Top 10: Alice Cooper (The Band) Songs

In the early 1970s, no other band terrorized the masses like Alice Cooper. Their uncompromising brand of hard rock, coupled with explicit lyricism that explored everything from the macabre to the taboo, was a dagger in the heart of Woodstock generation. On top of it all was the band’s extravagant stage show, which featured simulated fist fights, electrocutions, hangings, and ultimately, the nightly execution of the namesake frontman. Parents were shocked, religious figures were disgusted, and kids were thrilled. Although the name “Alice Cooper” is now synonymous with the man himself and his equally legendary solo career, this Top 10 celebrates the band and their contribution to the pantheon of all things hard, heavy, and horrific.

10. “School’s Out”

There are some songs that are so iconic, they become larger than the band who created it in the first place. This is the case with the title track off Alice Cooper’s 1972 album, School’s Out. To exclude it from this list would not just be contrarian, but wrong. Every June for the past half century, elated children all across the country, many of which don’t even know the name Alice Cooper, joyously shout the chorus: “School’s out for summer! School’s out forever!” At this point, it’s become as ingrained in American culture as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “The Star-Spangled Banner”. With youth anthems like this, it’s no wonder Alice Cooper was viewed as a rock n’ roll pied piper among the concerned authority figures of the early 70s.

9. “Muscle of Love”

Against all odds, Alice Cooper had finally hit the big time. They were selling out arenas from coast to coast and dominating the charts, sneaking onto AM radio with songs like “Hello Hooray” and the aforementioned “School’s Out”. But as the old story goes, the only thing that comes quicker than a band’s rise is their eventual downfall. By the end of 1973, drugs, alcohol, creative differences, and money had taken their toll on Alice Cooper. Depending on who you asked, the writing was on the wall, but not before one last hurrah in Muscle of Love. Despite not selling nearly as many units as its predecessors, this loose concept album on “urban sex habits” is as brilliant musically and lyrically as any other classic era Alice Cooper release. The album’s title track oozes with filth, sleaze, and innuendo galore. It seamlessly marries the depravity of Love It to Death (1971) and Killer (1971) with the tongue in cheek hedonism of School’s Out here.

8. “I Love the Dead”

With each album and accompanying tour, Alice Cooper pushed the boundaries of both rock n’ roll and the first amendment. Was nothing off limits for this band of hard rocking hooligans? By the sound of “I Love the Dead”, the closing track on Billion Dollar Babies, it sure seemed like it. The band reached a creative high and moral low with this epic 5 minute ode to necrophilia. It’s no wonder such grotesque themes would become commonplace in the 80s with bands like Mercyful Fate and Slayer, and eventually Death, Sarcófago, and so forth. Yes, while Black Sabbath was singing about global annihilation and Deep Purple drew parallels between women and cars (both metal in their own right), Alice Cooper was unintentionally planting the seeds for the extreme metal revolution a decade early.

7. “Desperado”

Don’t be fooled by the lush strings, gentle guitar passages, or Alice’s crooning vocals. “Desperado” is far from an AM radio sellout. This dark, ominous ballad pays tribute Doors frontman Jim Morrison, who had just passed away four months prior to the release of Killer. Morrison was not a wild west outlaw in the literal sense of the song’s lyrics, but his renegade approach to rock n’ roll drew modern parallels in Cooper’s blackened eyes. It could be argued that Morrison’s unpredictable and threatening stage presence paved the way for Cooper and his accompanying band of misfits to take things to new extremes in the early 70s. I’m sure nobody, not even the band themselves, would disagree.

6. “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

Did you really think this list was going to be all deep tracks save for “School’s Out”? I guess knowing my track record, I could forgive you for such an assessment. However, in this case, you’re wrong. Unlike most of the songs that have been played on classic schlock radio ad nauseam, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” is one that I’ll never get sick of. In fact, it is one of the most perfectly constructed songs in hard rock history. Everything flows so naturally: the verse into the pre-chorus into that unforgettable chorus. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!!! NO MORE MR. CLE-E-E-EAN!!!” C’mon, scream it with me! You know you want to. Add to that a driving beat, aggressively melodic guitars, and some proto-punk lyricism, and you’ve got 3 minutes of rock n’ roll perfection.

