The Revenge of Alice Cooper by Alice Cooper
It’s been more than 50 years since the original Alice Cooper band wrote an album together. When the group split up in 1974, it seemed unlikely that they’d reunite. Vocalist and ringleader Alice Cooper embarked upon a hugely successful solo career that only hit greater heights after he got sober in the mid-’80s. Then guitarist Glen Buxton, co-writer of Alice megahits “I’m Eighteen”, “School’s Out” and “Elected”, passed away in 1997 at the age of 49. And yet: Here we are in 2025 with <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i>, the first album written by original members Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums), Michael Bruce (guitar) and Alice Cooper since 1973’s <i>Muscle of Love</i>. The icing on the cake is “What Happened to You”, a song based around an unreleased recording that features Buxton’s guitar playing. “These guys are my oldest friends,” Cooper tells Apple Music. “We went to high school together, ran cross-country track together—all before The Beatles came along. We’re part of the generation that went, ‘If The Beatles can be a band, so can we.’” Over the last several years, Cooper invited Dunaway, Bruce and Smith to join him in the studio while recording his albums <i>Welcome 2 My Nightmare</i> (2011), <i>Paranormal</i> (2017) and <i>Detroit Stories</i> (2021). “I invited Dennis to play on certain songs, Neal to play on certain songs and Michael to play on certain songs,” he says. “And we did a couple of songs together on some of the albums. And then, it finally just got to a point where it was like, ‘Why don’t we just do an album?’ The trick was getting Bob Ezrin.” Producer Bob Ezrin was crucial to the original band’s career, helming such classic Alice Cooper albums as <i>Love It to Death</i> (1971), <i>School’s Out</i> (1972) and <i>Billion Dollar Babies</i> (1973). When he agreed to produce <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i>, the deal was sealed. “None of us knew what to expect at first,” Cooper says. “Then we all walked into the studio, and it was as if 50 years had not gone by. It was the most natural recording I’ve ever done.” The first song they wrote together was leadoff track “Black Mamba”, an appropriately slithering cut that underscores Cooper’s long-time relationship with snakes (see the album covers of 1971’s <i>Killer</i>, 1986’s <i>Constrictor</i> and the snakeskin wallet of <i>Billion Dollar Babies</i>, among others). Cooper then enlisted his friend Robby Krieger of The Doors to play guitar on it. “I couldn’t think of anybody else who could play a song with that kind of slinky, snaky feel to it,” Cooper says. “The background stuff he did on all those mysterious Doors songs like ‘The End’ and ‘When the Music’s Over’ was really, really effective, so I knew nobody could complement ‘Black Mamba’ better. And he absolutely nailed it.” Buxton’s presence isn’t confined to the guitar track on “What Happened to You”. Album closer “See You on the Other Side” and the swinging lounge tune “What a Syd” are tributes to the late guitarist. “We’re saying, ‘We’ll see you again, we’ll play again,’” Cooper says of the former. As for the latter: “Glen was not one of these guys who could jam with anybody,” Cooper explains. “In fact, the only person I ever heard him jam with was Syd Barrett. And anybody Glen thought was a jerk, he’d say, ‘What a Syd.’ That tells you a little bit about who he was.” Meanwhile, “Kill the Flies” is a continuation of the group’s 1971 song “Ballad of Dwight Fry”, which extrapolated upon the late actor Dwight Frye’s role as Renfield in the 1931 film <i>Dracula</i>. (Spoiler alert: Renfield ends up in a mental hospital.) “I thought, ‘What would he be doing now?’” Cooper says. “Well, he’s still in the mental institution, and everything is great. He loves it there, except for the flies. That’s his big nemesis in the world. I liked the idea of bringing Dwight back to see what he was doing 50 years later.” Elsewhere, <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i> features serial killers (“One Night Stand”), a tip of the cap to Marlon Brando’s 1953 biker flick <i>The Wild One</i> (“Wild Ones”) and an aspiring artist playing guitar in his mother’s basement for 60 years (“Crap That Gets in the Way of Your Dreams”). “Being in a band is not an easy road,” Cooper says by way of explanation. “Stuff gets in the way. Having to eat, having to work—everything gets in the way of sitting and writing songs. It’s saying artists have to deal with real life too.” As for the album’s title? “When we first started, we were always the underdogs,” Cooper says. “People said, ‘This band won’t last more than six months,’ or ‘They got lucky with “I’m Eighteen”, but that’ll be it for them.’ We were so determined to prove everybody wrong that we had 10 Top 20 singles. Fifty years later, the idea is, ‘You mean, there’s more?’”
