If you are reading this blog, there’s probably very little doubt that you know even just a smidge about the king of shock rock, Alice Cooper. Hell, even if you’re not into hard rock/metal music I will pretty much bet you a free lunch that you’ve at least heard hit such as “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” If you haven’t heard these songs at all, welcome to Earth! I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.
If you are nothing more than a casual fan of Alice Cooper, you have without a doubt heard his string of hits. Maybe you even own the 1974 classic compilation Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits and/or even remember hits later era 90’s hits such as “Poison”, “House of Fire”, and “Hey Stoopid.” Have you ever thought about diving just a little bit deeper into Alice’s catalog? Well, if you have, this is the place to be right here.
While Alice Cooper’s hits are nothing short of fantastic, trust me when I say that 90% of the time it’s the deep cuts where you find the real magic. The hits that we all know and love just barely touch on the absolute brilliance of some of Alice’s lesser known tracks. For this article I picked 16 deep cuts from Alice Cooper that I feel like everyone should hear.
This was actually really hard to do because just as I finished this list I started to think of others that should have made this list. This is in no way a representation of all of the great deep cuts but rather the first 16 songs that just came to my mind. I figured since they were the first ones to come to mind that this meant that they made an everlasting impression on me. I hope you’ll enjoy some deep cuts from Alice Cooper. Don’t forget to check out the playlist below.
Generation Landslide
from Billion Dollar Babies
This is not just one of the coolest Alice songs but one of the fucking coolest songs ever. The 3rd track from Billion Dollar Babies is like wicked ass Alice Cooper beat poetry set to acoustic guitars, killer drumming, and even featuring some really impressive harmonica work from Alice himself. This song really showed the brilliance, dynamics, and creativity of the classic Alice Cooper Band and is to this day one of my all time favorite songs.
Mary Ann
from Billion Dollar Babies
Billion Dollar Babies is one of those albums that doesn’t have a single bad song on it. You can listen to this album from start to finish without skipping a single song. From the production to the sequencing, everything about it is just perfect. “Mary Ann” is such a creepy song but it’s so perfect on this album that covers so many different moods. It’s a creepy ballad (listen to the lyrics) that segues into his creepy ass ode to necrophilia, “I Love the Dead.” This is such a unique song and I always find myself enjoying it in all it’s weird, short but sweet splendor.
Go To Hell
from Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
After the classic Alice Cooper Band parted ways, Alice went solo and one his most brilliant masterpieces of that era is the song “Go to Hell.” The over all dark and creepy vibe of this song totally encapsulates the vibe of Alice. This song is without a doubt in my top tier of Alice songs and the lyrics are without a doubt some of the most clever lyrics I’ve ever heard. “You’re something that never should’ve happened. You even make your grandma sick.” Absolute brilliance. This song has thankfully become a staple of Alice’s live shows so if you’ve seen him lately, you’ve heard this song in all its greatness live.
Wish You Were Here
from Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
Also from the Goes to Hell album, “Wish You Were Here” follows the awesome, groove laden vibe of the title track. Opening with bongos and some serious white boy “bow chicka bow bow” guitar, “Wish You Were Here” is Alice’s letter to everyone letting them know that he’s “Having a hell of a time down here, wish you were here.” This is one of those songs that I would absolutely love to hear done live as I could totally see this one going over like gangbusters.
Dangerous Tonight
from Hey Stoopid
90’s era Alice Cooper was no laughing matter. Even thought I don’t love Alice’s Trash album (sans a song or 3), his Hey Stoopid album was chockfull of amazing songs. “Dangerous Tonight” is hands down one of my favorite later era songs. This particular song has a really great vocal performance from Alice and lyrically I find that this song really reminds me of Goes to Hell era Alice. This is another song that I wouldn’t mind hearing thrown into the live mix.
Dead Babies
from Killer
I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to hear Alice singing “Dead babies can take care of themselves. Dead babies can’t take things off the shelf” back in 1971. “Dead Babies” definitely captures that original, creepy, somewhat psychedelic vibe of the early Alice Cooper band. As much as I love Alice’s solo stuff, I find myself gravitating more to the classic Alice Cooper Band. The chemistry in this band is undeniable and they were five guys who all shared the same wicked, warped sense of humor.
Black JuJu
from Love it to Death
This is easily one of the coolest 9 minutes in rock n’ roll history. ” Bodies need their rest we all need our rest sleep an easy sleep rest rest rest rest…” Yeah, baby. This song is so fucking trippy. This time around, the Alice Cooper Band comes around with a song that pulls very much a Doors influence. Everything about this performance reminds me of something that Jim Morrison would’ve unleashed on the masses in a live performance. This song is such a crazy listen and I highly recommend hearing this one on headphones. There’s so much great playing and so many subtle great moments to it.
