Timeline 10 - Go To Hell
Originally, an entire tour was booked to promote the 'Goes To Hell' album, but just as Alice was about to hit the road, he came down with anemia [Seagram's VO - Renfield, Sept. 1996] and was under a doctor's care. Thus the tour was canceled leaving 1976 a relatively uneventful year!
The Alice Cooper Goes To Hell tour (which was canceled), was to be a production where Hell was a disco because disco is hell. I recall him saying the set was built on several levels.
(Renfield, September 1996)
1976
June 1976 Alice is one of several high profile rock musicians who record birth control information spots for Detroits WABX-FM. The ads generally ran between midnight and 6am for around 2 months. "If I had a kid right now, the kid would probably be psychotic by the age of 10. I think I could afford a kid, but I'm just not mature enough to have a kid, you know. And I think that's really important".
June 10th 1976 Alice stays at UCLA Hospital for one night with anemia
June 15th 1976 'I Never Cry'/'Go To Hell' released according to Life and Times box set (Again this date seems about 2 weeks early)
June 1976 Alice and Bernie Taupin are at the Billboard Talent Forum in Los Angeles.
June 29th '75 'Goes To Hell' album released [Date based on Billboard Information.]
A 30 date tour was planned but canceled two days before rehearsals are set to start, Alice collapsed and was rushed to UCLA Hospital in L.A. and was diagnosed as suffering from Anemia. Doctors tell him to take a least a month's break. He's sent to Barbados for two weeks golf and recuperation. When he returned to LA, it was back to the parties and golf.
Dates advertised. Different sources have some conflicting dates but none of these shows actually took place:
June 30th 1976 Halifax Nova Scotia Forum
July 1st 1976 Moncton, New Brunswick Coliseum
July 3rd 1976 Ottawa, Ontario Civic Centre
July 4th 1976 Detroit MI State Fairground - Listed in Ann Arbor Sun July 1st! Detroit Free Press 11th June announces cancelation
July 7th 1976 Winnipeg, Ontario Arena
July 9th 1976 Regina, Saskatchewan Taylor Field [Ticket]
July 10th 1976 Calgary, Alberta MaMahon Stadium
July 11th 1976 Edmonton, Alberta Coliseum
July 13th 1976 Lethbridge, Alberta Sportsplex
July 14th 1976 Vancouver British Columbia P.N.E. Coliseum
July 15th 1976 Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria Memorial Arena
July 30th 1976 Phoenix AZ, Tampe Stadium - Cancelation announcement in Arizona Republic 18th June.
August 1st 1976 San Diego, CA, Balboa Stadium (w/ The Tubes + 2 more). Billboard (5th June 1976) announces it as "Alice Cooper and his Hollywood Vampire Orchestra"
August 6th 1976 Milwaukee, WI, Arena
August 7th 1976 Madison, WI, Dane County Coliseum
August 8th 1976 St. Paul MI Arena
August 13th 1976 Toronto, Ontario C.N.E. Stadium -OR- Montreal, Quebec, Place Des Nations (listed as 13th in Circus Magazine)
August 14th 1976 Toronto, Ontario C.N.E. Stadium (listed as 14th in Circus Magazine)
August 14th 1976 Tampa, FL, Bayfront Centre - This makes little sense between Canada and Maine shows, but doesn`t matter as none of the shows happened anyway.
August 15th 1976 Cape Cod, Maine, Cape Cod Coliseum
(tickets actually went on sale for this one)
August 20th 1976 Lakeland FL, Civic Centre
August 21st 1976 Hollywood, FL, Sportatorium
August 22nd 1976 Jacksonville, FL Coliseum or Gator Bowl
September 4th 1976 Cleveland, OH Coliseum
September 5th 1976 Chicago IL, Comiskey Park
July 3th 1976 'I Never Cry' enters the Billboard singles chart at #86.
July 10th 1976 'I Never Cry' is at #82 in the Billboard singles chart. They also review 'Goes To Hell' as a new release.
