Kiss ?

[Maurice]

Oh and lets not forget Bowie's dress cover for The Man Who Sold The World 1971.

As a little 'aside' I find it interesting that PFY was released with Alice in a dress; and yet when Bowie released The Man Who Sold the World, the 'Man Dress' cover was switched in the U.S.A. for a cartoon style illustration of 'Running Gun Blues'; perhaps this British transvestitism was a touch too strong for the Americans after Alice? (As was the 'underwear flash' on the same cover, which was saved by a knicker sticker!).

[andyrushworth]

You could be right about the American attitude ,because though Alice might have been first ?Bowie was far more camp ,so I guess its ok to wear dresses as long as there is still a macho quality i.e. an evil tinge !

Just out of curiosity how much does Bowie's career owe to Alice's , I think Bowie has mentioned Alice in interviews years ago , though I cant really see a reason why Bowie would keep mentioning Alice really ?

There is an interview with Bowie ,done by Flo and Eddie and Alice Cooper is the first topic discussed !

I think Bowie's main influence is Lou Reed , and he usually plays a couple of Reed tracks on his tours !

[Si]

Just out of curiosity how much does Bowie's career owe to Alice's ,

I kinda of think of it as Alice Cooper unlocking the door, and Bowie pushing it wide open. Alice Cooper did a lot of Bowie's things first and doesn`t get the credit, however maybe Bowie got more recognition for doing these things at the time he did them, then Alice did when HE did them, if you see what I mean.
It could also maybe be said that Alice Cooper did it and moved on (Androgeny, glitter etc), and Bowie then took it up (knowingly or not).

There is an interview with Bowie ,done by Flo and Eddie and Alice Cooper is the first topic discussed !!

Interesting. Is there a recording of this anywhere online?

[andyrushworth]

I just typed in David Bowie interviews on You Tube ,and sifted through a few , it starts with the Alice question !

I can see why a people who like Alice might think that Bowie spotted the opening , and exploited it to his own ends ,and there could be a fair bit of truth in that idea , but I've never felt that Bowie copied Alice ,because where Alice liked the macabre pantomime element, Bowie seemed to be more interested in the stranger aspects of sexuality [ not so strange now]and in doing this was perhaps more ambiguous , hence less definable , and therefore far more interesting as a case study ?

When you think about it though ,its us the fans that really benefitted from this situation ,because too have two artists of this stature at the same time , both making absolute quality music , and both playing around with image it doesn't really get any better !

[WickedYoungMan]

^^As a courtesy can you post a direct link (you can copy and paste the URL from the page) so tthose who are interested don't have to go through and find it?

[A_MichaelUK]

>It could also maybe be said that Alice Cooper did it and moved on (Androgeny, glitter etc), and Bowie then took it up (knowingly or not).

That's definitely what happened. Being adrogynous was too threatening - American audiences preferred the shock value of violence and horror instead.

[A_MichaelUK]

>though I cant really see a reason why Bowie would keep mentioning Alice really ?

Because whenever David Bowie talks about the seventies, he never mentions Alice, that's why.

>There is an interview with Bowie ,done by Flo and Eddie and Alice Cooper is the first topic discussed !

But Bowie isn't the one who brings up the subject.

[A_MichaelUK]

>though I cant really see a reason why Bowie would keep mentioning Alice really ?

That's because whenever David Bowie talks about the seventies, he never mentions Alice, that's why.

>There is an interview with Bowie ,done by Flo and Eddie and Alice Cooper is the first topic discussed !

As I recall, Bowie isn't the one who brings up the subject.

[andyrushworth]

Hi Wicked , I must apologise as I'm not very good at computer copying + pasting !

Hi Michael ,perhaps he doesn't feel he owes Alice ? he used to mention Roxy Music a lot ,I think he was very interested in them musically !

I like you can see there is a tenuous link in their androgyny, in some ways perhaps Alice should have kept people guessing more about his sexuality ?

Never really heard Bowie talk about people like The Sweet, Gary Glitter or Slade ?

[andyrushworth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAAhDNHcACU

David Bowie / Flo + Eddie interview

[A_MichaelUK]

> Michael ,perhaps he doesn't feel he owes Alice ?

Obviously not. I don't think Bowie has anything against Alice necessarily, he's never given him any credit publicly, that I know of. I suppose the way he answers the question in that interview might be the nearest he's come to it.

[andyrushworth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69K0bdOAChw
This could be of interest to Alice fans ?
Just on the Bowie /Alice thing ,I can see Alice here , but not Bowie !

[andyrushworth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQInIrlNAeo

Screaming Lord Sutch Till the Following Night

Might be of interest to people who like Alice ?

[A_MichaelUK]

>Just on the Bowie /Alice thing ,I can see Alice here , but not Bowie !

This has been discussed here before, but thanks anyway.

[recoop]

just going back to kiss again (orig topic)..its clear kiss were heavily influenced by Alice...one issue I haven't seen raised here is that kiss used the ploy of different characters 9demon, starchild)...this idea was muted by ALice Cooper originally..commenting on glen etc as a character..see M bRUCE'S nO mORE bOOK...would seek actual refrence but have just recovered from bout of cold/man flu..so knackered..point is that even iff people site Kiss as their muse they have a heavy Alice influence..as a ps..I like Love Gun by Kiss but even that seems an update of Muscle of Love..

[andyrushworth]

Has Alice ever mentioned Arthur Brown or Sutch ?

Please don't think I'm trying to suggest that Alice has in any way taken from these artists , I just like to delve into the music history a bit especially if it is of interest .

P.S its all good stuff !

[Si]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAAhDNHcACU

David Bowie / Flo + Eddie interview

Interesting. Thanks

[A_MichaelUK]

>Has Alice ever mentioned Arthur Brown

Yes.

>or Sutch ?

Only if someone else does.

[WickedYoungMan]

Interestingly enough, Alice and Arthur met in 2003 at some festival both were featured at. I seem to recall Si mentioning that Arthur was eating at the soup kitchen he volunteered at on a regular basis and Arthur expressed how excited he was to see Alice.






Okay, that's only mostly true.

[steven_crayn]

That was the Guilford festival, I actually travelled down with Arthur Brown and his guitarist on the train from London on the day of that festival after spotting him on the platform and we talked about Alice. Arthur was pleased Alice had mentioned him in interviews(I posted a link on here a while back to a BBC radio interview from 73 where Alice says Arthur Brown was very good theatrically).Arthur's guitar player is a fan and mentioned the Easy Action album. Obviously with the Pete Townshend produced 'Fire' being a big hit Alice would have been aware of him and it is one of his favourite records, Alice took Browns theatrical persona to a new level, the only voice I think that had as much maelovance as Brown's was Alice.

Kiss to me musically were a poor mans Slade (they attended one of Slade's New York gigs) with not as well crafted songs and less hooks and even though they put on a pyro show and were big in the late 70's artistically they and Manson don't have the songs to be mentioned in the same breath as Alice.

Bowie has great songs and can be spoken of in the same breath as Alice, but Alice did a lot of what Bowie went on to do first and the enlightened among us know that even if the media don't.

Alice was the biggest act on the planet 72/73, he broke the Rolling Stones U.S box office record with Billion Dollar Babies show which topped the album charts both sides of the Atlantic and let us not forget a year earlier Schools Out became the biggest selling single in Warner Bros history

Remember how great the Coop was and is still putting on the best rock show around