Rock and Roll

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A Fellow Arizonian

Originally, there was an entire band called "Alice Cooper " led by a singer named Vincent Damon Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, as well as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and the Stooges, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the band's name for his androgynous onstage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs and melodies that derived from '60s guitar pop as well as showtunes, it was rock & roll at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelic and art rock.
After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo career as Alice Cooper, his actual music lost most of its theatrical flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal, yet his stage show retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock.

Furnier formed his first group, the Earwigs, as an Arizona teenager in the early '60s. Changing the band's name to the Spiders in 1965, the group was eventually called the Nazz (not to be confused with Todd Rundgren's band of the same name). The Spiders and the Nazz both released local singles that were moderately popular. After discovering there was another band called the Nazz in 1968, the group changed its name to Alice Cooper. According to band legend, the name came to Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name. Comprised of vocalist Furnier, guitarist Mike Bruce, guitarist Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith, the group moved to California in 1968. In California, the group met Frank Zappa and his manager Shep Gordon who signed Alice Cooper to their new label, Straight Records.

Alice Cooper released their first album, "Pretties for You" in 1969. "Easy Action" followed early in 1970, yet it failed to chart. The group's reputation in Los Angeles was slowly shrinking, so the band moved to Furnier's hometown of Detroit. For the next year, the group refined their bizarre stage show. Late in 1970, the group signed with Warner Brothers and began recording their third album with producer Bob Ezrin.

With Ezrin's assistance, Alice Cooper developed their classic heavy-metal crunch on 1971's "Love It to Death ", which featured the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"; the album peaked at number 35 and went gold. The success enabled the group to develop a more impressive, elaborate live show, which made them highly popular concert attractions across the U.S. and eventually the U.K. "Killer", released late in 1971, was another gold album. Released in the summer of 1972, "School's Out" was Alice Cooper's breakthrough record, peaking at number two and selling over a million copies. The title song became a Top Ten hit in the US and a number one single in the UK. "Billion Dollar Babies", released the following year, was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain; the album's first single, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," became a Top Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. "Muscle of Love" appeared late in 1973, yet it failed to capitalize on the success of "Billion Dollar Babies".

After "Muscle of Love", Furnier fired the rest of Alice Cooper, retaining the name for a solo career; the rest of the band released one unsuccessful album under the name Billion Dollar Babies. In the fall of 1974, a compilation of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled "Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits", became a Top Ten hit.

For his first solo album, Cooper hired Lou Reed's backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal -- guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, bassist Prakash John , keyboardist Joseph Chrowski , and drummer Penti Glan, as his supporting group. "Welcome to My Nightmare" , Alice Cooper's first solo album, was released in the spring of 1975. The record wasn't a great departure from his previous work and it became a Top Ten smash in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed." Its follow-up, 1976's "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell", was another success, going gold in the U.S. After "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell", Cooper 's career began to slip, partially due to changing trends and partially due to his alcoholism. Cooper entered rehabilitation in 1978, writing an album called "From the Inside" (1978) about his treatment with Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist. During the early '80s, Cooper continued to release albums and tour, yet he was no longer as popular as he was during his early '70s heyday.

Cooper made a successful comeback in the late '80s, sparked by his appearances in horror films and a series of pop/metal bands that paid musical homage to his classic early records and concerts. "Constrictor", released in 1986, began his comeback, but it was 1989's "Trash" that returned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven hit maker Desmond Child, "Trash" featured guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith. The record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison", a ballad featured on the album, became Coopers first Top Ten hit since 1977.

The Coop has also made many a movie and television appearance -- alongside such stars as Helen Hayes, Mae West, and Gene Wilder, among others -- including, most notably, "Wayne's World," "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare," "Roadie," "John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness," and "Something Wilder."

His Guardian Records release "A Fistful Of Alice," was a paint-blistering live album recorded in Mexico that features special guests Slash, Rob Zombie, and Sammy Hagar, and is guaranteed to break leases and shatter noise by-laws every time it's cranked up to full volume.

