Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Anything Alice Cooper or AC band related goes here

Moderators: Devon, Gorehound, Si, SickThings, Shoesalesman

Post Reply
Conspiracy
Trash
Trash
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 21, 2017 12:54 am

Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Conspiracy » Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:57 pm

Listening to "Social Debris", it seems there are 2 direct references to past songs built in... the opening bass pointing to "Elected", and the guitars later on being very close to "Man of the Year" more than once.

I realize that these self-references ("easter eggs") have shown up many times in Alice Cooper songs. It would be nice to catalogue them. Some of those are intentional, others may not be intended.

Examples:
1."Paranoiac Personality" seems to be an homage to "Go To Hell", just judging by the melody and sound.
2. "Dragontown" refers explicitly to "Wicked Young Man" and "Pick Up The Bones" from Brutal Planet.
3. "I Gotta Get Outta Here" refers to several songs from the same W2MN album.


What other easter eggs are there?

User avatar
Dannorama
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 889
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2004 2:00 pm

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Dannorama » Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:16 pm

In "Cold Ethyl," the lyrics mention "Refrigerator Heaven."
"Elected" is a refined "Reflected."
"A Runaway Train" uses the same vocal pattern as "Dance Yourself to Death."
Move aside, mere drop of water - let the ocean pass.

User avatar
SickThings
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 875
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2005 4:04 pm
Location: Elizabethtown, KY
Contact:

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by SickThings » Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:40 pm

An obvious one is Brutal Planet's "Gimme," which has the line, "I really hate to repeat myself, but Nothing's Free."

On Zipper Catches Skin, "Remarkably Insincere" calls back to "I Like Girls" with, "My dearest darling/You know that luggage?/It belonged to that blonde with the really nice pair."

User avatar
Si
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 4363
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 5:47 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Si » Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:45 pm

From an old version of this site (a page I removed last update....)
Basically a list of self-references which maybe applicable to this thread.
Originally by Matt C.

Pretties for You:

Earwigs to Eternity
The entire song refers back one of the band's 'original' names, the Earwigs, and refers to their rise to 'stardom', though, admittedly, they weren't all that famous at the time this song was released.

Easy Action:

Easy Action
Easy Action is a quote from the `West Side Story` stage show/movie. If you watch the 'fight' sequence the next scene has a character called Action panicking about the police catching them, going to Jail etc. the gang leader puts a hand out to him and says " easy Action " to calm him down.

Mr. and Misdemeanor
"I sit beside Misdemeanor, here's new PRETTIES FOR YOU"
"Nobody likes me, but we adore you. da da d-da da, yeah yeah yeah yeah"

Still no Air
Here begins the references to West Side Story, with
"When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way..."

Return of the Spiders
Another of the band's 'original' names, The Spiders.

Love It To Death

Long Way To Go
The line - "I guess I love it, I love it to death"

Killer:

Be My Lover
The song, as written, is Michael Bruce, trying NOT to explain to a girl in a bar about the band he's in.
"She asked me why the singer's name was Alice. I said listen baby, you really wouldn't understand.."

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Blatant self reference. "The things are getting tougher, the things are getting rougher. This is Alice speaking.... suffer."

Desperado
"I'm a killer, I'm a clown.."

School's Out:

Gutter Cat vs. The Jets
An entire segment of the "When you're a Jet" tune recurs here.

Public Animal #9
Basically, the song's about Alice and Glen getting in trouble in school, and hoping to avoid reform school.
"Me and G.B. we ain't never gonna confess, we cheated at the math test.."

Alma Mater
Camelback, and Cortez high schools, were Neal and Alice's Alma Maters, respectively.

Billion Dollar Babies:

Elected
The music is a recycled, redone version of Reflected, from Pretties For You. And speaking of School's Out:
"I got to get the vote, and I told ya 'bout school..."

No More Mr. Nice Guy
Of this one, band friend Skip Ladd says,
"Neal Smith and I used to do little jams where we would call each other Brother Ladd, or Reverend Smith, playing mock spiritual songs on a toy organ. Cindy once told me Neal punched Alice in the face, a few weeks later Alice added in "No More Mr. Nice Guy" a line about "The Reverend Smith he recognized me & punched me in the nose!"

