Essential Alice Cooper Songs

 While I didn't begin to appreciate Alice Cooper until 2010, I was first introduced to Alice in the comedy film Wayne's World. I guess I wasn't worthy until I was older. Now I can't get enough of Alice, having seen him live four times, owning numerous videos and albums, and even visiting his restaurant in Phoenix, AZ two years ago while on vacation. Now I'll be seeing him once again, this time from the front row! So let's count down my favorite songs of his entire career, with the band and from his solo years.

10. "School's Out" (School's Out)
I think I would probably be grabbed by an army of Cooper minions and taken to the gallows if I didn't have this song on my list. It's transcended beyond just an Alice Cooper song, as it's an anthem for anyone who's been to school since 1972. It has that classic guitar riff but also classic Cooper lyrics because they can't even think of a word that rhymes.

9. "Nurse Rozetta" (From The Inside)
Alice Cooper definitely turned lemons into lemonade with his album From The Inside. Every song on this album is inspired by his stay in a mental institution, which inspired some pretty wild lyrics. The music is top notch too, as he teamed with Elton John's song-writing partner, Bernie Taupin. The lyrics on "Nurse Rozetta" tell the tale of man of the cloth who's begun having urges for his nurse, with many tongue-in-cheek lines like "she popped the buckle on my Bible belt" among the best. I don't even think this song has a traditional chorus either, which makes it even more unique.

8. "Only Women Bleed" (Welcome To My Nightmare)
Every Alice album contains a ballad and this one is among is best. I thought at first that from the title is was about women literally bleeding. Instead it's a metaphor, how women were the house makers yet were never appreciated; just serving their man and taking their seed. The great Bob Ezrin produced it too, and I feel like this album and Kiss' Destroyer are basically sister albums in terms of Ezrin's production. Or it could be that I was getting into both at the same time, though the albums both have songs where kids are singing, "Department of Youth" is an anthem similar to "Flaming Youth", the use of bells and choir in the background. I say Nightmare edges past Destroyer but it's a close call.

7. "It's Much Too Late" (Dragontown)
You can always count on every Alice Cooper album to contain a ballad. While Dragontown is among my least favorite of his albums, "It's Much Too Late" is my favorite one. The lyrics are from the perspective of a man who feels he's went to hell by mistake, and I get a real Beatles-vibe from the music. Some of Alice's earlier songs appear to have connections to his later songs, so possibly the guy from "No More Mr. Nice Guy" realized his mistakes, and he's the man who's wound up in hell...

 

6. "Poison" (Trash)
Alice made a MASSIVE comeback in the 1980's at the height of the glam metal era and he adopted that sound, enlisting bassist Kip Winger and guitar player Kane Roberts. They hit it big with "Teenage Frankenstein" and also the theme song to Friday the 13th Part 6, "He's Back." That song narrowly missed being included. While the Constrictor marked the comeback for Cooper, this song "Poison" and the album Trash cemented it. I think it's a much stronger album overall, especially this song. Not only did "He's Back" miss the cut, so did Trash's "Bed Of Nails" and "Hell Is Living Without You." Maybe I should have went with my original plan, making separate lists for the 70's and the 80's.

5. "Escape" (Welcome To My Nightmare)
Probably the most straight forward rock song on Cooper's first solo album, Welcome To My Nightmare. It flat out rocks! I love the guitar and the percussion, with the bells putting it over the top. It's hard to not dance around to this one.

4. "Go To Hell" (Alice Cooper Goes To Hell)
I really gained a bigger appreciation for this song after watching a live performance on one of his many live DVD's. Alice on stage creeping around and shaking maracas really enhanced the song. I seem to prefer a lot of older songs like this anyway, the "creepy epics", like "Steven", "Halo Of Flies", and "Ballad Of Dwight Fry."

3. "Ballad Of Dwight Fry" (Love It To Death)
Speaking of the "Ballad Of Dwight Fry", this song is interesting to me because it's from the perspective of a guy locked away in an institution, while Cooper would later make an entire album based around that by the end of the decade.

2. "Welcome To My Nightmare" (Welcome To My Nightmare)
Maybe I'm wrong on this, but up until this point the Alice Cooper band was very theatrical on stage, but with Alice going solo he finally had a theatrical album to match the stage show. That seems to be the case as this concept album even launched a concert film and a TV special, complete with dancing skeletons galore.

1. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (Billion Dollar Babies)
I've attempted to sing this at karaoke bars in the past and one time a friend's co-worker quipped that it was the nicest version of that song. Thanks Jose.