Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 27.02.1973
The date is September 13, 1969. During a performance at the "Toronto Rock and Roll Revival" festival, a chicken was thrown onto the stage while the members of "Alice Cooper" were playing. Cooper, or by his real name Vincent Damon Furnier, a fairly nice guy all in all, did what seemed logical and tossed the chicken back toward the audience, assuming it would fly upward. Instead, it landed in the front rows, where the crowd promptly tore it apart.
The next day, newspapers screamed: “Alice Cooper grabbed a live chicken, bit its head off with his teeth, and proceeded to drink its blood before a stunned and frenzied Canadian audience.”
That same day, Alice Cooper received a phone call from his manager at the time, none other than Frank Zappa. Zappa asked him whether what had been written in the papers was true. Once he understood that it was not, he offered Cooper golden advice: “Whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it!”
Thus, a legend was born. A myth that served the band "Alice Cooper" and also the musician who carried the stage name with him long after the band itself dissolved. In just four and a half years, the band released no fewer than seven albums. Their sixth album, and perhaps their most successful of all, "Billion Dollar Babies", was released on February 25, 1973.
The godfather of Shock Rock, Vincent Furnier, was born on February 4, 1948, to a father who was a preacher in the Christian Evangelical Church. Young Vincent was active in church between the ages of 11 and 12. Later, due to a series of childhood illnesses, the family relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended Cortez High School.
In his senior yearbook it was written about him: “Aspires to be an artist who sells millions of albums.” He made it happen.
At 16, he formed his first band, "The Earwigs", which later changed its name to "The Spiders", a group inspired by "The Beatles". In order to record their first song, "Why Don’t You Love Me", Vincent taught himself to play the harmonica in 1965.
In 1967, the band changed its name for the third time to "The Nazz". However, after discovering that Todd Rundgren had a band with a similar name, they adopted the name "Alice Cooper", perhaps to create a sharp contrast between the innocent sounding name reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland" and the wild, uninhibited image the band projected.
One night, after an unsuccessful performance at the Cheetah Club in Los Angeles, producer and music manager Shep Gordon approached them. He envisioned a way to channel the band’s negativity into powerful positive energy and arranged an audition with Frank Zappa.
At the time, Zappa was looking to sign unconventional artists to his new label, "Straight Records". The audition was set for 7 o’clock. The band mistakenly assumed it meant 7 a.m., not 7 p.m. as Zappa had intended.
The mere act of a band showing up at 7 in the morning to play psychedelic rock in his house impressed Zappa enough that he signed them to a three-album deal.
Part of Alice Cooper’s image as a performer was built around his extraordinary stage outfits: long black hair, heavy eye makeup, a black top hat, black leather clothing, and a whip in hand, all completing his threatening theatrical persona. Offstage, however, Vincent Furnier is one of the nicest and least outrageous people you could meet, married to the same woman for decades. Over the years he has also appeared in films, including "Wayne’s World", and even on "The Muppet Show".
His striking look was inspired by characters from two films: "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" starring Bette Davis, whose character wore caked-on makeup with heavy dark eyeliner beneath her eyes, and "Barbarella", featuring Anita Pallenberg, dressed in long, shiny black leather gloves.
"Billion Dollar Babies" was initially recorded at an estate called "Galecie Estate", purchased by the band in Greenwich, Connecticut. Producer Bob Ezrin used unusual recording techniques, including tracking in a greenhouse with a marble floor. Later, sessions moved to Morgan Studios in London, which became something of a party hub, attracting musicians such as Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan, and Keith Moon, However, they were reportedly too intoxicated to contribute musically to the album.
The core concept behind "Billion Dollar Babies" is that people possess countless strange and diverse perversions. The album’s title was inspired by the band’s meteoric rise with their previous releases, especially "School’s Out", which transformed them from a very poor band living in a basement into a group that people were literally throwing money at everywhere they went.
The album was composed almost entirely by guitarist and keyboardist Michael Bruce, with the exception of the opening track "Hello Hooray", written by Rolf Kempf and originally recorded by Judy Collins. It is a beautiful rock anthem, filled with impressive vocal melodies and theatrical flair that perfectly sets the tone for the spectacle that follows.
"Elected" is based on an earlier song by the band titled "Reflected", which appeared on their debut album. The title track "Billion Dollar Babies" features guest appearances by musician Reggie Vinson, who had already collaborated with them on "School’s Out", and by singer Donovan, who contributes backing vocals.
The closing track "I Love the Dead" deals with necrophilia, while the hard rocking "Raped and Freezin’" confronts themes of sexual assault. "Unfinished Sweet" takes the listener on an unsettling visit to the dentist, complete with sound effects that convincingly place us right in the middle of a dental procedure.
But the album’s biggest hit is undoubtedly "No More Mr. Nice Guy". The song was written about the reaction of Alice Cooper’s devout mother to her son’s outrageous onstage performances. Shocked by the controversy surrounding him, she reportedly asked how he could do such things, to which he essentially replied through the song’s defiant message.
The track became a major success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK and climbing to No. 25 on the US charts, cementing its place as one of "Alice Cooper"’s signature songs and one of the defining moments of the "Billion Dollar Babies" era.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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