80s

Shock rocker Alice Cooper did anything for his comeback

todayFebruary 5, 2022

Background

How popular was Alice Cooper in the 80s, or was it the 70s? Either way, the shock rocker hit back relentlessly after his career went down the drain. How was Cooper able to regain his 70s popularity in the decade that followed? Right, by popping up with Poison!

Cooper fell from grace when he went solo in 1975. Okay, he had a single top 10 listing in 1977 with You And Me. In Canada and Australia he was still in the picture for a while. Until record company Warner Bros. dropped him in 1984. His two solo albums sold rather poorly.

Epic situation

In 1988 something wonderful happened for Alice Cooper. Epic showed some interest, and Cooper was happy with that. This record company produced artists like Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan and George Michael.

Together with songwriter Desmond Child they hired hit writers like Bruce Roberts and Diane Warren. They also got help from Joan Jett and members of Bon Jovi, Toto and Aerosmith to create the eleventh album Trash.

By the way, if the name Desmond Child sounds familiar to you, it might. He previously wrote mega hits with Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Cher. He’s a real comeback writer.

Alice Cooper: Poison

In the summer of 1989, Alice Cooper’s new hit is finally here. He surprises everyone with the typical hair metal sound. Poison became his first top 10 hit in more than 10 years. In the US Copper even equalled the position of School’s Out from 1972. In the UK Top 40 it reached the second spot.

Check out the video clip of Alice Cooper’s comeback song here.

John McCurry is eventually asked to fill in most of the guitar parts on Trash. He comes up with the world-famous guitar riff of the comeback track Poison, which he previously used for the song Encircled by John Waite.

Be sure to listen to 80s ALIVE regularly, because then you will also hear this stunner of a hit.

Lyrics: Alice Cooper - Poison

Written by: Jeremy

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