Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

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Si
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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by Si » Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:03 am

del wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:18 am
He clearly still had an audience but wasn't giving them what they wanted on vinyl as the the subsequent sales of Zipper or DaDa proved and they were certainly advertised in the music press at a reasonable level at the time.
There was virtually NO advertising for either album. A bit for Zipper but almost nothing for Dada, certainly in the UK.
Warner Brothers had lost all interest in him and didn't put any money behind the albums at all.
Many people have mentioned over the years that they didn't even know Dada was out until they happened upon it in a shop.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by cooperrocks » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:57 pm

I agree with Si and there was no real push here in the United States either. One, Alice didn't even tour on ZCS or Dada so you had no publicity there. Two, hard rock was really struggling at the time and that is how Alice was seen. Here in the United States even a band like KISS for a while was having trouble drawing. Other hard rock bands were struggling as well, it wasn't until a few years later that trends starting changing back to rock again.

Back then radio mattered and in the 70's Alice was getting a lot of radio airplay and then it stopped as it did with many 70's bands. People sometimes confuse radio airplay with quality. That isn't the case. There are a lot of factors that go into that and back then record labels mattered with the push. There wasn't any internet back then and you had to pay to run ads in magazines etc. It was a different world back then.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by guttertrash » Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:24 pm

I feel like Del is right in the essence that people were more receptive to the reboot of Alice with The Nightmare Returns, because it gave a new generation the old Alice style with an updated presence. This merely kept him afloat though in reality, because those albums didn't sell a ton, and his contract with MCA was not renewed. The true success came with Trash, and I believe it was because that album stripped Alice of the character and personality while making faceless pop/rock songs that would appeal to the masses. It was always interesting to me that Alice is not wearing the makeup during the Trash era, but he often is seen in the shirt from the album cover which is his face half fleshed out and half skull with the makeup. It always struck me that it was a sign of the old being killed off. In all regards, I see Trash as Alice doing as the label and management says to be as unAlice-like as possible as a way to be more appealing. He played it straight as a way to reach the masses which he did, but it took all of the fun out of it for me and many others, because it was in no way genuine Alice Cooper.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by ElectedPlus » Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:53 pm

It was certainly well calculated and executed, I remember Alice saying in Prime Cuts something like ever comma and full stop was planned out on the album to make it a success, but I get the sense that this attitude is used to dismiss the whole era as a sell out and nothing but him doing anything to get in the spotlight.
However I have no doubt that this is still Alice's music and something he loved to create and perform as much as anything else. It matched up, was well received and caught the spark of a large audience again. Decades later he would put the occasional Trash song in the set list that wasn't 'Poison'. It's enjoyable music, just granted, something that not everyone gets a kick out of.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by padre_sliprat » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:18 am

Si wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:03 am
Many people have mentioned over the years that they didn't even know Dada was out until they happened upon it in a shop.
I kept on top of all things Coop until after Dada. I knew nothing of any of the first two blackout albums until I came across them in a record store. Even then, there was just one copy of those when they were newly-released. Our radio station placed I Like Girls and I Love America on heavy rotation during their morning drive show. So...I did know about ZCS and Dada before they hit the record bins (still only one copy each to go around - not that there was a clamor for them).
"He's old, the snake's got gray hair..."

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by Saint&Sinner » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:58 am

I adore trash and while I will accept its not a true alice album (tho I would also argue it is more so than muscle of love, lace and whiskey, zipper, flush and special forces)
I love every track , the energy, fun and performances are second to none. I'm your gun live absolutely cooked!

The new hollowood vampires track is very average. Not quite sure how I feel about this one. The deliberate ha ha ha is a bit to much (for anyone to touch)......

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by del » Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:15 am

Si wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:03 am
del wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:18 am
He clearly still had an audience but wasn't giving them what they wanted on vinyl as the the subsequent sales of Zipper or DaDa proved and they were certainly advertised in the music press at a reasonable level at the time.
There was virtually NO advertising for either album. A bit for Zipper but almost nothing for Dada, certainly in the UK.
Warner Brothers had lost all interest in him and didn't put any money behind the albums at all.
Many people have mentioned over the years that they didn't even know Dada was out until they happened upon it in a shop.
To me reasonable press is enough press to know the product was out there. I did. Admittedly, there was also a bit of a push on the ground in Glasgow as well, possibly as the then very recent Radio Clyde Apollo gig had gone down well locally. I remember a press advert for Zipper, copies of the album in shop windows (unfortunately pretty useless unless the shop added a sticker saying it was Alice - a couple did) and I Am The Future being played on Radio Clyde a little although not regular daytime shows. If you were a fan you knew. If you were more casual you still had some exposure.

I accept DaDa was different. On this occasion my brother who worked in record shops locally gave me advance warning from a guy he knew in Warner Brothers. Radio Clyde was re-running some of the Apollo shows at the time and mentioned the album was out, not sure of the precise date but the album was still new. The album got in a couple of shop windows. Remember it well as you could actually read the name this time.As to a press advert, I'll need to check.

