@DEFUND WELFARE uh, he was a huge coke head at this point. It’s talked about in his latest documentary. I was also surprised to hear that because I heard the same stories as you.
I saw this tour front row at Melody Fair in Buffalo NY. Loved it but man it was a different Alice. Opening was a girl band from NY called Spider. I remember they were pretty hot. I got some amazing photos from the show and I had an 8x10 made of one perfect shot. In 1986 I went to downtown Toronto to meet Alice and thankfully by miracle a buddy from college was working the door and got me first in line. Very cool. I got to meet Alice and Kane Roberts. Kane looked and my photo and laughed and asked Alice what the hell that was about. I said it must have been a bad acid trip and they both laughed their heads off. Alice signed the photo, let me take some pictures and shook my hand. It was an amazing experience and unlike signings today, it was FREE. Alice was super nice and real pleasure to meet my childhood idol. Alice is the BEST!!!
@@davicus100 Strong seasons, lot's of fishing/hunting available. Some of the best housing prices in the country, decent nightlife. We have more restaurants per capita than many larger cities(at least pre-covid)The highway system is effective(easy to get around)These are a few reasons off the top of my head. Have you ever visited?
Flush The Fashion, Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin, Da Da is the best albums Alice Cooper ever done. I know he was anorectic and marked by heavy alcoholism and he really hates these albums from the 80-s but he is so wrong. They are all so screwed, exciting and musically great, nothing before or after is in the same unique leage.
@@kristianhjorth2402 They are great albums! What people should be dissing is all the garbage released after 1987. His last listenable album was Raise Your Fist and Yell.
Even though Alice was in a truly awful state with addiction and almost dead he STILL absolutely was on it when performing. So glad he got sober and is doing awesome at nearly 80 too. Love ya Coop.
I loved the era of the original band. Billion$babies. Every decade Alice Cooper is different. He looks pretty rough here. I wanna feed him. He's overcome a lot in his life. And I'm thankful he has and keeps making great music
You could have fed him with a shovel every hour of every day back then and he still would have looked like this. Extreme cocaine addiction will do that to a person. When you have half of Bolivia coursing through your veins, you tend to metabolize food faster than you can consume it.
He didn't look quite as bad during the Flush The Fashion tour, but he didn't look healthy either. Old Alice was best -- newest Alice looks better, but his voice is gone.
Lewis used to show up at The Holy City Zoo wearing that Japanese bandana around his neck for months on end. He stopped when Robin Williams told him that it looked fantastic.
Hi Clarences ! How are you... Phil from The Nothings ! I usually don't like solo Alice...but this is really great ...! I was devastated when the original band broke up...nice to see you enjoying good music ! The Alice Cooper group and the Sex Pistols...along with the original 4 guys in Kiss ...The Ramones (and a band called Mott the hoople) are my all time favorites...oh and my band too 😀...hope you're doing well !
Cool era of Alice but unfortunately Warner Bros. never pushed those albums well .. I think if they had then Alice Cooper might have played this role for the length of the 80's ..
@@zombie2wo You can't really blame the record company for not making any real effort in promoting an artist who, by his own later admission, was so fucked up that there was no guarantee he'd turn up for an interview or show, or worse, turn up so fucked up that he'd probably end up throwing up on or attempting to dry hump, or both, the host of the show, or the entire audience all at once.
Yeah he was a real wreck at this time. From all accounts he was really going at it hard and heavy. Not just the freebase but also the usual heavy drinking, only exacerbated by the coke. He really is lucky to have survived that period. If he had been any older his heart probably would’ve given out. I saw him on this tour, and though at the time most people weren’t aware he was doing coke, it was pretty obvious something was seriously wrong. He looked like a painted corpse, and was all jittery and twitchy. I thought he had cancer at the time. I’m glad he survived.
Music producers of today pour tens of millions into the “artists” today, and not a single one of them can replicate what’s happening here. There’s only one Alice. God bless Alice Cooper.
So Happy You Found You're Way My Friend, To Overcome All The Demon's, Such A Cool 😎 Person You Are, I Have Went To Six Of You're Shows, Always A Great, Fun, Show. Thanks Sir
I followed Alice on the UK Special Forces tour in early 82. I loved the four shows I attended and have a great love for the Special Forces album. 40 years on from this video and Alice is better than ever ... who'd have bet on that!
What I find incredible with Alice is his interpretation of the lyrics. He is no extraordinary voice but he can bring you deep with him in his songs like david bowie. And he is free from music style standards, it s just Alice Cooper and that means alot
Alice was very sick between '80-'82 was his Family finally got him help for the 2nd time around. He went into a Long Term Clinic in the late 70's around '77 for Alcoholism. All it took for him to hit rock bottom the 2nd time was a sip of his wife's wine. (I don't know about the Cocaine) By that night he had already purchased and hid 2 bottles of whiskey. Thank God he got Clean & stayed Clean! I love him and it makes me so sad to see him this way. Shocking!!!
