Go Ask Alice

I had to go down to the down river area of Detroit yesterday afternoon to fill out some forms and do some assessment testing for some recruiting company that says they can help me get a job. Before I went I got an email from some folks that were going to the State Fair in Detroit. They mentioned that “Alice Cooper” was playing in concert and that it would cost 10.00 to get into the fair. I figured even on my budget I could pull that off so I replied that I’d get in touch when I was through with the recruiter.

We all ended up meeting at the fair and I was given a voucher by one of our group to get into the event for free. Being in the position I currently am I was more than grateful. We ended up getting seats in the bleachers and chatted and screwed around until the show began.

I’ve seen “Alice Cooper” a number of times in my life. The last time I saw him was while I was living in Las Vegas in the mid eighties. He has always been known for his theatrical shows and I’ve always enjoyed that side of going to concerts. The music is actually a little harder than I like but, again, it’s the show that’s always done it for me.

I guess “Alice” is considered some kind of god to the heavy metal crowd. I’m not a fan of metal and I’ve never really considered “Alice” to be a part of that scene. I remember when I was a kid, and he was in Detroit for a concert, a local news station interviewed him. The take was the typical hometown boy done good. I remember when he was asked how much longer he could do what he was doing he replied that he could do it until he was 80. He went on to explain that what he was doing was more along the Broadway line of theater than anything else. I agree. “Alice” puts on a show, not a concert. There’s a theme and although it consists of death, a trial and an execution, it’s still a theme.

I’ve not listened to any of the newer albums the band has put out but there isn’t one among us in the 45 to 60 range that doesn’t remember the bands greatest hits. The thing about “Alice Cooper” is that he didn’t hit it big with just plain songs. He had anthems.


“Lines form on my face and hands.
Lines form from the ups and downs.
I’m in the middle without any plans
I’m a boy and I’m a man.”

I’m Eighteen was the first of a number of songs that struck quite a chord with the youth of the day. Think about this, that song was released 38 years ago. I remember it being played at sixth grade parties I used to attend in Oak Park. Listening to the lyrics they still have meaning to me today. The bigger point though is that this was an anthem for eighteen year olds.

Now, it’s quite a thing when an artist has a song that resonates so well with the youth of the day, but “Alice” wasn’t done.

“No more pencils, no more books.
No more teachers’ dirty looks.
Out for summer, out till fall.
We might not come back at all.”

Except for our parents is there anyone out there that doesn’t know what song that is? I doubt it. “School’s Out” is still played every year at the end of the school year. Again, this is an anthem, not a hit single.

He followed this with another anthem. “Elected” was a smash hit and was on the first album I ever bought. When the group sang the song last night with all the theatrics that went with it, I’m sure he would have gotten the vote of most folks there. At the end of the song, which was the last song of the night, “Alice” was shouting above the music saying things like “Why not me” and “Vote for me”. There were some dancing girls on stage holding up placards with campaign slogans on them. One of the signs said “These are troubled times”. Alice walked up to the girl holding the sign and said, “Vote for me, a troubled man for troubled times”. This from a 60-year-old man dressed up in leather. How do you not get the joke?

In the mid 70’s “Alice” became quite the household name. He had his own television special and had Vincent Price do a voice over on his “Welcome To My Nightmare” album and appear in the television special that went along with it. How unusual it was that this leather clad man named Alice would be so accepted by the masses just a couple years after being banned in numerous cities across the nation. He would appear on all the talk shows and I think he was a guest host on the Dinah Shore show.

He’s had quite the career and by extension quite a life. The show last night was very entertaining and it made me hope that “Alice” was right when he said he could do this till he was 80. I’ll be 67 at that time and I’d like to be there.

When Smokey Sings

"Debonair lullabies in melodies revealed
In deep despair on lonely nights
He knows just how you feel
The slyest rhymes - the sharpest suits
In miracles made real"

I grew up in the Detroit area in the sixties and remember very well the music of the day. I was eight years old when Dianna Ross and The Supremes appeared for the last time together on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. It was a Sunday night and my mother made me take a bath before the show started or I wouldn’t be able to watch. The whole family sat there together, sans my dad, and watched them sing “Someday, We’ll Be Together”. I vividly remember thinking that maybe they were singing about themselves and that they would be together again. I remember feeling so sad to think that they were through. Looking back on it now I can’t help but think how strange it was for an eight year old to be so concerned about the happenings of the music industry.

Growing older I would go through stages of the different types of music I would listen to. Scanning the fm dial I would stop and listen to a number of different songs one day and not want to hear it the next. I would always stop, however, when it would land on an old Motown song. After looking into a number of these songs I found that the ones I enjoyed the most were songs by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.

Smokey was the man. He wrote like no one else of his time. From party songs, “Going To A Go Go” and “Money” to the sweetest love songs imaginable. “My Girl”, “La La Means I Love You” and “Ooh Baby Baby”. He described our feelings, not only with the pen, but with a voice that brought tears to angels. Smokey was so smooth on songs like, “The Tracks Of My Tears” and “You Really Got A Hold On Me” that when he sang “The Tears Of A Clown”, an incredibly sad song, he makes it sound like he was the happiest guy on earth. He really was amazing. I think I can safely say that without him, Motown would have never been anything like the monster it became.

