Alice Cooper

Originally, there was a 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, heavy metal, and garage rock, 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 name for his androgynous on-stage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. It was rock & roll at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelia and art rock.
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. Alice Cooper then developed their classic heavy metal crunch on 1971's Love It to Death, which featured the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"". 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. eleased 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 U.S. and a number one single in the U.K. 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 and the rest of Alice Cooper parted ways to pursue other projects. Having officially changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier embarked on a similarly theatrical solo career.
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 hit in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed"; its success put an end to any idea of reconvening Alice Cooper the band. Its follow-up, 1976's Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, was another hit, going gold in the U.S. 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. The record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison," a mid-tempo rocker featured on the album, became Cooper's first Top Ten single since 1977. After the release of Trash, he continued to star in the occasional film, tour, and record. After a live album, 1997's Fistful of Alice, Cooper returned on the smaller Spitfire label in 2000 with Brutal Planet. and Dragontown a year later. The Eyes of Alice Cooper appeared in 2003 and found Alice and company playing a more stripped-down brand of near-garage rock. Dirty Diamonds from 2005 was nearly as raw and hit the streets around the same time Alice premiered his syndicated radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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