Dreary wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:39 am
livinluvin72 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 23, 2021 1:54 am
In his book, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Mike said that Alice contacted all the guys in the band in the 80s about getting back together again and it sounded serious.
All the band members agreed and were ready.
Then Alice contacted Bob Ezrin and Bob declined to do it.
After that, Alice completely dropped the idea.
Is that how you saw it go down?
Alice has mentioned it to me numerous times over the years. He always sounds sincere.
Nobody's irreplaceable.
Alice replaced you guys.
But bands have replaced vocalists whom I thought were irreplaceable:
AC DC replaced Bon Scott
Van Halen replaced David Lee Roth
Journey replaced Steve Perry
Black Sabbath replaced Ozzy
Montrose had numerous vocalists
Deep Purple had numerous vocalists
Even though Alice has had a solo career of 48 years, 1/2 of the music Alice plays at his concerts are from the original band from 1971 - 1973.
They are just as much your songs as his; the only thing was Alice didn't initiate the solo idea.
It was primarily Mike.
Alice said later that it was like getting kicked in the stomach when he heard about "solo albums".
Mike had some great ideas, probably everybody in the band did and I think a serious band meeting would have been better than letting Mike walk off which left Alice little choice.
Alice was back in the studio at the end of 1974.
Alice went along with the loss of Bob Ezrin and the MOL album which he wasn't too crazy about even thought it showed he had a great vocal range compared to the usual guttural voice he often used as the Alice character.
Plus Alice had the infrastructure: Bob Ezrin, Shep, Dave Libert and the name, which he was not about to give up and I don't blame him.
It was probably difficult to go out on tour without his band...at first.
Shep and Alice had to pool all their resources to make WTMN a go and he toured it for a year which is a life time in the Rock and Roll world.
As a fan, I had no desire to hear any solo albums even WTMN, which I did buy before realizing that the band was missing; replaced by Lou Reed's Rock and Roll Animal band.
I know you felt the same about solo albums.
WTMN was a damn good show though and it converted a lot of people who came up to me and told me how much they liked it. You can see how it influenced Michael Jackson and Madonna, the dancers, the bed on stage.
It should have been the original band on that tour.
It seemed Michael had taken offense that Alice wanted to leave the band and get into movies.
Given how everything was centering around Alice, if Alice asked Shep to get him into the movies would he have left the band?
If he did get into movies would he try to get out of the original 5 way split of the money?
Seems like Mike was thinking about these things, perhaps too much, as it amounted to all talk. Alice never became a great actor no matter how many celebrities he knew.
It seems nobody tried to talk Mike out of the solo album idea except Shep and Bob Greene that I know of.
David Libert said that the Billion Dollar Baby book was pivotal in the break up of the band. He said after Alice read it he said, "I don't want to work with these guys again."
Alice in his bios also said he sensed jealousy from the band but even Bob Greene mentioned in his book that it wasn't mere jealousy that the band was feeling.
It was fear.
The band didn't hate Alice or Shep but what if Alice decided that his days as a rock and roller were over? Could they survive?
Bob said this created a sympathy in him for the band.
In your book you said that you were upset that the fans didn't make a fuss.
I did feel the loss and gradually stopped listening to Alice Cooper.
WTMN was a good show but he rode the wave of the original band.
After that, his albums gradually dropped out of the Top 40 pretty much forever except for one spike with Poison/Trash in 1989 and interestingly I think some of the recent albums with the original band on them may have spiked.
So I think the fans spoke by letting Alice drop out of the heights. No more would Alice be in the same league as the Rolling Stones like you guys were in 1972 and 1973 and 1974.
These are my opinions as a fan.
I think a fan can have opinions.
I wasn't there and hindsight is 20/20.
But as a fan, the break up of my favorite band, my heroes at age 15, was tough for me.
The horizon for me was only about 2 years but someone once said that time is not as important as depth. I learned a lot from Alice Cooper and you guys accomplished a lot in a short period.
But now I see Alice Cooper, the original group, as a completely different animal from Alice the vocalist. Alice has never ascended the same heights he did with the band and you guys have plenty to be proud of.
I think the break up of my favorite band along with other life events made me turn to religion.
"Lay not up your treasures were moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break in and steal but in heaven where your heart is also." Jesus.
Buddha, "All composite things break apart and fall away. To cling to things that are impermanent is to invite suffering and is folly."
Realizing the truth of these teachings has given me a peace of mind.