Generation Landslide
Self reference within the same album,
"And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies, who never conceived of us BILLION DOLLAR BABIES..."

Sick Things
More School's Out references
"Sick things in cars, rotate 'round MY STARS..."

Muscle of Love:

Hard Hearted Alice
The whole tune is about the band's life on the road, touring.

Welcome to my Nightmare:

Cold Ethyl
Referring all the way back to Easy Action,
"If I live to ninety-seven, you'll still be waiting in REFRIGERATOR HEAVEN..."

Years Ago, Steven and The Awakening
Here begins the decades spanning thread of Steven, who has been postulated to be the little boy 'inside' Alice, or at least his on-stage persona.

Escape
Possibly a reference to the change in his stage make-up, but definitely a make-up reference, in any case
"I paint on my cruel or happy face, and hide me behind it..."
and then,
"And while he ran my problems down I stole his mascara..."
Then, right as the music fades, very faintly the "Gotta get outta here" refrain from Dwight Frye can be heard repeated.
Listen to it again, it's there, really.

Goes to Hell:
The album cover contains a bedtime story, told to Steven. We'll see him again.

Go to Hell
The whole song is presented as a litany against Alice, and all the 'horrible things' he's done on-stage and off, real and imagined, over the years.

I Never Cry
This one refers directly to Alice himself, as opposed to the stage character
"Sometimes I drink more than I need, until the TV's dead and gone..."

Guilty
More of the same
"I'm a dirt-talkin' beer-drinkin' woman chasin' minister's son. Slap on the make-up, and blast out the music, wake up the neighbors with a roar like a teen-age heavy-metal elephant gun."

Going Home
This one's a self reference, but it's also almost a premonition of the way he would 'fade from the public eye', at least in the mainstream press, for a while.
"How many said, 'I wonder what happened to Alice?' How many shrugged or laughed, how many cried?"
And his ongoing response to most musical questions
"Well I don't give a damn!"

From the Inside:

Well... the entire album's a 'transcript' of his time spent in a mental hospital, recovering from alcoholism. Every character mentioned is a representation of himself, or someone he met while there.


Special Forces:

Skeletons in the Closet
This one ends with
"Alice... Alice... What?!? Whaddaya want?"

Generation Landslide '81
Technically, this is more of a self cover than a self reference, but we include it anyway.

Vicious Rumors
And this one ends with another reference within the same album
"Who do you think we are? We don't care..."

Zipper Catches Skin:

I Like Girls
He comes out of left field, going all the way back to Love it to Death
"I like girls, I love 'em to death..."

DaDa:

Fresh Blood
This one ends with the Dwight Frye/Renfield laugh

Constrictor:

Trick Bag
This one's definitely an 'in-joke' as he refers to the Billion Dollar Babies tour, or specifically
"I'm in the mood for my leather boots with the leopard spots..."

Raise Your Fist and Yell:

Lock Me Up
Both a (blatant) self reference and harkening back to Goes To Hell
"Alice Cooper, you have been accused of mass mental cruelty, how do you plead? 'Guilty!'"
Then the first verse manages to cover one of his stage props (the riding crop), his makeup, and two song titles (Sickthings, and WTMN), all in four lines
"Don't wanna be clean, don't wanna be nice, the whips' gonna crack, my leather is black, and so are my eyes... I'm gonna be rough, I'm gonna be mean, I'm here to the end my sick little friend, I'm back in your dreams..."

Chop Chop Chop, Gail, and Roses on White Lace
Though not really connected to anything, these three songs played together sound like a triple bill at a B-movie horror film festival, something Alice probably wouldn't want to miss. But we're stretching it here.

Hey Stoopid:

Burning Our Bed
A couple to be found here. First two song title references, one direct, and one indirect
"You talked a lot of TRASH and you lied to me..."
"Sometimes a man can bleed..."
Then what sounds like a nod to his guillotine on stage days
"Maybe I might lose my head, Aww, wouldn't be the first time..."

Dirty Dreams
Maybe another 'in album' reference
"My heart catches fire and my bed starts to burn..."
At least a running theme.

