We continue our look at at the music of 50 years ago…
1971 was a fertile year for metal and hard rock…but also for the burgeoning shock-rock and proto-punk scene years before it exploded in London, New York and LA. The band Alice Cooper falls into all those categories and is pigeon-holed by none of them. Their 3rd album, “Love It To Death”, the first of two LPs released by the band in 1971, helped jump start them to stardom, along with the elaborate stage show which was shocking for it’s time.
After two LPs for a Frank Zappa label in LA that didnt do much, the band returned to Detroit (where most of them had been class mates in high school, and members of the cross country team!). The teamed up with producer Bob Ezrin and after woodshedding for a number of months went into the studio. Ezrin took an eight minute jam called “I Wish I Were Eighteen Again” and turned it into a 3 minute radio hit that spoke to a generation of disenchanted youths of the early 70’s. Their label agreed to let the band record an album if the single did well…so the band called radio stations all over the place, posing as fans and requested the song.
The album features the excellent guitar work of Glen Buxton and the band turned some of the songs including The Ballad of Dwight Fry into far out scenes during their live set. This live studio film doesnt begin to share the on-stage anarchy of a Cooper show.
It is said to have inspired Johnny Rotten to write Seventeen for the Sex Pistols LP 6 years later…
Also for the Ramones song I Dont Care…
Metal, Hard Rock, Shock Rock, Glam Rock…label it anything you want…but when Eighteen came blasting out of your radio in 1971…you knew that whatever it was was going to shake up the establishment…and wasn’t that the whole point of rock & roll?
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