1) Alice Cooper : Billion dollar babies (1973).
Premessina
Il glam è stato il culmine modaiol-musicale del rock in maschera, in cui il contesto culturale decadente vede il trionfo di Dioniso su Apollo: l'estasi bacchico-dionisiaca del tribalismo rock accompagnato dalle solite epidemie di fanatismo giovanile che soffoca il tentativo di fare poesia, di un messaggio apollineo non legato alle mode e alle leggi di mercato. La maschera di Dioniso, è tutt'uno con Ade-Plutone, affermava Eraclito, ed è quindi un presagio di morte, in cui il cantante - profeta non è più il messaggero- bardo di una generazione di giovani, come furono Dylan, Hendrix, Morrison e Lennon ( questi ultimi due spesso legati nell'immaginario giovanile a dei profeti crocifissi, ancora Prometeo-Dioniso-Bacco-Attis-Cristo torturati e smembrati ); in misura minore si può citare Mick Jagger, e ancora da quantificare la meteora Syd Barrett, il cui culto strisciante è divenuto una sorta di religione elitaria, alimentata ad arte dagli stessi Pink Floyd -vedi Wish you were here, The Wall)Il glam re-inventerà in un clone-clown apocalittico queste figure di "profeti" generazionali, creando nel rock-cantautore un degenerato trickster elettronico, un jolly senza corte, estraniato e modaiolo, intellettuale e guitto, che canta grandi canzoni e canzonette, con messaggi spesso mistificatori.
1) Alice Cooper : Billion dollar babies (1973).
Al secolo Vincent Furnier, merita il N.1, della classifica glam rock anni 70: il più guitto, il più grandguignolesco, un vero punk ante litteram: i primi Sex Pistols si ispirarono dichiaratamente a lui -fate caso a certe sguaiature nella voce di Johnny Rotten. Anzi la leggenda vuole che Rotten fu scoperto mentre canticchiava un pezzo di Alice.
Da Detroit con furore, Alice Cooper esordi`col suo gruppo a Los Angeles nel 1968-69 ispirandosi a Frank Zappa, che decise di produrli quando vide l'energia negativa della band-il pubblico dopo le prime stridenti note abbandonava le sale. Appassionato di musica rock, televisione e film dell'orrore, Furnier iniziò fin dai tempi di scuola a calcare il palcoscenico, con parodie dei Beatles e teatrali impiccagioni. Dopo due album particolarissimi di psichedelia e post-beat quando il nostro arriva a Billion dollar babies è già una star, forte delle vendite degli inni giovanili I'm eighteen e School's out. I suoi show con serpenti e adolescenziali teatrini dell'assurdo attirano le folle, fino al famoso lancio del pollo morto, suscitando le ire degli animalisti e non solo, tanto che la scena fu immortalata nella canzone degli Who "Put the money down" dove Daltrey canta con indignazione: "there are bands killing chiken!. Pure Salvador Dalì lo elegge proprio discepolo, dedicandogli un quadro oleografico. Prodotto da Bob Ezrin, (futuro co-producer di The wall) l'album si apre con l'epica Hello Hooray, inno autocelebrativo che fa da contraltare a Five Years di Ziggy Stardust: "...roll -out with with your American dream and its recruits...with your circus freaks and hula hoops...I've been waiting so long to sing my song...I was the only one."
Inizia così la violenta parata circense di figure tipo del campionario dell'americano medio, che Cooper zappianamente sberleffa: le ragazze rapinatrici di fregnoni in libera uscita in Raped and freezin, i presidenti demagoghi di Elected, i killer di bambine di Billion dollar babies, i dentisti impazziti di Unfinished sweet, i bravi ragazzi cattolici malmenati con No more mr. Nice guy, le nuove generazioni alla deriva di Generation Landslide, i vecchi tycoon attaccati alle cose di Sick things, il canto d'amore per Mary Ann che però è un uomo, il sigillo apocalittico di I love the dead, -io amo i morti- con tanto di quartetto d'archi in chiusura... il sogno americano è finito e spira ormai morte e decomposizione.
Heavy metal, cabaret, inni adolescenziali alla Chuck Berry, qui c'è tutto è di più. Dopo di lui verranno Kiss, New York Dolls, fino ai Motley Crue, Marylin Manson e compagnia bella.
Grandiosa pure la band, che tenterà col nome di Billion dollar babies una carriera a sé con un unico album Battle axe del 1973. Lo stesso farà la band di Bowie, gli Spiders from Mars.
Alice è stato sempre molto chiaro in proposito della sua musica: "il rock ha bisogno di robaccia", ha detto in un'intervista a MTV, "quando si fa troppo raffinato allora c'e' bisogno di gente come me che faccia della musica di merda e degli spettacoli di pessimo gusto". Questa dichiarazione la dice lunga sugli intenti e sull'ironia disincantata del principe dell'Horror Rock.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Hello Hooray (04:15)
Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin,
I've been ready.
Hello! Hooray! Let the lights grow dim,
I've been ready.
Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream.
Loving every second, ev'ry moment, ev'ry scream,
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come.
Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one.
Roll out! Roll out with your American dream and its recruits,
I've been ready.
Roll out! Roll out with your circus freaks and hula hoops,
I've been ready.
Ready as this audience that's coming here to dream.
Loving every second, ev'ry moment, ev'ry scream,
I've been waiting so long to sing my song
And I've been waiting so long for this thing to come.
Yeah - I've been thinking so long I was the only one.
I can stand here strong and thin.
I can laugh when this thing begins.
God, I feel so strong.
I feel so strong.
I'm so strong.
I feel so strong.
So strong.
God, I feel so strong,
I am so strong.
02 Raped and Freezin' (03:19)
Finally got a ride, some old broad down from Santa Fe.
