The future

[tim10cc]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Alice has worked with different producers and each album has its own sound. That is what makes Alice unique. Some fans out there believe Lace & Whiskey is his best while others believe it could be Da Da. Since early 2012 Alice has been performing other people's songs. In the United State he has reduced to smaller venues and has been the opening act. I don't understand why. Alice has had no issues of filling up the Pageant here in St Louis. If the Vampires is just a project he needs to get out of his system then great! Now I see there is post here on the board regarding the possibility of a Vampires 2 album. There is also talk this Vampires thing could turn out like the Ringo ALL Star band type kind of thing. Time will tell. What I don't like is Alice isn't getting younger. Instead of hearing Break on through live on stage I would prefer a gem like You drive me nervous instead. I saw Alice 4 years ago on the No more Mr niceguy tour. I choose to remember him that way and I don't want that memory to be tarnished. I would sure hate to read that Alice wraps up his career by paying tribute to the Doors or the Stones. Instead I would like to see him pay tribute to himself and the Alice Cooper Group. I am not like some Tori Amos fan where she could shit on a plate of food and write about it and fans will worship it. There are reasons I got into the Coop and part of it was because of Alice being Alice. Its ok if I stand alone I still consider him one of my fav musicians out there and at times even your personal favorites can do something that you are just not into at the moment. We will have to see what Alice brings into the future.

[A_MichaelUK]

From tim10cc:
"Since early 2012 Alice has been performing other people's songs.

It was at the end of that year that he started doing that.

>In the United State he has reduced to smaller venues

That has been the trend since about 2000 though.

>and has been the opening act. I don't understand why.

As previously discussed, that would be because they pay him a lot of money.

> We will have to see what Alice brings into the future.

I agree but unfortunately, speculation is quite a popular hobby.

[Paul]

From tim10cc:

>and has been the opening act. I don't understand why.

As previously discussed, that would be because they pay him a lot of money.

I doubt that Alice needs the money though. I also don't think he tours because he needs the money. I think he does it because it's in his blood, a way of life he loves.

[patrick]

exactly. He stated before : what else should I do ??
and if you see the energy on the two Rio shows, you can see the appetite is still there
(btw, Hunter : the link to the second Rio show learns the video has been removed )

[A_MichaelUK]

From Paul:
"I doubt that Alice needs the money though. I also don't think he tours because he needs the money."

I didn't say he did, but it can be the case that he makes more opening for someone else than he would on one of his own tours.

[TeresofBlood]

Of course I don't know Alice's situation, but I can say unless you're halfway to a billionaire, if you're rich, the only way to stay rich is to keep selling your product. The problem is that if you're Alice Cooper (or any musician/actor/artist/whatever), your product is you. If he stops performing, he stops making that pay check. When you're rich, you have a lot more expenses. Those expenses add up a lot faster when you're not getting that paycheck. Plus, Alice has a family whose futures he also wants to secure.

[mr.barlow]

Trust me--it's all about the money. It always has been and always will be.

Once one understands that the whole world comes down to money, it makes it so much easier to find individual success. Making money is really not that hard to do--it's keeping it that's the hard part.

It doesn't matter if your a capitalist or a communist. The whole world is based on money.

Money makes people rich and money feeds the poor. Money builds nuclear bombs and money pays for peace rallies.

Currently, Alice's tour with HV is giving MONEY to charity. There is nothing wrong with making money. There is nothing wrong with being filthy rich. There is nothing wrong with unabashed success.

Alice Cooper has always been about money--and finding ways to make enormous sums of it.

Why would he change now?

[ElectedPlus]

Whilst I don't doubt how essential money is to continue, I do reckon it can be over emphasised when talking about Alice's motivation and as to what Alice is 'about'.

"25 years in the business: what changed for the better, what for worse?"

The worst part is, that many bands now think too much about business and money. In my time rock'n'roll was equal with having fun. Now the fun has stopped and turned into tough business more than ever. But the technical aspect changed for the better: There is better equipment, therefore better sounds...But I don´t think rock'n'roll has changed so much itself: if I listen to many new bands now, I end up thinking that they reflect what was going on in the 70s and 80s. But it is generally difficult to create something new nowadays; every sound, every chord was played before. Now it is only a question of interpreting them. Therefore I think it is a pity that newcomer bands do not define themselves by their music. Instead they ask themselves: Which music do I have to make to sell as many records as possible and make a lot of money? Art should not be influenced by money. Of course their is this dialectic between art and money to survive. But the scale should not go down in misfavour of art!

"But money makes the world go around!"

It depend on how you invest it. When we started to earn properly, we reinvested the profit in our show. We never hung around in clubs wasting it.

I've never seen Alice talk about money unprompted, but in pretty much every interview I've watched, read or heard he's delighted to talk about his show and what happens in it, or the concept of an album, or where he's played, who he's played with, the relationships he's developed, what others thought about his show. etc. I've yet to hear him reel off which shows made the most money, or how successful his albums were in terms of how much money they made him. It just doesn't seem to be what he's about, even if it is essential to continue what he does.

Edit: Guess I should say where that quote came from ... June's Metal Hammer of '99 - found it through alicecooperechive.

[Mr.Bluelegs]

I, too, don't know Alice's personal income vs. expenses, but of course money must matter to him. Touring & merchandising have replaced album sales for an artist's income. I wouldn't blame Alice & the original band if they allowed more of their songs to be used in commercials as a source of income. I really only remember SO being used. When I was younger, I would have considered it as a "sell out" to do such a thing, but now I wouldn't blame anyone for allowing their tunes to be used, especially if they have families.

[ElectedPlus]

In a post-hoc sort of way, if it makes money for them I don't see them being very particular with how their music is used. But in terms of how it was created in the first place, I think other factors were more of a motivation than chasing money (things which might eventually make them money, granted).

As far as merchandise goes, I wonder how many official t-shirt and keyring designs Alice has never seen before. Or if he cares much about them.

[A_MichaelUK]

From ElectedPlus:
"I've yet to hear him reel off which shows made the most money, or how successful his albums were in terms of how much money they made him. It just doesn't seem to be what he's about, even if it is essential to continue what he does."

This is primarily because interviewers don't want to hear about that stuff and generally, their readers, listeners and viewers don't either.

>Edit: Guess I should say where that quote came from ... June's Metal Hammer of '99 - found it through alicecooperechive.

Not that I am doubting the gist of the quote but I would always be a bit dubious about an interview that appears to be transcribed by someone who's native language is not English - for example, I can't imagine any situation where Alice would ever use the word "dialectic".

[nurserozetta]

Since early 2012 Alice has been performing other people's songs.

I don't get this statement sorry , Alice has been performing other peoples songs since Day 1 .

What happened since late 2012 apart from the RTD segment and the HV album ?