From k2mojo@groovedaddies.com Wed Feb 05 16:58:25 2003
Subject:OT: Alice Cooper...NO question of his talent

Well John, after you first wrote "Is this the same guy....who sang this God
Awful song called EIGHTEEN, and sounds like "Crusty The Clown" from the
SIMPSONS? I'd hate to think anyone here would constitute what I just
mentioned as talent!", I was just sure that it was 1971 all over again and
my Dad had just yelled at me for the umpteenth time to "TURN THAT DAMN THING
DOWN!". I was thirteen, not eighteen, and one thing I was sure of was that
my father just didn't "get it".
Now after reading your second email on this topic, it seems my father
finally has someone to join him - you clearly don't "get it". I'm trying to
figure out how you got to the ripe old age of 35 without ever even hearing
of Alice Cooper, let alone being totally unfamiliar with his work. Cripes,
you're not that young.
Whether or not you dig "theatrical rock", musically the early AC stuff
easily stands on it's own as well crafted hard rock tunage with great
memorable riffs and clever tongue-in-cheek lyrics (side note: the major
songsmith in AC was rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce and not Cooper). You
didn't have to see AC's live show for their music to move you. Now, how far
AC would have gotten if they hadn't added all the macabre theatrics to their
show is anybody's guess, but what it did add was FUN and seeing an Alice
Cooper show is A LOT of fun. He's still out there doing it every year with
a band of hot hired guns backing him up, playing ALL of the favorites like
it was the first time and constantly moving, doing jumping jacks just to
show he still can. I've seen him twice in the last two years and it's the
most fun I've had at a concert in 20 years. The last time I went my mother
came along and thought he was amazing; the next time he comes around I'm
taking my kids, and all because it's FUN. And it's a hell of a full-blown
show too, but he plays in small enough venues that even the people in the
back row can still see his tongue firmly planted in his cheek the whole time
he's singing "Dead Babies". All the familiar props, astounding light show,
songs you know all the words to, and killer rock chops - and all for $22 a
head.
FWIW, I'm not a headbanger and my musical tastes tend to run more in the
'musician's musicians' category; when I saw Steely Dan in D.C. a few years
back it was the cool, laid back type of concert you favor with incredible
musicianship and absolutely no theatrics. Same deal with the Joey D.,
Return To Forever, and Robben Ford shows I caught - jaw dropping chops all
over the place, but nobody ever really moved much from their spot on the
stage, which is just fine with these kind of concerts. But sometimes you
just want to see a *show*, and nobody puts on a show like Alice Cooper
(although the Tubes in their heyday were right up there). Escapist fun with
power chords and fake blood. I mean, would you rather nobody moved? What
if the Temptations just stood still? Above everything else, live music
should be FUN, and not just for the musicians.
And then there's the other artists you trashed. If I have to explain why
that "dental floss in Montana" song is funny to you, you're not going to get
it anyway. In all fairness though, I have to agree with you about 'Mr.
Roboto'; that was just sad!
OK, enough ranting. My advice to you John is to loosen up, drink a beer and
turn up your stereo to eleven just like you used to when your parents were
out. And to the rest of my fellow Alice fans on this list, make sure you
catch his live show the next time he's around for the best
'back-in-my-bedroom' deja vu experience you'll have in a long time. You'll
be eighteen all over again.

Ed Fliege
k2mojo@groovedaddies.com
www.groovedaddies.com

> I'm seeing from others' replies, that maybe I was a tad bit short
> sighted in my criticism of Alice Cooper, and that it was way too
> presumptive of me to assume that everyone else shared my
> viewpoint on him (and/or A.C.-the band).
>
> I guess I need to proceed what I say with IMHO first:
>
> So IMHO, I have never dug "theatrical rock" as a musical genre.
> I feel music is primarily an auditory stimulus. It's something
> you listen to. The only exception to that being sitting quitely
> in a concert watching the musician perform his/her craft on their
> instrument of choice, where the only visual stimulus necessary is
> that of the musican's fingers weaving their way through the
> passages, and the facial expressions the musican yields as
> musican and instrument interface with one another. And musicans
> communicate with one another on stage. The PBS show "Austin City
> Limits" is IMHO a good example of the atmosphere under which ALL
> music should be presented.
>
> That's the whole problem I have with what MTV did to music from
> 1979 and forward. No longer was it just good enough to be a good
> MUSICIAN. Now you had to be an actor, a dancer, a choreograher,
> a cinamatographer. You had to have sex appeal. Mama Cass and
> Janis Joplin wouldn't have stood a chance in today's image
> oriented music world, yet they were fabulous musicians in their
> own right, and I believe their voices alone would still sell in 2003.
>
> But it all started with Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, and Kiss. If
> you gotta' put paint all over your face, and shoot stage smoke
> and special effects all over the place to generate audience
> appeal, then DOES THE MUSIC REALLY STAND ON ITS OWN AS A
> LEGITIMATE ENTERTAINMENT?
>
> I remember trying my hardest to respect Frank Zappa as a
> musician, but he lost me on a song where he sang about dental
> floss in Montana! For cryin' out loud (IMHO)...if the lyrics
> made any sense and weren't so silly, maybe I'd have listened for
> a melody or God help us...a Hammond solo, if one was even forthcoming.
>
> Queen's BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY is another one (IMHO) that for the life
> of me I can't and will never understand what people see musical
> value in...."I see a silhouette...Galilaeo, Galilaeo..." (or
> whatever the heck he's trying to say in there). Save it for a
> Berkeley coffee house on poetry night for Christ sake!
>
> And then in the early 80's when Styx tried "Paradise Theatre" and
> "Mr. Roboto" and scarred my early adolesence (IMHO of course!) I
> had had enough! No wonder I was so relieved to have found Deep
> Purple in the haphazard year of 1982. A band that was and still
> is about the MUSIC, NOT flashy gimmicks.
>
> Music is about music. Chord progressions, long instrumental
> solos where the whole band falls into a groove and the audience
> is taken wih them. Listen again to Traffic's LOW SPARK OF HIGH
> HEELED BOYS or Steppenwolf's MAGIC CARPET RIDE if you need
> examples (IMHO).
>
> Sorry to go off on a tirade, but someone poked my "hornet's nest"
> when they mentioned Frank Zappa and "theatrical rock".
> I guess I'm just not there, but if others are, I recognize that
> these are heavyweight names within their own musical genre, that
> deserve respect. I'll give them that much.
>
> John O'Flaherty (The B3 Burner)

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.449 / Virus Database: 251 - Release Date: 1/27/2003