She was a real go-getter.
She drawled so sweetly, "I think, child, that things'll get better."
We pulled off the highway, night black as a widow.
"Yes, I read the Bible," she said, "I wanna know of you."
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, I think I've got a live one, Yeah, Yeah,
I think I've got a live one.
Felt like I was hit by a diesel or a greyhound bus.
She was no baby-sitter.
"Get up, sugar, never thought you'd be a quitter."
I opened the back door, she was greedy.
I ran through the desert, she was chasin'.
No time to get dressed, so I was naked, stranded in Chihuahua.
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, I think I've got a live one,
Hey, hey, I think I've got a live one,
Alone, raped and freezin',
Alone cold and sneezin',
Alone down in Mexico,
Alone.
03 Elected (04:05)
I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice,
I wanna be elected,
I'm your yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce,
I wanna be elected,
Kids want a savior, don't need a fake,
I wanna be elected,
We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected.
Good evening Mr & Mrs America and all ships at sea,
The candidate is taking the country by storm.
I never lied to you, I've always been cool,
I wanna be elected,
I gotta get the vote, and I told you 'bout school,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected,
Hallelujah, I wanna be selected,
Everyone in the United States of America.
We're gonna win this one, take the country by storm,
We're gonna be elected,
You and me together, young and strong,
We're gonna be elected, elected, elected,
Respected, selected, call collected,
I wanna be elected, elected.
"And if I am elected
I promise the formation of a new party
A third party, the Wild Party!
I know we have problems,
We got problems right here in Central City,
We have problems on the North, South, East and West,
New York City, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago,
Everybody has problems,
And personally, I don't care."
04 Billion Dollar Babies (03:43)
Billion dollar baby
Rubber little lady, slicker than a weasel,
Grimy as an alley
Loves me like no other lover
Billion dollar baby
Rubber little monster, baby, I adore you
Man or woman living couldn't love me like you, baby
We go dancing nightly in the attic
While the moon is rising in the sky
If I'm too rough tell me
I'm so scared your little head will come off in my hands
Billion dollar baby
I got you in the dimestore,
No other little girl could ever hold you
Any tighter, any tighter than me, baby
Billion dollar baby
Reckless like a gambler, million dollar maybe
Foaming like a dog that's been infected by the rabies
We go dancing nightly in the attic
While the moon is rising in the sky
If I'm too rough, tell me
I'm so scared your little head will come off in my hands
Million dollar baby
Billion dollar baby
Trillion dollar baby
Zillion dollar baby
05 Unfinished Sweet (06:18)
Candy everywhere, got chocolate in my hair,
Aching to get me.
Sticky sweet suckers in the Halloween air,
Aching to get me.
Saint Vitus dance on my molars tonight,
Aching to get me.
Aching to get me, get me oh ...
Take it to the doc, I guess he ought to know,
La, da, da, da, da.
Which ones can stay, which ones gotta go.
La, da, da, da, da.
He looks in my mouth and then he starts to gloat.
He says my teeth are O.K.,
But my gums got to go. Oh oh ...
I come off the gas but I'm still seeing spies,
Aching to get me.
I can see them all through a glassy pair of eyes,
Aching to get me.
De Sade's gonna live in my mouth tonight,
La, da, da, da, da,
And the rotten tooth fairy is satisfied,
La, da, da, da, da,
Aching to get me, get me oh ...
06 No More Mr. Nice Guy (03:06)
I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing
'Til they got a hold of me.
I'd open doors for little old ladies,
I helped the blind to see.
I got no friends 'cause they read the papers.
They can't be seen
With me and I'm gettin' real shot down
And I'm feeling mean.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
I got no friends 'cause they read the papers.
They can't be seen
With me and I'm gettin' real shot down
And I'm getting mean.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
My dog bit me on the leg today.
My cat clawed my eyes.
Nice Guy ooh
Ma's been thrown out of the social circle,
And dad has to hide.
I went to church incognito.
When everybody rose
The Reverend Smedley,
He recognized me,
And punched me in the nose.
He said:
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
he said you're sick, you're obscene.
No more Mister Nice Guy,
No more Mister Clean,
No more Mister Nice Guy,
They say he's sick, he's obscene.
07 Generation Landslide (04:31)
Please clean your plate dear, the Lord above can see you
Don't you know people are starving in Korea?
Alcohol and razor blades and poisons and needles
Kindergarten people, they used 'em they need 'em
The over indulgent machines were their children
And there wasn't a way down on earth here to cool 'em
Cos they look just like a human at Kresge's and Woolworths
But decadent brains were at work to destroy
Brats in batallions were ruling the streets scene and
Generation landslide, close the gap between them
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
La la da da daa
Militant mothers hiding in the basement
Using pots and pans as their shields and their helmets
Molotov milk bottles heaved from pink high chairs
While mothers' lib burned birth certificate papers
And dad gets his allowance from his sonny the dealer
Who's pubic to the world but involved in high finance
Sister's out till 5, doing banker son's hours
But she owns a Maseratti that's a gift from his father
Stop at full speed, at 100 miles per hour
The Colgate invisible shield finally got 'em
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
La la da da daa
No one gives an oink about prom night or football
Cos just getting at home from school safe is a gamble and a blessing
Girlsies play with girlsies and boysies with boysies
Bored with one another, like old broken Christmas toysies
Kids are all hot and their parents so annoisy
And I laughed to myself at the men and the ladies
Who never conceived those billion dollar babies
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Altre recensioni
Di HeavyZinco
Alice Cooper è stato uno dei più eccelsi e visionari menestrelli rock degli anni settanta.
"No More Mister Nice Guy" è paragonabile a song leggendarie come "Paranoid" e "Detroit Rock City".
