Alice Cooper Helped Invent Hair Metal, and That Helped Him Score His Last Top 40 Hit

No one would have been too surprised if Alice Cooper had burned out quickly after his first flush of success. So iconoclastic was his approach that it didn’t seem sustainable. Indeed, Cooper very nearly faded out of the public consciousness.

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Eventually, the culture came back around to him, with a whole new generation of artists emulating his brazen approach from many years before. Cooper seized his opportunity then to release the final big hit single of his career.

Go Ask Alice

Don’t for a second believe that Alice Cooper’s over-the-top stage theatrics were the catalyst for his music success. We’re conceding the horror-movie elements that he brought to his concerts helped the level of exposure he and his band received in the early 70s.

But none of those antics would have mattered if Cooper didn’t have the hits to go with them. The former Vincent Furnier had a knack for writing and recording songs that spoke to the outcasts among his audience, making them feel like a part of an army instead of one against the world.

Even when he shuttered his band and went solo, Cooper kept a firm grasp on where the musical winds were blowing. He embraced concept albums that played out like rock and roll musical theater. And with slow songs like “I Never Cry” and “You And Me”, Cooper was able to cross over to a soft-rock audience.

A Nightmarish Return

Alas, Cooper couldn’t sustain his incredible run into the early 80s. That was a difficult time for a lot of hard rock acts, as the MTV era swept them into the background. On top of all that, Cooper’s substance abuse issues had started to negatively impact his output.

Cooper backed away from the industry for a few years while he cleaned himself up. But his newfound sobriety in no way affected his artistic direction. If anything, when Cooper returned to his recording career in the second half of the decade, he leaned into the horror-rock with which he had carved his first niche in the industry.

Meanwhile, a funny thing was happening all around him. The so-called “hair metal bands”, many of whose principals dressed as if they were Alice Cooper acolytes from way back when, started to dominate the music scene. That meant the time was right for the original to strike.

Potent “Poison”

Cooper’s 1989 album Trash played out like a victory lap. Guests included members of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Winger, all of whom owed a debt to the artist out in front. Meanwhile, Cooper wisely contacted Desmond Child, who had boosted a few of the aforementioned artists around that time with his songwriting prowess.

Cooper, Child, and guitarist John McCurry came up with “Poison” as the first single from Trash. The song combined Cooper’s dangerous image with the focus on passion and tangled relationships common to the hair metal era. A video was prepped for heavy rotation on MTV.

And lo and behold, Alice Cooper found himself all over pop radio once more. “Poison” topped out at No. 7, as did “School’s Out”, released in 1972, which was previously Cooper’s biggest-ever single. As it turned out, “Poison” would be his last Top 40 hit as well. But it nonetheless offered an amazing culmination to Cooper’s stunning comeback.

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