We dive deep into a murky period for one of rock’s great as we discuss the Alice Cooper Blackout Era! The substance abuse was at its absolute peak in the early 80’s for our favorite shock-rocker. Many years of drinking followed by a craving for cocaine had started to destroy Alice from the inside out. Starting in 1980 with the Flush the Fashion era, Alice Cooper abandoned his classic eye makeup for a psychotic Mommie-Dearest image. Combined with his gaunt frame, it still registers as once of his most frightening looks.
Aside from the substances, the early 80’s were a strangely creative time for Alice. The albums produced during this period yielded some brilliant, yet uneven, moments. Starting with 1980’s Flush the Fashion, Alice takes a swing at disco and new wave with certain tracks. 1981’s Special Forces is filled with an authoritarian concept while still providing a wink and a nod to androgyny. The cocaine abuse hits mass effect on 1982’s Zipper Catches Skin and the songs bear that out despite some great moments. 1983’s DaDa rounds out the Blackout Era in grand fashion with an album made purely from the heart. With Warner Brothers all but guaranteeing no promotional push, Cooper reunites with Dick Wagner and producer Bob Ezrin for an album that still sounds otherworldly today.
In this episode we share our thoughts on this 4 album run and spin our favorite tracks from each. We hope you enjoy Alice Cooper Blackout Era – Ep365 and SHARE with a friend!
8 thoughts on “Alice Cooper Blackout Era – Ep365”
I often thought Alice claimed he didn’t remember these albums because they sunk quicker than a lead suit! And perhaps he was a shamed of them.
No need Alice. They are probably my fav Cooper albums.
Actually Grim Facts was played last year during a leg of the Paranormal tour so it did finally make it to the set. I saw it performed live and it was terrific. You can also see it on You Tube. He did Pain the year before. Love those albums especially the Dada album. I actually prefer this era to a lot of the original band era stuff.
Grim Facts was played on the Special Forces tour. Nothing beats the original band!
One other comment. The UK Sickthings website is great with lots of information but the messageboard has gone downhill a whole lot. There are a couple of posters who can’t see past the original band and if anyone has the audacity to say they prefer the newer stuff they get attacked hard. A lot of the veteran posters have stopped posting there but everything else on that is wonderful.
Great show! Interesting time period for Alice and his music, to say the least. Just to let you know, they did add GRIM FACTS to their set list last year. I have a great video of the song on my YouTube channel. Can’t wait to see what Alice has for us on this upcoming album. I get to see the new show, which begins tomorrow, in Cleveland after Alice Cooper Day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, July 14th.
Love the podcast guys.
Remember the Coop
Steven
WOW, this was a great show! Thank you for it! This was a great time in Alice’s musical development. I waited anxiously for each of these albums to come out. I thought they were definately different from his original work, but really liked a lot of things from each lp. You hit on so many great songs and stories! Unfortunately I never got to see Alice perform during this time because my life was much like his at the time full of alcohol and cocaine.
But since that era it’s been an annual event to see The Coop, 7/25 my next show.
Thanks for presenting this info. You guys rock!
My introduction to alice was flush the fashion. I was 12 and was fascinated with the song “ clones “ it was 1985 and I bought constrictor and raise your fist as new releases not to mention collecting all of the previous albums from pretties for you on up. I definitely have a soft spot for the 1980-83 albums and find myself revisiting them often.
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