Alice Cooper - Raise Your Fist And Yell

Give him the chair, turn on the bug zapper,  shock rock him. Something theatrical. He loves that stuff even though he doesn't have a lot in his collection. 

How does he manage to get both insult and compliment in one little package? Carl's in charge, and also the janitor. I've seen the world from both sides now, so here's Carl's vicarious present, Alice Cooper's Raise Your Fist and Yell. Yep, that's the face Carl usually makes at me when i pass him in the hallway. It's also Kip Winger's second and last Cooper album.

This 10th album is supposedly from Alice's horror movie tie in period, Freddy Kruger himself makes a cameo on here somewhere. None of these songs are well known, no radio play ever, smack dab in the middle of the late 80s with Madonna on one side and England/Germany calling the stage show for the tour too graphically violent for public consumption on the other. James Randi (rest in peace, Mr. Skeptic) originally designed their guillotine set piece they brought back for this tour. Sounds like it would have been awesome. Too bad i was only 7 at the time. None of these songs were ever performed again, so it's like a time capsule of stuff that may or may not be totally embarrassing to revisit decades later. Will it be surprisingly great, or surprisingly terrible? Only one way to find out. 

Yeah, this album really does need its full historical context to understand. It's a fantastic album, but it isn't a standalone kind of album. 

Ok, the short short version. The band existed to shock audiences and really dive into the theatrical possibilities of stage shows, horror, and social controversy. Alice Cooper is a female villian. California didn't get it, so they went back to Detroit and just got bigger and more shocking throughout the 70s. Then in the early 80s Alice pulled a Clapton and did so many drugs he barely remembered recording any of those albums. After a decade of relentless touring and recording they were just burned out on each other, and Alice sort of became a solo project rather than a steady band. He took a break, got sober, and came back with Constrictor and Raise Your Fist..., leading to his second wave of popularity and movie crossover stuff. These two albums are way harsher and more metal than anything before, and you have to approach them as mythos albums. They aren't really concept albums, more reestablishing the character in a contemporary musical setting; hair metal as opposed to garage rock. 

Every song really does read like the backstory of an 80s horror movie, and you kind of have to just accept that that's how the character fits into the decade. There will always be a villain because there's always a nasty side to society, and Alice is back to haunt your nightmares. 

Like i said, it isn't a stand alone album, and you aren't going to be humming selections while you work (except maybe Freedom, it's sort of a lesser known Cooper classic), but it's a chapter in the book of Alice Cooper you can't actually skip reading. If nothing else, it's totally worth checking out what Kane Roberts and Kip Winger were creating early in their careers. 

Well, this has been a thoroughly enjoyable holiday after all. I hear we're in for some level of snowpocalypse next week, but as always i'll deal with that when it happens. One more week of 2020 to go, here's hoping it's not particularly eventful. Cheers.