SickthingsUK

Why was a close up of the inner sleeve photo of Alice’s face in the Billion $ Babies album used for the cover of the Goes To Hell album?

I don't know but for me it's one the ugliest covers

I just don't know why his management ( Shep? ) would go with a fairly recent picture from his Alice Cooper Group days for a solo project?

I remember when GTH came out, the local independent record shop had a massive display of this sleeve covering half the shop window. You could not miss it. Those were the days when an AC release was an event of some magnitude.

Shame we didn't get to see a new show and had to wait for the gangster chickens ?!?!
Have I missed something or is somebody in the know about the next album cover ?

Taken 14 years but I have cracked the 200 posts. Do I get a badge or something ?

If I would hazard a guess I believe this was due to Alice’s health at this time. He didn’t tour for this album and was in the press as being anemic but was a cover for his drinking that did him in and had him rest. I think the Tony Orlando and Dawn tv show and Rock Music Awards showed just what Goes To Hell tour would of been like.
As a matter of fact is this the first time the dominatrix was used on stage?

All good hunches but I'd really like to know the truth...

Surely there were an abundance of "devilish" looking pics of Alice from 1974 on...Why that particular one has had me scratching my head since it came out. And since the album was a quasi-continuation of WTMN/Steven story why not a pic from that tour?

I remember when it came out. Disappointed that the cover was warmed over photo and the music seemed like leftovers as well, but it wasnt the worst. I loved Lace and Whiskey and the tour.

The thing that has surprised me most in relation to that image was the t-shirt that Michael Bruce was selling at his gigs, around 1992 I think. I caught him in Edinburgh on his short UK tour (he played in a club immediately after Alice had finished his set at the Playhouse) and the merchandise included a t-shirt, the front of which was basically the Goes to Hell cover but with Michael's face superimposed over Alice's. I think it said Michael Bruce in place of Goes to Hell as well, with the same font.

That's how I remember it anyway. I didn't buy one but kind of wish I had now. It was a strange sight.

padre_sliprat wrote: ↑

Thu May 28, 2020 8:47 pm

I remember when it came out. Disappointed that the cover was warmed over photo and the music seemed like leftovers as well, but it wasnt the worst. I loved Lace and Whiskey and the tour.

As a teenager on vacation on a remote site that was mosquito infested, I spent a lot of time indoors between going to tourist traps & exploring the campground. I handwrote what I think was a pretty good Screenplay for GTH. But, with no Internet at the time. It still sits somewhere... I think.
I had Lace & Whiskey on 8-Track & wore it out crusing & boozing.

didn't quite like the album cover at the time. In that pre-internet time Alice was mostly presented in magazines with his trademark make up . MOL changed that, WTMN again had Alice without make up so it seemed the Alice-image was changing..
I had the album in my possession for about three weeks before I could listen to the music, knowing the lyrics by heart by then

Alice Cooper were known for their great album covers and this one was a major disappointment. Looked like a way to cut costs.

I remember when i was kid playing a game on the spectrum with the album cover as the splash/loading screen (only with more garish colours believe it or not. At the time i didnt know it was alice, it was only years later when i became a fan and saw the cover it twigged.
Does anyone else remember this game? (i believe it was called go to hell) i think i still have the cass somewhere in my collection havent fired up the old 128k for a while tho.
Not sure how they could have used his image or if alice even knew, it was a different time for law suits and the such in video games with outright rip offs etc.

Saint&Sinner wrote: ↑

Sun May 31, 2020 7:21 pm

I remember when i was kid playing a game on the spectrum with the album cover as the splash/loading screen (only with more garish colours believe it or not. At the time i didnt know it was alice, it was only years later when i became a fan and saw the cover it twigged.
Does anyone else remember this game? (i believe it was called go to hell) i think i still have the cass somewhere in my collection havent fired up the old 128k for a while tho.
Not sure how they could have used his image or if alice even knew, it was a different time for law suits and the such in video games with outright rip offs etc.

Here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQQo0B5j1H8

Definitely Alice influenced. Same image, fonts, and in another video it has a loading screen with Guillotine, Gallows and hatchet pictured (seen here: https://youtu.be/bpTW1QuJqJM?t=98).

Oh man!!! flashbacks!!!

Very underrated album, great songwriting, no problem with the cover.

Look at the studio album that followed it. Perhaps it was Warner insisting on the use of photography from his peak period due to what they could see as a decline coming?

Personally I like the album and have never until now considered the art work too much although have always thought it looked basic.

I always felt the back cover should have been the front cover. Also, the cover to me does not represent the tone of the album. The back cover is a much better representation.

It's a garish cover but it was the follow up to WTMN and I'm sure WB wanted to capitalize on that horror image and took the cheap way out.

Look what happened when he went with the image change with L&W and Escargot.

The problem with the classic "horror" image Alice & Co created was it boxed him in for the rest of his career. Once he firmly embraced it in 1985 he has never strayed far from it since.

That image is both a blessing and a curse.