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Rating: 1) Alice Cooper : Billion dollar babies (1973).
Intro
The glam was the fashionable-musical peak of the masked rock, where the decadent cultural context sees the triumph of Dionysus over Apollo: the bacchic-dionysiac ecstasy of rock tribalism accompanied by the usual epidemics of youth fanaticism that suffocates the attempt to create poetry, an Apollonian message not tied to fashion and market laws. The mask of Dionysus is one with Hades-Pluto, according to Heraclitus, and is therefore an omen of death, where the singer-prophet is no longer the messenger-bard of a generation of youth, as were Dylan, Hendrix, Morrison, and Lennon (the latter two often linked in youth imagination as crucified prophets, yet Prometheus-Dionysus-Bacchus-Attis-Christ tortured and dismembered); to a lesser extent one can mention Mick Jagger, and still quantify the meteor Syd Barrett, whose creeping cult has become a sort of elitist religion, artfully fueled by the same Pink Floyd - see Wish you were here, The Wall). The glam will reinvent these figures of generational "prophets" in an apocalyptic clone-clown, creating in the rock-songwriter a degenerate electronic trickster, a joker without a court, estranged and fashionable, intellectual and jester, singing great songs and little songs with often mystifying messages.
1) Alice Cooper : Billion dollar babies (1973).
Vincent Furnier by birth, earns the No.1 spot in the 70s glam rock chart: the most jester-like, the most grand-guignol, a true punk ante litteram: the early Sex Pistols clearly took inspiration from him – note certain crude vocalizations in Johnny Rotten's voice. In fact, legend has it that Rotten was discovered while humming an Alice piece.
From Detroit with fury, Alice Cooper debuted with his group in Los Angeles in 1968-69 drawing inspiration from Frank Zappa, who decided to produce them when he saw the band's negative energy – the audience left the halls after the first screeching notes. A rock music, television, and horror film enthusiast, Furnier started performing on stage as early as school times, with parodies of the Beatles and theatrical hangings. After two very particular albums of psychedelia and post-beat, when he arrives at Billion dollar babies, he is already a star, buoyed by the sales of youth anthems I'm eighteen and School's out. His shows with snakes and adolescent theaters of the absurd draw crowds, up to the famous launch of the dead chicken, sparking ire from animal rights activists and beyond, so much so that the scene was immortalized in the Who's song "Put the money down" where Daltrey sings indignantly: "there are bands killing chicken!". Even Salvador Dalí chooses him as his disciple, dedicating a holographic painting to him. Produced by Bob Ezrin, (future co-producer of The wall), the album opens with the epic Hello Hooray, a self-celebratory anthem that serves as a counterpoint to Five Years by Ziggy Stardust: "...roll -out with with your American dream and its recruits...with your circus freaks and hula hoops...I've been waiting so long to sing my song...I was the only one."
Thus begins the violent circus parade of stereotypical figures from the repertoire of the average American, which Cooper mockingly ridicules à la Zappa: the girls robbing the idiots on shore leave in Raped and freezin, the demagogic presidents of Elected, the child murderers of Billion dollar babies, the mad dentists of Unfinished sweet, the good Catholic boys beaten up in No more mr. Nice guy, the new drifting generations in Generation Landslide, the old tycoons clinging to possessions in Sick things, the love song for Mary Ann who turns out to be a man, the apocalyptic seal of I love the dead, -I love the dead- complete with a string quartet closure... the American dream is over and now breathes death and decay.
Heavy metal, cabaret, teenage anthems à la Chuck Berry, there's this and more. After him, there will come Kiss, New York Dolls, up to Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, and the likes.
The band is also great, which will attempt a career of its own under the name Billion dollar babies with a single album Battle axe in 1973. The same goes for Bowie's band, the Spiders from Mars.
Alice has always been very clear about his music: "rock needs trash," he said in an interview with MTV, "when it gets too refined then it needs people like me to make crap music and tasteless shows." This statement speaks volumes about the intentions and the disenchanted irony of the prince of Horror Rock.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Hello Hooray (04:15)
Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin,
I've been ready.
Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim,
I've been ready.
Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream.
Loving every second, ev'ry moment, ev'ry scream,
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come.
Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one.
Roll out! Roll out with your American dream and its recruits,
I've been ready.
Roll out! Roll out with your circus freaks and hula hoops,
I've been ready.
Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream.
Loving every second, ev'ry moment, ev'ry scream,
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come.
Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one.
I can stand here strong and thin.
I can laugh when this thing begins.
God, I feel so strong.
I feel so strong.
I'm so strong.
I feel so strong.
So strong.
God, I feel so strong,
I am so strong.
02 Raped and Freezin' (03:19)
Finally got a ride, some old broad down from Santa Fe.
She was a real go-getter.
She drawled so sweetly, "I think, child, that things'll get better."
We pulled off the highway, night black as a widow.
"Yes, I read the Bible," she said, "I wanna know of you."
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, I think I've got a live one, Yeah, Yeah,
I think I've got a live one.
Felt like I was hit by a diesel or a greyhound bus.
She was no baby-sitter.
"Get up, sugar, never thought you'd be a quitter."
