album needed have a storyline to become a soundtrack, that would subsequently be adapted into a film or television show. Ezrin and Cooper came up with

1232-406: The most-represented album in Alice Cooper's concert setlists, accounting for, even including concerts from before its release, 15.7 percent of all the songs he has played live – a proportion which of course will be much larger counting only shows since the album's composition and release. It is the last album from which every song has been performed live, although "The Awakening" was never played until

1276-571: The original mix. These include some additional vocals on "Detroit Rock City" and "Beth", and the substitution of a guitar solo by Frehley on "Sweet Pain" for the one from the original that had been performed by Wagner (a version of "Sweet Pain" with Frehley's solo was included as track 6, while the original version with Wagner's solo is appended as a "bonus" track at the end of the new CD). Ezrin also used digital manipulation to fix an incorrect lyric (changing "down 95" to "doin' 95") on "Detroit Rock City". The resulting album, titled Destroyer: Resurrected ,

1320-464: The post-1991 Soundscan era, selling 726,000 copies in the United States from 1991 to March 4, 2012. The album has received recognition in later years. In 1989, Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 36 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rob Sheffield referred to Destroyer as "the inevitable arty concept album, from

1364-520: The previous glam rock focused records. Alice Cooper's manager, Shep Gordon had a clause in his contract, that allowed the members of Alice Cooper to do a soundtrack album for a different label, other than Warner Brothers. As a result, Shep Gordon and Alice Cooper went to Atlantic Records, a sister label to Warner Brothers, to begin work on the album. Cooper hired Bob Ezrin , who had produced four previous Cooper records, to collaborate with him. Ezrin, Steve Hunter , and Dick Wagner had all performed on

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1408-444: The recording of an outro , Ezrin yelled at him, saying, "Don't you ever stop a take unless I tell you!" Paul Stanley later compared the experience of working with Ezrin as "musical boot camp " but said that the group "came out a lot smarter for it." Simmons echoed the sentiment by stating, "It was exactly what we needed at the time." Destroyer is the first Kiss album to prominently feature outside musicians, such as members of

1452-483: The recording sessions for Destroyer took place in January 1976, after the conclusion of the Alive! tour. Ezrin introduced to Kiss sound effects, strings, screaming children, reversed drums (on "God of Thunder") and a children's choir. The song "Great Expectations" uses the first phrase of the main theme from the second movement of Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 (known as Sonata Pathétique ), but

1496-407: The songs would potentially cause the album to influence younger listeners, saying: "Alice's nose for what the kids want to hear is as discriminating as it is impervious to moral suasion, so perhaps this means that the more obvious feminist truisms have become conventional wisdom among at least half our adolescents." A retrospective review by AllMusic 's Greg Prato was more positive. Prato considered

1540-489: The songwriting is credited to Simmons and Ezrin. During the recording sessions, Ezrin resorted to numerous tactics designed to increase the quality of music Kiss recorded. Because none of the group were trained musicians, Ezrin halted the sessions at one point to provide lessons in basic music theory . To instill a sense of discipline, he wore a whistle around his neck and exhorted the band with sayings such as, "Campers, we're going to work!" When Simmons stopped playing during

1584-435: The theatrical adaptation of his album, although there has been little traction on this since 2010. The 1999 tribute album Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper includes covers of "Cold Ethyl" by Vince Neil , Mick Mars , Mike Inez , Billy Sheehan and Simon Phillips and "The Black Widow" by Bruce Dickinson , Adrian Smith , Tony Franklin , Tommy Aldridge and David Glen Eisley . The album also includes covers of

1628-602: The tour program for the band's final tour , Simmons reflected on the tour: With the special effects and staging we use, whether it was the Kiss sign, the Tesla coil on the Destroyer tour, the columns of fire, the lighted stairs or the drum riser, we reacted intrinsically to what we thought was cool. We went back to all the stuff we react to, 4th of July fireworks shows and things exploding. We wanted to go where no band had gone before. Destroyer (Kiss album) Destroyer

1672-603: Was Kiss's "least interesting record" and criticized producer Ezrin for adding "only bombast and melodrama". It was not until radio stations started playing the B-side of the "Detroit Rock City" single " Beth ", that the album started to sell as expected. The ballad, which according to Simmons was deliberately put on the B-side to force stations to play "Detroit Rock City", started receiving numerous listener requests and became an unexpected hit. "Beth" (co-written and sung by Peter Criss)

1716-711: Was at No. 192. The first three singles—"Shout It Out Loud", "Flaming Youth" and "Detroit Rock City"—failed to ignite sales any further, though "Shout It Out Loud" did give the band their first No. 1 record, in Canada. The band and Ezrin cited fan backlash as the reason Destroyer did not meet sales expectations. Ezrin also stated that the "grassroots rock press" was particularly critical of the album. Rolling Stone referred to "bloated ballads", "pedestrian drumming" and "lackluster performances" in its review. Robert Christgau , writing in The Village Voice , felt that it

1760-673: Was brought in to produce the album. The band felt that Ezrin was the right person to help them take their sound to the next level and to maintain the commercial success they had achieved with Alive! Before meeting with Ezrin, the band had written and recorded a 15-song demo in the Magna Graphics Studio in August 1975. The first demo recorded during the Destroyer sessions was "Ain't None of Your Business" featuring Peter Criss on vocals. The plodding, heavy song, written by country songwriters Becky Hobbs and Lew Anderson ,

1804-629: Was one of the most over-the-top excursions of that era. Most of Lou Reed 's band joined Cooper for this record. Welcome to My Nightmare is his only album under the Atlantic Records label in North America; internationally, it was released on the ABC subsidiary Anchor Records (also his only album for that label). The cover artwork was created by Drew Struzan for Pacific Eye & Ear . Rolling Stone would later rank it ninetieth on

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1848-478: Was re-released as the fourth single in late August, and it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on September 25. It was the group's first Top 10 song in the US and reignited sales of the album. On November 11, 1976 Destroyer became the first Kiss album to be certified platinum. The album was re-certified at the double platinum level on September 9, 2011 and is the band's best selling in

1892-547: Was rejected by the band and later appeared on the 1977 debut album by Michael Des Barres ' band Detective . Although this song was rejected, other outside songs and suggestions were accepted by the band. In particular, Kim Fowley and Mark Anthony became important contributors during the songwriting process, bringing in the title and basic structure of the song "King of the Night Time World" from their previous band Hollywood Stars' then-unreleased 1974 album Shine Like

1936-428: Was released on August 21, 2012. It featured Ken Kelly's original cover artwork before alteration by Casablanca for the 1976 release. Destroyer: Resurrected met with mixed critical reception. William Clark of Guitar International wrote: "Each track sounds crisper, clearer and louder, which are always welcome qualities when you're listening to a classic album of the likes of Destroyer ". However, Circus magazine in

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