When I went about selecting today's Retro Spin, I was both shocked and happy that I hadn't yet gotten around to this one. Truthfully, I just wanted to listen to something good, and today's pick wasn't going to disappoint on any level.
It was my introduction to Alice Cooper, and in hindsight in my latter years, an eye opening experience of guest appearances that flew so far under my radar in 1989. Trash, despite its name, is what I would consider the greatest Alice Cooper album, and my all time favorite from him.
If I had heard the many hits from the singer from the 60's, 70's, and even early 80's, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what they were. Instead, to me, in 1989, Alice Cooper was as new to the scene as Guns N' Roses, Poison, and Skid Row. Frankly, despite the history that was his career, I could care less. To me, Cooper's albums consist of 1989's Trash, and 1991's Hey Stoopid. Beyond or before that, I have zero interest.
When my young teenage mind first saw the video to Poison on MTV, my introduction to not only the song, but the singer, I needed to own the cassette. Whatever it took, it was a must have for me. Fortunately, mom was feeling rather generous during one of our many outings to the local K-Mart at the Bend River Mall (in Oregon), and it was here that I picked the tape from the music section, and made the request.
Granted, when I first got it home, and for several months to come, I hovered around the same handful of songs, favoring Poison among them, but also House of Fire, Why Trust You, and Hell Is Living Without You. However, as I grew older, my tastes changed a bit, and over time, I came to appreciate the album as a whole from front to back. To me, it ranks among those few and far between perfect from start to finish recordings.
The album itself was intended to be a comeback for Cooper after his highly successful, The Nightmare Returns, tour. For this, hit maker, Desmond Child, was solicited to aid in the song writing and producing. To create a commercial friendly iteration of the singer, hot talent was brought in to provide instrumentation, backup vocals, and assist with writing. This included the likes of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Richie Sambora, Kip Winger, Jon Bon Jovi, Joey Kramer, Steve Lukather, Tom Hamilton, Joan Jett, Kane Roberts, Guy Man-Dudd, and more. The album was pushed all the more further through exposure on MTV with the music videos, Poison, Bed Of Nails, House Of Fire, and Only My Heart Talking. The point being, Trash was purposely developed to be a hit, and nothing short of that would suffice.
Trash was a major departure from Cooper's previous work, and while this may have unsettled his longstanding fan base, it also served to usher in a slew of new fans. This would lead to the highly successful, Alice Cooper Trashes the World tour, as well as allegedly being nominated for a Grammy. I say allegedly for that nomination because frankly, I can't find any information which backs up this statement. Even though his own Wiki makes mention of this, if you scroll down to the actual list of Awards and Nominations, it's not noted in that section.
Honestly though, there's no much more I can say about this one. It's just good, and a major piece of my musical history which got me through those teenage years. It was also yet another connection between me and (at the time) best friend. Sadly, he and I have long since gone our separate ways, it happens as people get older. However, what hasn't disappeared is Alice Cooper's Trash, which I still love to re-visit from time to time.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS April 27, 1985 |
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