Would better advertising have helped? Certainly, but ultimately it's the product isn't it? The product wasn't well received at the time with any reviews I saw finding it difficult to be too positive. The music would have eventually sold itself through word of mouth if it was good enough for those who bought it. I didn't rave about either album and in many ways I was probably giving up.

I actually knew a band who got on three TV shows within 10 days in the early '80s (The Tube, Sight and Sound in Concert and Rock Goes to College) and still only got to No.100 with their new, heavily discounted, album. Even blanket coverage and a major label behind you (A&M) doesn't guarantee anything if the product doesn't hit the mark.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by While Heaven Wept » Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:37 pm

Initial thoughts on the song are pretty positive. I really like the fuzzy guitar tone, punchy drums and vocals. Excited to hear some more.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by padre_sliprat » Wed Apr 24, 2019 5:09 pm

Saint&Sinner wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:58 am
The deliberate ha ha ha is a bit to much (for anyone to touch)......
Doesn't he also do that on the song Dirty Diamonds?
"He's old, the snake's got gray hair..."

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by padre_sliprat » Wed Apr 24, 2019 5:24 pm

del wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:15 am
I accept DaDa was different. On this occasion my brother who worked in record shops locally gave me advance warning from a guy he knew in Warner Brothers. Radio Clyde was re-running some of the Apollo shows at the time and mentioned the album was out, not sure of the precise date but the album was still new. The album got in a couple of shop windows. Remember it well as you could actually read the name this time.As to a press advert, I'll need to check.

Would better advertising have helped? Certainly, but ultimately it's the product isn't it? The product wasn't well received at the time with any reviews I saw finding it difficult to be too positive. The music would have eventually sold itself through word of mouth if it was good enough for those who bought it. I didn't rave about either album and in many ways I was probably giving up.

I actually knew a band who got on three TV shows within 10 days in the early '80s (The Tube, Sight and Sound in Concert and Rock Goes to College) and still only got to No.100 with their new, heavily discounted, album. Even blanket coverage and a major label behind you (A&M) doesn't guarantee anything if the product doesn't hit the mark.
Dada has always been a demo - to my ears, anyway. The songs were there. The lyrics were definitely there. With the limited budget, I can see why it failed. I think Ezrin was looking for a reason to try out the Fairlight - and you can't blame him. At that time, you were either a Fairlight user (Peter Gabriel) or in the Synclavier camp (Tony Banks). Either way, you were playing with a $60,000 keyboard. Fresh Blood was as close to Gabriel as you could get and still be Alice.
"He's old, the snake's got gray hair..."

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by rgallie » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:47 pm

Have to say this is my favourite Alice song (OK i know its HV) since anything from Brutal Planet. I have played it more than anything since Dirty Diamonds already for sure.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by del » Thu Apr 25, 2019 6:49 am

Interesting, didn't play the song yesterday and find myself being drawn back to it this morning. A good sign!

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by Saint&Sinner » Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:10 am

I have played it more than anything since Dirty Diamonds already for sure.
damning with faint praise ::((:

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by rgallie » Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:49 pm

Saint&Sinner wrote:
Fri Apr 26, 2019 1:10 am
I have played it more than anything since Dirty Diamonds already for sure.
damning with faint praise ::((:
Can't say i'm a fan of DD now but i gave it plenty of play time when it came out. Brutal Planet is probably the "latest" album that I can play start to finish, everything after that is the odd song here and there when it pops into my head. I can see me still liking Whos Laughing Now though in 15 or so years.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by patrick » Sat May 04, 2019 3:49 pm

is there any airplay for this single so far ? any attention given to it in charts ?
you really wouldn't understand..

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by pitkin88 » Sat May 04, 2019 6:29 pm

patrick wrote:
Sat May 04, 2019 3:49 pm
is there any airplay for this single so far ? any attention given to it in charts ?

Has it actually been released in a physical copy? Also what charts are you referring to?

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by Si » Sat May 04, 2019 6:37 pm

pitkin88 wrote:
Sat May 04, 2019 6:29 pm
patrick wrote:
Sat May 04, 2019 3:49 pm
is there any airplay for this single so far ? any attention given to it in charts ?
Has it actually been released in a physical copy?
Not that I'm aware of. It's just a video to promote the album.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by pitkin88 » Sat May 04, 2019 6:55 pm

Thank you Si.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by rgallie » Fri May 17, 2019 7:17 pm

This is still my fav out the 4 songs we have heard, granted 1 is pretty low quality.

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Re: Vampires Who's Laughing Now?

Post by The son of Don Quijote » Tue May 28, 2019 7:57 am

A decent song, pretty cool but nothing earth shattering. I personally prefer Boogieman Surprise. I am very hopeful that this album will be better than the debut. But the bar is very low to be honest. The band doesn't need to pull of Killer from their sleeve to improve their game.

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