As a teenager, Alice Cooper's Trash (1989), and Hey Stoopid (1991) were the only albums. This was eventually followed by his 1994 album, The Last Temptation Of Alice Cooper. After playing it, it was the last album I purchased from him (at the time). I not only didn't hear anything reminiscent of the previous two albums but recall not liking it as a whole. Pretty soon, the artist was nothing more than a footnote in my music collection, and I eventually parted with the albums.
When I eventually began rebuilding my CD collection, Trash, and Hey Stoopid were among must haves for me, and I checked them off relatively quickly. Years would pass by, and I'd find myself at the local used CD shop, as I often did. Pursuing through the multiple rows, I came across his section and found multiple studio albums. I'm not sure what it was that compelled me, but I ended up picking them all up.
From the band era, I had managed to collect five albums, and from his solo area, also an additional five. However, what I soon found out was that this was not only just the tip of the iceberg, but that there were four remaining just from the 80's. Still, they weren't a priority to me. This became all the more so after playing through their 1969 debut, Pretties For You. That listening session didn't go well.
Still, every now and then I would look into those "missing" 80's albums, look at the prices, and move on. It wouldn't be until about a month and a half ago (as of the date of this post), that I'd finally decide to pull the trigger. This all came about when watching a Youtube video from Michael Noland on Cooper. It dawned on me just how old the artist was, and having seen what happened with the prices of Ozzy's lower print latter discs, I felt I best get the remaining ones checked off before the same thing happened with him. Like my comment on Noland's video said, I can only imagine how much more expense these albums would have been had I waited. As it was, it cost me close to two hundred dollars to grab them.
Mind you, if I wanted to collect the rest, there are still thirteen more out there. Thankfully, as of now, I don't have any intensions of doing that. But I suppose I said that about Ozzy too and ended up eventually grabbing all of those.
Over the past few days, I've been working through my 80's discography, starting with 1980's Flush The Fashion, and chronologically reaching today's entry, 1982's Zipper Catches Skin. Failing to chart, nor reach any sales certifications, it was a massive flop.
This is ironic because as I played through it and picked out the songs I was digging, that essentially became the whole album. I daresay it was a practically perfect album.
In retrospective reviews, it appears many people seem to have that opinion. Even Alice himself has said he should go back and re-record this, and his other "blackout era" albums, to give them the justice they deserve.
I mentioned yesterday that Zipper Catches Skin was noted as being a mash up between the Knack and Cars, and I stated that it sounded good on paper. It appears in execution, it works.
Unfortunately for the artist, he continued in a downward spiral. There was no tour to promote the album, probably contributing to its failure. Further, not only did his next album, DaDa (1983), also fail, but he would reach a point in his life where his drug and alcohol abuse was causing physical damage to his body. If that weren't enough to pile on, his wife was at a point where she simply couldn't take any of it anymore. That story all unfolds tomorrow.
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