5. “Killer”

Did you enjoy that little break of headbanging and fist pumping? Good, because now we’re about to go off the deep end…literally. I’ve always considered Killer to be Alice Cooper’s creative peak. This schizophrenic collection of party ready rockers and unsettling epics embody the beast that was and is Alice Cooper, all culminating in the grand finale title track. Clocking in at nearly 7 minutes, “Killer” has A LOT to unpack. It starts out as an uneasy musical backdrop to the killer’s (Alice) confession. We’re then introduced to a jazzy instrumental section before being taken straight to hell. You know exactly which part I’m talking about: those crushing Sabbathian riffs, the tormented screaming, the demented ramblings. As if this song couldn’t get any eerier, it segues again, this time to a drum and organ led funeral hymn before the coup de grace: the drop of a guillotine and whatever the hell that unbearable noise afterwards is that lasts for far too long. “Killer” is terrifying now. I couldn’t imagine hearing it in 1971.

4. “Black Juju”

Here’s a hot take for you. If Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” laid down the foundation for doom metal, and the B side of Rainbow’s Rising did the same for power metal, Alice Cooper’s “Black Juju” is a precursor to black metal. At the very least, it’s the only song pre-Venom I would give such a title to, not including those late 70s Death SS demos that wouldn’t see the light of day until a decade later. This isn’t just because of the sinister lyrics that deal with the occult and (surprise, surprise) dead bodies, but the raw atmosphere of the song itself. There’s a bizarre and primitive edge to “Black Juju”, from its arrangement to its riffs, that wouldn’t become commonplace in metal for at least another 15 years. Furthermore, the way Cooper groans, growls, and eventually shrieks (“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!”) is closer to Mayhem’s Attila Csihar than say Robert Plant.

3. “Ballad of Dwight Fry”

Alice Cooper’s examination of the unsettling extended beyond the supernatural world. “Ballad of Dwight Fry” is a coldly honest look at mental illness that uses old Hollywood actor Dwight Frye as a metaphor. Frye was known for playing mentally unhinged characters onscreen, perhaps none more infamous than Renfield in 1931’s Dracula. Cooper (the man) saw himself in Renfield during a brief rehab stay (the first of many) before the recording of Love It to Death (1971). This inspired the legendary “Ballad of Dwight Fry”: The tale of a man who has lost all perception of reality. All he wants to do is return home to his family. There’s only one problem. His self proclaimed “lonely mind explodes” when he’s “gone insane”. As the lyrics continue to unfold, we question if he even has a family to begin with, before he’s ultimately taken away for a murder he didn’t commit…or did he?

2. “Dead Babies”

There’s no doubt that naming a song “Dead Babies” in the heart of the Roe v. Wade case/debate was a controversial move. Or at least it would be for some other run of the mill hard rock band. For Alice Cooper, it was just another day at the office. Despite the connotations of its title, “Dead Babies” doesn’t glorify abortion at all. In fact, it tells the fictitious tale of “little Betty” and her untimely demise after eating a “pound of aspirin”. Even more troubling is the subsequent mental downfalls of her parents who “weren’t there to save her”. If Alfred Hitchcock had created a film with this same title and premise in the early 60s, he would’ve been hailed as the master of horror that he was. But because the cautionary tale was delivered by five young men with long hair and tight pants, let’s just say the American public didn’t take kindly to it.

1. “Halo of Flies”

“Halo of Flies”: Just the name of the song is evil. It’s accompanying music is spellbinding, and it’s lyrics are vividly picturesque. I always wondered: How did this masterpiece come to be? In a personal conversation I was lucky enough to have with Cooper at a 2016 convention, he said the song was partly inspired by, surprisingly, bad reviews of their previous album, Love It to Death. Alice Cooper were no strangers to criticism, but apparently when one reviewer called them “lackluster musicians”, that’s where they drew the line. Cooper described “Halo of Flies” as their “attempt at prog”. “If King Crimson and Yes could do it, so could we.” Although not as complex as either band in arrangement and instrumentation, “Halo of Flies” is indeed a suite of grandiose proportion. It’s lyrics were inspired by classic James Bond movies, yet again showcasing the band’s love for Hollywood. It’s an appropriate pairing as “Halo of Flies” is definitely cinematic in nature, and for my money, the greatest Alice Cooper song ever recorded.