I opened the back door, she was greedy.
I ran through the desert, she was chasin'.
No time to get dressed, so I was naked, stranded in Chihuahua.
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, hey, I think I've got a live one,
Alone, raped and freezin',
Alone cold and sneezin',
Alone down in Mexico,
Alone.
03 Elected (04:05)
I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice,
I wanna be elected,
I'm your yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce,
I wanna be elected,
Kids want a savior, don't need a fake,
I wanna be elected,
We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected.
Good evening Mr & Mrs America and all ships at sea,
The candidate is taking the country by storm.
I never lied to you, I've always been cool,
I wanna be elected,
I gotta get the vote, and I told you 'bout school,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected,
Hallelujah, I wanna be selected,
Everyone in the United States of America.
We're gonna win this one, take the country by storm,
We're gonna be elected,
You and me together, young and strong,
We're gonna be elected, elected, elected,
Respected, selected, call collected,
I wanna be elected, elected.
"And if I am elected
I promise the formation of a new party
A third party, the Wild Party!
I know we have problems,
We got problems right here in Central City,
We have problems on the North, South, East and West,
New York City, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago,
Everybody has problems,
And personally, I don't care."
04 Billion Dollar Babies (03:43)
Billion dollar baby
Rubber little lady, slicker than a weasel,
Grimy as an alley
Loves me like no other lover
Billion dollar baby
Rubber little monster, baby, I adore you
Man or woman living couldn't love me like you, baby
We go dancing nightly in the attic
While the moon is rising in the sky
If I'm too rough tell me
I'm so scared your little head will come off in my hands
Billion dollar baby
I got you in the dimestore,
No other little girl could ever hold you
Any tighter, any tighter than me, baby
Billion dollar baby
Reckless like a gambler, million dollar maybe
Foaming like a dog that's been infected by the rabies
We go dancing nightly in the attic
While the moon is rising in the sky
If I'm too rough, tell me
I'm so scared your little head will come off in my hands
Million dollar baby
Billion dollar baby
Trillion dollar baby
Zillion dollar baby
05 Unfinished Sweet (06:18)
Candy everywhere, got chocolate in my hair,
Aching to get me.
Sticky sweet suckers in the Halloween air,
Aching to get me.
Saint Vitus dance on my molars tonight,
Aching to get me.
Aching to get me, get me oh ...
Take it to the doc, I guess he ought to know,
La, da, da, da, da.
Which ones can stay, which ones gotta go.
La, da, da, da, da.
He looks in my mouth and then he starts to gloat.
He says my teeth are O.K.,
But my gums got to go. Oh oh ...
I come off the gas but I'm still seeing spies,
Aching to get me.
I can see them all through a glassy pair of eyes,
Aching to get me.
De Sade's gonna live in my mouth tonight,
La, da, da, da, da,
And the rotten tooth fairy is satisfied,
La, da, da, da, da,
Aching to get me, get me oh ...
06 No More Mr. Nice Guy (03:06)
I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing
'Til they got a hold of me.
I'd open doors for little old ladies,
I helped the blind to see.
I got no friends 'cause they read the papers.
They can't be seen
With me and I'm gettin' real shot down
And I'm feeling mean.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
I got no friends 'cause they read the papers.
They can't be seen
With me and I'm gettin' real shot down
And I'm getting mean.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
My dog bit me on the leg today.
My cat clawed my eyes.
Nice Guy ooh
Ma's been thrown out of the social circle,
And dad has to hide.
I went to church incognito.
When everybody rose
The Reverend Smedley,
He recognized me,
And punched me in the nose.
He said:
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
he said you're sick, you're obscene.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
07 Generation Landslide (04:31)
Please clean your plate dear, the Lord above can see you
Don't you know people are starving in Korea?
Alcohol and razor blades and poisons and needles
Kindergarten people, they used 'em they need 'em
The over indulgent machines were their children
And there wasn't a way down on earth here to cool 'em
Cos they look just like a human at Kresge's and Woolworths
But decadent brains were at work to destroy
Brats in batallions were ruling the streets scene and
Generation landslide, close the gap between them
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
La la da da daa
Militant mothers hiding in the basement
Using pots and pans as their shields and their helmets
Molotov milk bottles heaved from pink high chairs
While mothers' lib burned birth certificate papers
And dad gets his allowance from his sonny the dealer
Who's pubic to the world but involved in high finance
Sister's out till 5, doing banker son's hours
But she owns a Maseratti that's a gift from his father
Stop at full speed, at 100 miles per hour
The Colgate invisible shield finally got 'em
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
La la da da daa
No one gives an oink about prom night or football
Cos just getting at home from school safe is a gamble and a blessing
Girlsies play with girlsies and boysies with boysies
Bored with one another, like old broken Christmas toysies
Kids are all hot and their parents so annoisy
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
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By HeavyZinco
People never forget Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Kiss, but the good old Vincent Damon Furnier... sometimes slips through the cracks.
'No More Mister Nice Guy'... can be compared to other memorable and legendary songs like 'Paranoid,' 'Rock And Roll,' and 'Detroit Rock City.'
