John Lydon (also known as Johnny Rotten) presents a profile of Alice Cooper — whose theatrical persona was perhaps America’s most significant ally with the British glam movement and who also influenced John’s own band, the Sex Pistols — on “Billion Dollar Baby: The Alice Cooper Story”, a BBC Radio 2 Documentary first broadcast in November 2002.
Two episodes of approximately 30 minutes each.
Part One:
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Billion-Dollar-Baby-The-Alice-Cooper-Story-Part1.mp3]
Part Two:
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Billion-Dollar-Baby-The-Alice-Cooper-Story-Part2.mp3]
Around the 6:40 point of Part 1, there’s an intriguing account of what Frank Zappa saw in, and attracted him to sign this initial Alice Cooper group to a record contract.
Heh-heh, cool! The Ballad of Dwight Frye helped launch my singing “career”…
WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER! ON TCM 4/18, 2:15 AM. sorry, nothing to do w/billion dollar baby, but i don’t know where else to post this. for anybody who may get turner classic movies channel (do some of you folks in europe get this station?) they list it as friday night, it’s 2:15 in the saturday morning. great chance to see this early indie classic
They showed World’s Greatest Sinner back in October, too. It was the night before my brother’s wedding and I couldn’t sleep since I was writing my best man’s speech. On a whim, I checked TCM’s schedule and saw they were showing that back-to-back with 200 Motels – uncensored.
I caught maybe the last 20 minutes of World’s Greatest Sinner…it wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t astounding, either. The world’s worst movie? It’s, um, down there.
I loved Alice back in the day. I played my older brother’s Billion Dollar Baby over & over. At eleven I thought the whole horror element was real cool. I remember that same year ’73, Alice appeared on a tv show called, “The Snoop Sisters”. I think they performed “Sick Things”. Must see tv!
I heard about his golf obsession to combat his drinking, but I didn’t know he turned to Christianity. And Welcome to my Nightmare featuring Toto, now there’s a dream line-up for Johnny Rotten!
I think it was the early Alice Cooper group’s “in your face” theatrics combined with their “good, dumb, Garage rock” sound that initially appealed to Frank Zappa. That’s what appealed to my twelve year old ears when I first heard “I Love The Dead” on ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. I’d have to disagree, though, with the thought that their early albums (i.e. Pretties For You) were unlistenable. They are great examples of psychedelia, in my opinion. To date, “Black Ju Ju” is still one of my all time favorite AC tracks from ‘Love It To Death’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klbJQrguTV8
Certainly, the generation which reached their teens in the 1970s wanted something more visceral that what the previous decade’s hippies had enjoyed. AC definitely filled that bill (that is, before the band broke up and Cooper’s cycles of self parodying began).
The early Alice Cooper for me is the one and only. Listening to “Dead Babies” the first time, gave me the creeps. Still does!
[quote comment=”4868″]On a whim, I checked TCM’s schedule and saw they were showing that back-to-back with 200 Motels – uncensored.[/quote]
Are you serious? How did I miss that? Shit, I hope they repeat it!
[quote comment=”4891″]I loved Alice back in the day. I played my older brother’s Billion Dollar Baby over & over. At eleven I thought the whole horror element was real cool. I remember that same year ’73, Alice appeared on a tv show called, “The Snoop Sisters”. I think they performed “Sick Things”. Must see tv!
I heard about his golf obsession to combat his drinking, but I didn’t know he turned to Christianity. And Welcome to my Nightmare featuring Toto, now there’s a dream line-up for Johnny Rotten![/quote]
It’s actually “From The Inside” that features Toto (Steve Lukather on guitar, Steve Porcaro on synth programming and Bobby Kimball on backing vox). That album was amazing and was a concept album based on his short stay in a mental hospital to try to combat his alcoholism (it didn’t work and he only succeeded in the 80s). I play it quite regularly, about once a month, and never get sick of it!
[quote comment=”4955″]It’s actually “From The Inside” that features Toto (Steve Lukather on guitar, Steve Porcaro on synth programming and Bobby Kimball on backing vox). That album was amazing[/quote]
Well, I’m not Johnny so I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for setting the record straight.