The first five lines of this essay are from a song by the eighties band ABC called “When Smokey Sings”. In the song the band praises Smokey for all the feelings he’s brought to them. During the tenure of the band there would be critics who would compare Martin Frye’s voice to the young Smokey Robinson. Frye addresses the critics in the song with the lyric “Should I say yes, I match his best, then I would be a liar”. Because as he says later on in the song, “Nothing can compare, nothing can compare when Smokey sings.

In Search Of The Perfect Song

I once wrote to a friend of mine about how I am in a constant search for the perfect pop song. I guess the true meaning of “pop” is popular. I’ve never thought of it that way. I have a couple definitions of “pop”. The first is a song that you can’t help but tap your toe to. A song that sticks in your head. The type that people whistle when they’re walking down the street. They’re usually upbeat and when I was a kid they use to call the genre bubble gum music. Here, I’ll try to lay out an example: the song “Ob La Di Ob La Da, by “The Beatles” is “pop” while “19’th Nervous Breakdown” by “The Rolling Stones” isn’t. Both great songs, both out of the same era in music yet one is, I don’t know, peppier than the other. It’s lighter and there isn’t any hidden meaning in it. It’s just a song about life. The “Stones” song, on the other hand, goes into issues that are relevant to life during that time. The key being, a good “pop” song isn’t about serious issues. They’re about high school or teenage love or driving fast cars and things like that.

The other definition I have for “pop” is a really smart love song. What’s a really smart love song? I guess I’m talking about one that holds up over time. One that, every time you hear it, you have some sort of reaction. “Your Song” by Elton John, to me, is a really smart love song. It’s almost 40 years old and still, again to me, holds up remarkably well.

“ I may not always love you.
But long as there are stars above you.
You’ll never need to doubt it.
I’ll make you so sure about it.

God only knows what I’d be without you.

If you should ever leave me,
Though life would still go on, believe me.
The world could show nothing to me.
So what good would living do me?

God only knows what I’d be without you.”


Another, and I think the ultimate; example of this type of song is “God Only Knows” by “The Beach Boys”. Actually, I think this could be one of the top three or four greatest love songs ever written. Hell with that put it at the top. Just read the lyrics. Could you possibly find fault with anything said in those 10 lines? Add the music and harmonies and I just can’t see how the song doesn’t move you. Three simple verses, actually only two because one is repeated.

I just went to you-tube and punched the song up and while listening to it I noticed that there were tears in my eyes. Yes, one of the reasons is because of my wimpyness, but jeez folks, this song is pure genius. It’s so f’ing beautiful that it literally brings tears to my eyes. Close your eyes and listen to it. Really listen to it. Remember that this was written by a 24 year old kid (Brian Wilson) and the angelic voice singing it was only 20 (his brother Carl). I listen to the song and I get the same feeling in the pit of my stomach that I get when looking at the waters of the Caribbean. It actually aches.

My original intent when I started writing this piece was to talk about another of Brian Wilson songs and how it meshes both types of the “pop” song I spoke of at the top. As usually happens I got way off track. I ask your forgiveness and thank you for your indulgence. I’ll save that for another post. Just take a listen to “God Only Knows” and, I believe, you can see how I could get so far away from my original subject. It’s a masterpiece, pure and simple.

Sounds Like AM Radio

It’s New Years Eve day and I’m just picking up the house a bit as I’ve got a few friends coming up tonight. As I’m cleaning up around here I started to go through some CD’s I haven’t heard in awhile and put them into the Bose.

I put in an old one from my high school years. The album is the studio album Peter Frampton put out right before his live album came out in 1976. Listening to the album it reminded me of when the album came out and a few of us went and bought the record. There were a couple minor hits on it that got a decent amount of FM airplay and we were all pretty satisfied with our purchase. Of course we had no idea what would come next for the guy.

A number of the songs on the “Frampton” album were also on the live album and hearing them done in a studio as opposed to live is really something. I had forgotten how fresh the songs sounded all those years ago. It’s actually a really good album. There were a couple songs that I still just love that never made it onto the live album and hearing them after all these years brings a comfort that’s hard to describe.

Anyway, the reason I started to write was that I was thinking about what happened to Peter Frampton and how none of you out there that are in my age group have listened to “Frampton Comes Alive” in ages. You almost have to feel sorry for the guy. This was a great album and that’s not an exaggeration. It was the album that started the trend in the 70’s of other artists recording live albums. Think about it, did you know anyone back then that didn’t buy it? I’m hard pressed to think of anyone I knew.

So why would I say you almost have to feel sorry for him? Well, let’s look at what happened to his career. It was pretty much finished, artistically; he became a pop star instead of a rock star. Do you know anyone who has a Frampton album that was released after the live one? Neither do I. all this guy did was play a concert in San Francisco that was recorded. He didn’t change his style or music, he just played.

We, the listening public, heard this album so much that it became almost hard to listen to. It went from being played on album oriented rock stations to top 40 stations and once that happens the shelf life just disappears. Those of you that saved your albums from back then should go take a look at it. I’m sure that looking at it you’ll see how used it is. You, like so many others, played the hell out of it. I said it earlier and it really is true, this was a great album.

There are, as mentioned earlier, a few songs on the “Frampton” album that didn’t make it onto the live set. If you are so inclined go online and see if you can download “Nowhere’s Too Far” and "Apple Of Your Eye”. I think it’ll bring some memories back and you just might like to hear something you haven’t heard in over 30 years.