Is it my body

I listened to quite a bit of Alice Cooper when I was a teenager. "Alice" was "way out", in the cultural ambiance of the 1970s. This was before Marilyn Manson, remember; before Boy George, before KISS. Heavy metal was in its infancy then. Alice Cooper — the son of a preacher — is one of the artists who created the template.

The band's first album was released in 1969:  the same year as David Bowie's first LP. It was radical then for a man to call himself "Alice"; to wear makeup like something out of a horror show; to use a guillotine or an electric chair as part of the act; to sing songs about a hired killer or a necrophiliac, sung from the first person point of view.



The explosion at the end of "School's Out" seemed more titillating than shocking at the time. (The version on the School's Out LP ended with the sound of an explosion, shortly after the line, "school's out forever". The politically correct version featured on the Best of Alice Cooper LP ends with the sound of a bell signalling the end of class, and a bunch of kids cheering enthusiastically.)

"School's Out" predated Columbine by nearly 20 years; it was released before school shootings became a real, all-too frequent phenomenon. If I relished hearing the explosion at the time — and I certainly did — it was like giggling at the phrase "bare naked ladies", not like jerking off to a hard-core pornographic image. In other words, it was several steps removed from gritty reality.

It's interesting to listen to Alice Cooper now that I am no longer Eighteen. I am pleased to validate the musical taste of my 18-year-old self. Alice Cooper wrote a number of fine songs!

I am sometimes amused to come across a "Greatest Hits" package from a group that had only one noteworthy hit. But The Best of Alice Cooper is a worthwhile compilation. It starts strong with "I'm Eighteen", introduces Alice's self-deprecating humour with "Is It My Body", and then shifts gears to the creepy, very powerful "Desperado". That was the track that first drew my attention to Alice Cooper:  my older sister owned Killer. "Desperado" blew me away the first time I heard it, and it still sends a thrill up my spine today.

The liner notes describe "Under My Wheels" (another Killer track) as "garage band 101", which sums it up nicely. "School's Out" features a driving bass line, biting guitar accents, and downright hilarious lyrics. "Generation Landslide" has a mocking "Da-da da da-da!" bit at the beginning that makes me laugh out loud every time I hear it. It also happens to be a very musical song.

And on it goes, one outstanding track after another:  "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (an a.m. radio staple when I was a teenager); "Billion Dollar Babies" (Alice's biggest hit, though it's not one of my personal favourites); another creepy favourite, "Welcome To My Nightmare"; and "Only Women Bleed", a beautiful song which presents itself as a sympathetic examination of wife abuse — but I'm convinced that Alice just wanted to see whether he could saturate the airwaves with an unsubtle reference to menstruation.

The rest of the disc is perhaps grade-B material. Alice's creative peak was brief. But still, he was a fine songwriter as well as a born entertainer. The disc is a worthy addition to the music library of anyone who enjoys rock.

Songwriting:  ★★★★☆
Performance:  ★★★☆☆
Sound quality:  ★★★☆☆
In a word:  Good.