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From the Vault...
09/04/2011
#1271 |
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info
Alice Cooper
"Zipper Catches Skin"
© Warner Bros. Records
Year of Release: 1982
Rating:
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track listing
Zorro's Accent
Make That Money
(Scrooge's Song)
I Am The Future
No Baloney Homosapiens
Adaptable (Anything For You)
I Like Girls
Remarkably Insincere
Tag You're It
I Better Be Good
I'm Alive
(That Was The Day
My Dead Pet
Returned To
Save My Life)
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Alice Cooper
"Zipper Catches Skin"
The beginning of the 1980s decade was a not-so-friendly time for Alice Cooper. By the '80s, he had experienced
with alcoholism, (which he called "Alcohol Amnesia"). His albums, Flush The Fashion, Special Forces, Zipper Catches
Skin and DaDa were "experimental" albums, of which he recorded different styles of music, than what he was
already famous for in the peak of his 1970s decade. Punk Rock, New Wave, Pop, and Haunting (in that order of the 4 albums
mentioned, and the end of his contract with Warner Bros.) [According to Cooper, he didn't even remember recording the last
two albums mentioned, Zipper Catches Skin and DaDa.]
Zipper Catches Skin captured Alice Cooper's music in a "Pop-Oriented" fashion. Although some of the songs from
this album could have fitted with his 1970s albums. I wouldn't necessarily label any of the songs on Zipper as Pop;
they are pretty much Rock and/or even Hard Rock themed.
Take the case of the first two tracks, "Zorro's Accent" and "Make That Money (Scrooge's Song)." They are
both basically songs that Alice could have recorded previously. Especially "Make That Money," where you could just
imagine Alice Cooper playing the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, yet it would be more of a
Halloween-oriented story/movie than that of the famous Christmas classic. The basic Rock style of Cooper can also be heard
on "Adaptable (Anything For You)"
From reading/researching Zipper Catches Skin, it seemed the track "I Am The Future" was the biggest "hit."
It would also be featured in the movie Class of '84. The movie was based on a newly hired music teacher (Perry King)
at a troubled inner city school. Timothy Van Patten played the role of a gang leader of thugs who terrorized the school.
The movie also starred (in one of his most earliest roles) - Michael J. Fox. Some critics described this movie as a remake
of Blackboard Jungle, in which Perry King's role was that of Glenn Ford, Van Pattern's role was Vic Morrow's, and
Michael J. Fox's role was by Sydney Poitier's.
"Baloney Homosapiens" is an ok tune, yet it has the "theater rock" of Alice Cooper, a style of music that would
shape more in his years after the 1980s. Another track in this style is "Remarkably Insincere."
"I Like Girls" has a more "rock & roll sound" (I was really hoping it'd be a remake of Jerry Lewis song of the
same name, [which it wasn't] -- where Alice Cooper had a somewhat sense of humor on some of his songs.) "Tag, You're
It" is another "just ok" tune. The last two tunes reflect more of a punkish sound, especially on "Better Be Good."
The last track sure has a unique title -- "I'm Alive (That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned To Save My Life)."
There weren't any standout tracks here, and as for "I Am The Future" being an "anthem hit," I never heard of it.
This album did prove that Cooper was in a bad phase of his musical career. The picture of himself pretty much sensed a
uncomfortable situation. His face being the result of "something below" getting caught by his zipper. (As you can tell,
this is where the title got its name from.)
New albums would emerge in the 1990s and beyond, and on various labels. By 1983, he was finally sober, and by the end
of the 1980s, he was back on track recording again, and making movies. The 1990s continued his success, more albums, more
movies/television appearances, and guesting on various rock albums. In the later years of the 1990s decade, he began touring
again. The 2000 decade saw few albums released, and his own radio show, Nights With Alice Cooper. He was inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. He is presently working on a sequel to his 1975 release, Welcome To My
Nightmare, entitled Welcome 2 My Nightmare.
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