Wind Up Toy
I told you Steven would be back.
The whole song is about the poor kid, and it even ends (just so there's no doubt about it) with the plaintive wail of "Steeeee-ven..."



The Last Temptation:

The whole album is sort of an aside to Steven, though he's never actually called by name, but...

The Compleat Alice Cooper:

The comic released along with The Last Temptation, where Steven IS actually named as being the protagonist.

Brutal Planet:

`It's The Little Things' mentions "Welcome To My Nightmare, No More Mr Nice Guy"

In "Gimme" from Brutal Planet, Alice (as the Devil) states: "I really hate to repeat myself, but *Nothing's Free*!" referring back to the song of the same title on The Last Temptation.

Dragontown

DragonTown mentions "There's a wicked young man, cooking slowly in the frying pan" ('Wicked Young Man' on 'Brutal Planet') and "our family of bones are back together sleeping all alone" ('Pick Up The Bones' - 'Brutal Planet') and also "then there's Alice dear and all the things that got him here"('It`s The Little Things' - 'Brutal Planet')

User avatar
Logan
Humanary Stew
Humanary Stew
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri May 15, 2020 7:48 pm
Location: Boston, MA

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Logan » Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:51 am

Si wrote:
Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:45 pm
From an old version of this site (a page I removed last update....)
Basically a list of self-references which maybe applicable to this thread.
Originally by Matt C.

Killer:

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
Blatant self reference. "The things are getting tougher, the things are getting rougher. This is Alice speaking.... suffer."
the 'suffer' reference is from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" since they played in the musical in AZ as Birdie' backing band when they were pre-Alice Cooper. There was in a line of a song Birdie sings which he says 'suffer' ending a line in the song. I remember this in the movie musical as well as he swings his hip towards the girl fans. I think Dennis even mentions that line in one of his recent interviews.

User avatar
Si
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 4363
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 5:47 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Si » Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:49 am

Logan wrote:
Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:51 am
the 'suffer' reference is from the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" since they played in the musical in AZ as Birdie' backing band when they were pre-Alice Cooper. There was in a line of a song Birdie sings which he says 'suffer' ending a line in the song. I remember this in the movie musical as well as he swings his hip towards the girl fans. I think Dennis even mentions that line in one of his recent interviews.
Yes, I have that on the "Killer" page.

mestreech
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 1446
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:36 pm
Location: holland

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by mestreech » Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:38 pm

Si wrote:
Mon Feb 08, 2021 11:45 pm
From an old version of this site (a page I removed last update....)
Basically a list of self-references which maybe applicable to this thread.
Originally by Matt C.

Why did you remove this? This is very interesting.

User avatar
Si
Dada God
Dada God
Posts: 4363
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 5:47 am
Location: London
Contact:

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by Si » Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:52 pm

mestreech wrote:
Tue Feb 09, 2021 6:38 pm

Why did you remove this? This is very interesting.
Honestly, I thought it was a little silly and not that interesting... Shows what I know.

SpacedOutAce
Trash
Trash
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:01 pm

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by SpacedOutAce » Wed Feb 10, 2021 9:03 pm

SickThings wrote:
Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:40 pm
An obvious one is Brutal Planet's "Gimme," which has the line, "I really hate to repeat myself, but Nothing's Free."

On Zipper Catches Skin, "Remarkably Insincere" calls back to "I Like Girls" with, "My dearest darling/You know that luggage?/It belonged to that blonde with the really nice pair."
That line in Gimme has always bugged me, considering that Alice said that The Last Temptation was not apart of the trilogy (and that there was supposed to be a third album after Dragontown, which we never got). To me, it is the first part, and BP/DT is the alternate reality where Alice didn't choose the good path, but rather the bad one.

rgallie
Billion Dollar Baby
Billion Dollar Baby
Posts: 376
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 6:34 pm

Re: Alice Cooper "Easter Eggs"... new songs referencing old songs

Post by rgallie » Fri Feb 12, 2021 7:06 pm

This could be me over analysing

But Social Debris... "I sure aint hip, I sure can't hop"....Could that be a reference to "Sex, Death and Money" and "Stand"?

Post Reply