July 12th 1976 Midnight Special recorded - date as shown in the original contract.
July 17th 1976 'Goes To Hell' Enters the Billboard album chart at #86. 'I Never Cry' is at #80 in the singles chart.
July 24th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #53 on the Billboard album chart. 'I Never Cry' is at #78 in the singles chart.
July 31st 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #48 on the Billboard album chart. 'I Never Cry' is at #77 in the singles chart.
Aug 1976 Alice has a house in the Hollywood Hills/Bel Air. In interviews he's saying he feels a lot better and thinking of staging 'Welcome To My Nightmare' and 'Goes To Hell' as a broadway show. This seems to have been a long time dream of Alice's, first with the 'Alice at the Palace' idea in '72 and running right through to 2014 and the two '..Nightmare' albums. It still hasn't happened.
Aug 6th 1976 Alice appears on 'Midnight Special' recorded on the 5th. (Regional date variations) - The show was recorded on July 12th as shown in the original contract.
Aug 7th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #43 on the Billboard album chart. 'I Never Cry' is at #75 in the singles chart.
Aug 14th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #41 on the Billboard album chart. 'I Never Cry' is out of the Billboard top 100.
Aug 17th 1976 Alice appears on stage with Elton John during the encore of Elton's final Madison Square Garden show. Also on-stage were Divine, Billie Jean King, Kiki Dee and the New York Community Choir.
Aug 21st 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #39 on the Billboard album chart.
Late Aug 1976 Alice has reportably been in Toronto recording a "pure rock and roll" album to follow 'Goes To Hell'.
Aug 28th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #55 on the Billboard album chart.
Sept 4th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is still at #55 on the Billboard album chart.
Sept 11th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #73 on the Billboard album chart.
Sept 18th 1976 Rock Music Awards show. Alice Performs 'Go To Hell', 'Wish You Were Here' and 'I Never Cry' and co-hosts with Diana Ross.
News report: Making her first appearance at a live TV event in 12 years, actress Mae West is greeted by Don Kirshner as she arrives for the 2nd annual Rock Music Awards at the Hollywood Palladium, September 18. Asked why she chose to attend, the former glamour queen answered, "I'm working on a film with Alice Cooper, and I wanted to see the kid work. He isn't Cary Grant, but he is sexy."
Sept 18th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #70 on the Billboard album charts.
Sept 21st 1976 Alice appears on 'Tony Orlando & Dawn Rainbow Hour' and performs 'I Never Cry' and 'Give The Kid A Break'. Trivia: Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent aka "Dawn" apparently did some backing vocals for Alice Cooper at some point (when?). They are best remembers for the hit single "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree".
Sept 25th 1976 'I Never Cry' re-enters the Billboard singles chart at #90. 'Goes To Hell' is at #82.
Sept 26th 1976 Early adverts show Alice booked to appear in 'The Sonny And Cher Show' to air today but it never happened.
Oct 2nd 1976 'I Never Cry' is at #78 on the Billboard singles chart. 'Goes To Hell' is at #79
Oct 9th 1976 'I Never Cry' is up to #65 on the Billboard singles chart. 'Goes To Hell' is at #75
Oct 16th 1976 'I Never Cry' is up to #55 on the Billboard singles chart. 'Goes To Hell' is at #71
Oct 1976 Alice bought the L.A. franchise of 'Carlos and Charlies' on Sunset Strip, in Los Angeles. All of Hollywoods' 'high society' attended the launch (including Bernie Taupin and Mickey Dolenz) and tucked into 'drunk sea bass', 'chicken ping pong' and 'inflation steak'. "It's just for somewhere to go" quipped Alice
In other news Alice is still seen as some kind of devil in some places as teenagers in Nevada, urged on by their delusional reverend ("Alice cooper is a freak"), burn rock records including Alice's. It's also reported that Alice will be playing the part of evangelist Billy Sunday in a stage production due to open January '77 in Los Angeles. It never happens.
Billboard also reports that "Alice Cooper" is in court trying to get out of his contract with Warner Bros.