Mr. & Misdemeanor
from Easy Action
The first two Alice Cooper albums, Pretties For You and Easy Action, were two of the biggest surprises for me as an Alice Cooper fan. These were albums that I didn’t even experience for well over 20 something years after becoming a fan. Easy Action is where you can really hear the Alice Cooper formula starting to come together and this song is so fucking good. With its barroom piano and old time feel, “Mr. & Misdemeanor” (amazing title) is 3:10 of pure fun and nasty glory. I absolutely love this song.
Public Animal No. 9
from School’s Out
If there was every an Alice Cooper song that should have been a huge hit it’s “Public Animal No. 9.” Coming from an album that spawned his career’s biggest hit (School’s Out) I’m sure it was nearly impossible for any other song to even compete. This particular song, in my opinion, is every bit as great if not greater than the album’s title track. “Me and G.B. we ain’t never gonna confess we cheated at the math test. We carved some dirty words in our desk well now it’s time for recess.” Hearing this song almost gives me an idea of what Alice (the character) would’ve been like in school. How can you not love this song?
Blue Turk
from School’s Out
I fucking LOVE this song. I love how a lot of the songs from School’s Out have a very similar musical theme. It’s almost like vaudeville/play kind of music and this particular song is just awesome. It’s almost like you can picture them all on stage in top hats and tails doing a choreographed dance. This is another example of the cleverness of Alice’s lyrical content to use really creepy lines in not so creepy music. ” You’re so very ordinary you’re so very lame. Tastes like whiskey on your lips and earthworms rule your brain.” Try whispering those sweet nothings into your loved one’s ear next time. Let me know how that works for you.
Nothing’s Free
from The Last Temptation
For the little amount of attention that this album gets, I have to honestly say that The Last Temptation is probably my favorite of the comeback era! This album is solid as all get up and this particular song is just so good. Lyrically it’s very reminiscent of something we might have heard on Welcome to My Nightmare. Musically, this album dialed it back a bit on the slick, polished metal sound and seemed to be more in touch with Alice’s past style. This is just an all out cool song. It’s pretty dark and it has another really great vocal delivery from the man.
Today Mueller
from Pretties for You
Pretties for You is one of the most incredibly, awesomely strange things you will ever hear in your life. I would almost compare it to Frank Zappa type of weirdness with great lyrics. This early Alice Cooper Band gem shows just how much they were tapping into the weirdness of Zappa with a heavy Beatles influence musically This song is so fucking short that I had to listen to it twice while I typed this. It’s a great fucking song and while it’s significantly different from the later ACB stuff it’s so cool to hear how this band started it all off. They weren’t far off the mark at all. Totally cool and mega weird.
Some Folks
from Welcome to My Nightmare
One think you might even notice in some of these songs is that Alice was (and still is) a fan of huge, grandiose songs that at times sound like Broadway productions. This song has Broadway written all over it and if you’ve ever seen the video for it you’ll see just what I’m talking about. This song is really fun, quirky, and catchy as fuck. It also has one the coolest outros ever featuring 70’s funk guitar and horns galore. Nothing at all to hate about this closet classic.
Former Lee Warmer
from Dada
Dada was such a weird album and not necessarily in a good way. This was a very odd time for Alice known as his “blackout” phase. This pretty much means that Alice has zero memories of this era. There was a series albums that fell into this phase but while these albums as wholes may not have been amazing, some of them did have some really spectacular moments such as this one. This song reminds me a bit of a modern spin on “Ballad of Dwight Fry.” It still has that creepy aspect to it and a really great vocal performance from Alice. If anything, this song is worth seeking out to include in a playlist of your own.
It’s Hot Tonight
from Lace & Whiskey
I fucking LOVE this song so much. Even as much as I loved the kind of show tune aspect of albums like Welcome to My Nightmare and Goes to Hell, Alice pulled more from the sound of the classic Alice Cooper Band for Lace & Whiskey. I never knew anything about that album until doing my Album by Album Challenge on Alice Cooper and it ended up being one of my favorite albums. This song in general just kicks ass and has such a good, nasty groove. This is just a classic example of a deep cut from an album that is very sadly overlooked. This album is definitely worth owning.
Raped & Freezin’
from Billion Dollar Babies
This song is hands down in my top tier of favorite Alice songs and probably in my top 3 from the Billion Dollar Babies album. Everything about this song from the classic Alice Cooper Band is just awesome. Great fucking guitar work, awesome vocal delivery from Alice, and you can’t deny the genius of the lyrics. I just love how Alice could take a story of a man being kidnapped, raped, and then escaping from a crazy woman. Alice always did things that went against the grain and this song is no exception. It’s such a fun listen and definitely one that will give you a chuckle or two.
About The Author