It’s been more than 50 years since the original Alice Cooper band wrote an album together. When the group split up in 1974, it seemed unlikely that they’d reunite. Vocalist and ringleader Alice Cooper embarked upon a hugely successful solo career that only hit greater heights after he got sober in the mid-’80s. Then guitarist Glen Buxton, co-writer of Alice megahits “I’m Eighteen”, “School’s Out” and “Elected”, passed away in 1997 at the age of 49. And yet: Here we are in 2025 with <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i>, the first album written by original members Dennis Dunaway (bass), Neal Smith (drums), Michael Bruce (guitar) and Alice Cooper since 1973’s <i>Muscle of Love</i>. The icing on the cake is “What Happened to You”, a song based around an unreleased recording that features Buxton’s guitar playing. “These guys are my oldest friends,” Cooper tells Apple Music. “We went to high school together, ran cross-country track together—all before The Beatles came along. We’re part of the generation that went, ‘If The Beatles can be a band, so can we.’” Over the last several years, Cooper invited Dunaway, Bruce and Smith to join him in the studio while recording his albums <i>Welcome 2 My Nightmare</i> (2011), <i>Paranormal</i> (2017) and <i>Detroit Stories</i> (2021). “I invited Dennis to play on certain songs, Neal to play on certain songs and Michael to play on certain songs,” he says. “And we did a couple of songs together on some of the albums. And then, it finally just got to a point where it was like, ‘Why don’t we just do an album?’ The trick was getting Bob Ezrin.” Producer Bob Ezrin was crucial to the original band’s career, helming such classic Alice Cooper albums as <i>Love It to Death</i> (1971), <i>School’s Out</i> (1972) and <i>Billion Dollar Babies</i> (1973). When he agreed to produce <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i>, the deal was sealed. “None of us knew what to expect at first,” Cooper says. “Then we all walked into the studio, and it was as if 50 years had not gone by. It was the most natural recording I’ve ever done.” The first song they wrote together was leadoff track “Black Mamba”, an appropriately slithering cut that underscores Cooper’s long-time relationship with snakes (see the album covers of 1971’s <i>Killer</i>, 1986’s <i>Constrictor</i> and the snakeskin wallet of <i>Billion Dollar Babies</i>, among others). Cooper then enlisted his friend Robby Krieger of The Doors to play guitar on it. “I couldn’t think of anybody else who could play a song with that kind of slinky, snaky feel to it,” Cooper says. “The background stuff he did on all those mysterious Doors songs like ‘The End’ and ‘When the Music’s Over’ was really, really effective, so I knew nobody could complement ‘Black Mamba’ better. And he absolutely nailed it.” Buxton’s presence isn’t confined to the guitar track on “What Happened to You”. Album closer “See You on the Other Side” and the swinging lounge tune “What a Syd” are tributes to the late guitarist. “We’re saying, ‘We’ll see you again, we’ll play again,’” Cooper says of the former. As for the latter: “Glen was not one of these guys who could jam with anybody,” Cooper explains. “In fact, the only person I ever heard him jam with was Syd Barrett. And anybody Glen thought was a jerk, he’d say, ‘What a Syd.’ That tells you a little bit about who he was.” Meanwhile, “Kill the Flies” is a continuation of the group’s 1971 song “Ballad of Dwight Fry”, which extrapolated upon the late actor Dwight Frye’s role as Renfield in the 1931 film <i>Dracula</i>. (Spoiler alert: Renfield ends up in a mental hospital.) “I thought, ‘What would he be doing now?’” Cooper says. “Well, he’s still in the mental institution, and everything is great. He loves it there, except for the flies. That’s his big nemesis in the world. I liked the idea of bringing Dwight back to see what he was doing 50 years later.” Elsewhere, <i>The Revenge of Alice Cooper</i> features serial killers (“One Night Stand”), a tip of the cap to Marlon Brando’s 1953 biker flick <i>The Wild One</i> (“Wild Ones”) and an aspiring artist playing guitar in his mother’s basement for 60 years (“Crap That Gets in the Way of Your Dreams”). “Being in a band is not an easy road,” Cooper says by way of explanation. “Stuff gets in the way. Having to eat, having to work—everything gets in the way of sitting and writing songs. It’s saying artists have to deal with real life too.” As for the album’s title? “When we first started, we were always the underdogs,” Cooper says. “People said, ‘This band won’t last more than six months,’ or ‘They got lucky with “I’m Eighteen”, but that’ll be it for them.’ We were so determined to prove everybody wrong that we had 10 Top 20 singles. Fifty years later, the idea is, ‘You mean, there’s more?’”