Oct 23rd 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #61 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is at #45.
Oct 30th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #49 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is at #34.
Nov 1976 Billboard reports Alice is still attached to two movie project. 'Sextette' with Mae West, and 'Breakfast Of Champions' which will never happen. Around this time he's also linked to a third movie called 'Leviathan' with Orson Welles and Cliff Robertson which is supposed to start production in December but also didn't happen.
Reports surface that Alice and Bernie Taupin are writing songs for an "undisclosed project".
He also comments on the split with the original band (now 'Billion Dollar Babies'): "I couldn't write lyrics for the groups melodies anymore. They were coming up with good, pretty tunes but I was heading for the direction of Rock-Broadway".
Nov 13th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #37 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #24.
Nov 20th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #35 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #20.
Nov 27th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #33 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #18.
Dec 4th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #29 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is at #16
Dec 12th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #28 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #14
Dec 18th 1976 'Goes To Hell' is at #27 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #13
Dec 25th 1976 'Goes To Hell' drops rapidly to #55 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is still at #13
Dec 1976 Alice was invited to be the Master of Ceremonies at a benefit concert for a childrens hospital in Boston. He's also seen in Toronto recording 'Lace and Whiskey' describing it as "total Rock and Roll. It's not even a concept album".
1977
Jan 4th '77 Alice records 'No Time For Tears' for the Sextette movie at Music Recorders in Hollywood (date on master tape). Alice films his appearance sometime after this and before March.
Jan '77 Gossip columns suggest Alice, Sheryl, Bernie Taupin and his girlfriend spent 2 months over winter in Acapulco before moving on to Tahiti. Meanwhile Neal, Dennis and Michael are reported to be at New York Record Planet studios recording 'Battle Axe'.
Jan 8th '77 'Goes To Hell' is still at #55 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is up to #12 [Note, there was no January 1st charts] - Highest chart position of the single some 7 months after it was released.
Jan 15th '77 'Goes To Hell' is still at #56 on the Billboard album charts. 'I Never Cry' is down to #27 - From here both album and single slowly move down the charts.
Feb 17th '77 Alice is spotted at 'On The Rocks' Restaurant in L.A. with Ringo Starr where he bumps into Andy Warhol
Australian Tour 1977
Alice meets pop group Abba at his Hotel.
- Dick Wagner - guitar
- Bob Kulick - Guitar
- Prakash John - bass
- Penti 'Whitey' Glan - drums
- Mark Stein - Keyboards
The setlist was similar to the 'Welcome To My Nightmare' tour but there were differences. For one, they included 'I Never Cry'.
March 6th '77 Alice arrives in Sydney, Australia before taking another flight to Perth.
March 14-15th '77 Perth, Western Australia, Entertainment Centre
These Australian dates were actually the Welcome To My Nightmare show and replaced the canceled dates of the previous year.
March 18th '77 Adelaide, South Australia, Westlakes Football Stadium
March 21-24th '77 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Festival Hall - According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald (Feb 24th) on the day that tickets went on sale for the first two Melbourne shows over 8,000 people where there waiting to buy them! Two more shows were hastily added. 16,000 tickets were sold in one day.
March 26th '77 Sydney, NSW, Australia, Sydney Showground (w/ Hush) (36,000 record crowd) - Review in Sydney Morning Herald March 28th.
March 29-30th '77 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Festival Hall - Alice is held for two hours in his hotel room under house arrest due to a dispute with the promotor of the canceled 1975 shows. The promotor had gone to court over deposits paid for the canceled dates and the court was insisting on a paymemt of $59,632 before Alice could leave.
April 4th '77 Auckland, New Zealand, Western Springs Stadium
Apparently there was a promo in the Australian streets with a helium balloon blowup of Alice which has been made by Disney's in Los Angeles.
April '77 You & Me promo filmed - Both 'Goes To Hell' and 'I Never Cry' are certified Gold.
April '77 'Lace And Whiskey' released