Also in release is "Prime Cuts: The Alice Cooper Story," a 90 minute home video shockumentary of Alice's career. This was followed in 1999 by the long-awaited release of the definitive multi-CD box set, "The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper," an authoritative and comprehensive chronicle of Alice's entire musical history.

Formed: 1973 in Rockford, Illinois
Years Active: 1973 through present.
Group's Main Members: Rick Nielson, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos, Tom Petersson, Jon Bryant

Back in the 60s, rock n roll oddball Rick Nielson began collecting bizarre guitars and studying esoteric British bands like Family and the Move. Tooling around the world, he returned to hometown Rockford, Illinois, and wound up in various outfits with avuncular drummer Bun E. Carlos. With lies of success, Nielson fooled bassist-in-crime Tom Petersson into leaving Europe to join. Soon, young folk singer Robin Zander was on board and Cheap Trick was born. The band played anywhere and everywhere, soon opening for the Kinks, Journey and Kiss. Nielson amassed a huge song portfolio before legendary producer Jack (Aerosmith, John Lennon, Zebra) Douglas finally led the quartet into the studio for their self-titled debut in 77. Cheap Trick showcased the Trick throwaway aesthetics of brilliant stupidity ("Hot Love"), wily irreverence ("Daddy Should Have Stayed in High School") and high-voltage pop genius ("He’s a Whore," "Oh Candy"). Chicago murderer Richard Speck was the topic of "Ballad of TV Violence" while "ELO Kiddies" is the cleverest Japanese toy/nuclear generation/Jeff Lynne song ever. In-house producer Tom Werman cleaned up the follow-up, In Color (77), for the radio and polished their third, Heaven Tonight (78), into a shining AOR gem. Few bands could turn songs about barbiturates ("Downed") and suicide ("Auf Wiedersehen") into chugging arena anthems, so Cheap Trick prepared for world domination. Merging the lines of metal, punk and Top 40, this golden stage is encapsulated by the brilliant "Surrender." Meanwhile, the band was already on top in Japan, documented on the stopgap live release At Budokon (79), which pushed the band to platinum status though it was originally intended for Japanese-only release. Thundering versions of "I Want You to Want Me" and the oldie "Ain’t That a Shame" were actual hits, bolstered by the band’s pioneering visual sense and Live at Leeds propulsion. After the abrupt Budokan, much momentum was lost by the impending release of the studio-intensive Dream Police (79). Though the title track, "Way of the World," and "I Know What I Want" were well-crafted singles, the roaring energy circulated by the live platter seemed to evaporate with the heady 70s. Petersson grew disenchanted, pulling a Yoko move with wife Dagmar, and left after the underrated All Shook Up (80), ironically produced by George Martin. Tick lost its commercial footing, unobtrusively releasing over-looked movie songs (two greats on Heavy Metal) for overlooked USA "Up All Night" movies and even "starred" with Debbie Harry in the animated movie Rock & Rule. Jon Bryant replaced Petersson and Trick dropped three eclectic pop artifacts: the compressed One on One (82) with Queen’s uber-producer Roy Thomas Baker; the quality Next Position Please (83) with kindred spirit Todd Rundgren; and Trick reunited with their first boardman, Jack Douglas, for the guilty pleasure Standing on the Edge (85). But when the clanging and bizarre Doctor (86) also slipped under the pop radar, the ever-encroaching record company took over. Petersson returned for Lap of Luxury (88), a calculated commercial confection with 3D production from Ritchie Zito. Trick scored a number one record with the lighter-ballad "The Flame." And "Don’t Be Cruel" was the first Elvis cover to hit the Top Ten since his death. But outside songwriters distanced Trick from their own records, and the vacuous Busted (90) increased the polarity between the power-party stage band and their adult-contemporary schlock tunes. Still playing wicked shows at state fairs and barbecues, Trick seemed to lose heart. In 94, a fresh start at Warner Brothers resulted in Woke Up with a Monster which accelerated Trick’s descent into obscurity. But Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan, an Illinois native who cut his teeth on vintage Trick, installed a new life force. Trick released another record, reissued their first four classics and began selling out shows again. Through it all, Cheap Trick weathers on like always, rockin’ like big dogs night after night .