There are a lot of inconsistencies in these stories, so it is hard to tell what the real truth is. One other thing I noticed is that in Super duper Alice Cooper he talks about waking up with a gun and blood running from his eyes and that it was then he decided to get clean. But the song Pass the Gun Around on Dada clearly recounts that story and he has stated that he was still messed up when he recorded that album. It doesn't add up. So, what's the truth?
Alice stopped completely drinking in '78, and never fell off the wagon. He started freebasing cocaine instead until he almost died from it. After 1984, hes been completely sober. It took some major guts to finally come clean about his drug use in the Super Duper doc! Also when you know this fact, you can clearly tell that everyone is lying about "falling off the wagon" in the VH1 segment. And it's painfully obvious when you watch live performances from this era.. Compare them to live performances from his alcoholic era and see for yourselves
His Golf Monster book also confirms the Behind The Music story.It talks about how he was hiding bottles of liquor all over their house.I haven't seen the Super Duper documentary,but I believe both stories are likely true.
GREAT PERFORMANCE !!! Better than I expected on Tom's show. Not to mention I just bought his new Cd and it is fantastic !! WAYYY BETTER than most other music coming out of the states right now. Would love to see him visit Nashville again !!!
Alice did Glam better than almost anyone, he did Punk better than almost everyone, he did ballads better than almost anyone, he did hard rock better than almost anyone, he did metal better than almost anyone and he was DEFINITELY the best Alice Cooper anyone ever saw. This is a guy who gave not a single fuck. Not one.
I found this cassette, new for $1 back in the early 80s. Love it!! Loved, Youre a Movie. A decade later, saw Alice out of makeup walking down Kalakaua in waikiki with a tall blonde bombshell. I literally walked right past him, less than a foot away. He never made eye contact with me, but i was too shocked to realize, that was really Alice
@@razrhiannaspiers8506 In an interview I read about a year ago, he said that the only albums he has zero recollection at all of recording were Zipper and DaDa. He said he had some very blurry, vague memories of recording Special Forces, but no memory whatsoever of the tour that followed it. One thing I’ve noticed is that he seems to change his story quite a bit about this recollections of this era, which kind of leads me to think it might just be a case of the old “selective memory”. Who knows.
Saw Cooper during his change...He was still Badass still Cooper Great Showman...did'nt like it at first...but before the show was over Loved it...!!! always a Cooper fan...!?!
Rough period for Alice. Times and musical tastes had changed, his teenage audience from the 70s had grown up and moved on, his record sales were declining, and the concert venues were getting smaller. Throw hard drugs into the mix and you get...this. Still, it is interesting that Alice chose to include a cover of "Seven and Seven Is." It is as if he were saying to the world, "I'm not a has been, and I'm not an imitator. You know all of those giants like Arthur Lee, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, etc.? They are my contemporaries, and I am their equal, and I am still here!" Rock on, Alice. Glad that you are still here!
I’ve never understood the concept of “I grew up and outgrew all the bands I loved as a kid”. I’m in my mid 50’s, and I still listen to pretty much everything I loved as a teenager or even as a little kid (Alice Cooper being a case in point). Sure, there were a small handful of bands… mainly the more angry, light speed tempo bands… from my teenage rage years that I left behind, but compared to the hundreds (maybe thousands) of bands that I never stopped loving, they’re an anomaly. I guess my point is that I think it’s downright silly to “outgrow” music that brought you joy in your youth. I mean sure, you’re not ever gonna see me in the pit again when I go see these bands for the 25th time, but I’m still going to go see them and continue to buy their music. That stuff is sacred and lifelong for me.
My first concert was AC special forces tour in London's Hammersmith Odeon. I was about 14, it was Fantastic. They don't make them like Alice any more :-(
You and I must be exactly the same age. I also saw him on this tour when I was 14, at Cardi’s in Houston. Back then nobody really knew he was strung out on coke, but it was pretty obvious that something weird was going on with him. He looked like he could drop dead at any given moment. I remember thinking he had cancer. Everyone at that gig was talking about how terrible he looked. He still put on a good show though. I much prefer the original AC band, but as far as the 80’s stuff goes, Special Forces and DaDa are my favorite Alice albums.
And without him even trying to be creepy 😆 He was just so wacked out at the time and looked like a painted corpse from all the coke he was freebasing that it was authentically creepy as f**k. Very strange but fascinating chapter in his career. I’m glad I got to see him on this tour.
Glad he woke up and cleaned up his act. To dang skinny and sickly looking here. Hes 75 years old abd doing so much better in 2024!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Alice Cooper ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Love this era of Alice! Flush the fashion is a classic and one of my favorite albums. Just been to see him in Glasgow and we are now in 2022! Unbelievable!
I’d just stick with this if I were you. This sounds a million times better than the studio/album versions. Special Forces has some great songs, but it’s produced for shit.
Confession. I wish he had done a ballad or two. I still tear up every time I hear 'You and Me.' For all the pomp and carnival, Alice can really deliver the sweetness. Forgive me.
The only one of his ballads I ever really liked (more like LOVE really) is “I Never Cry” from “Goes To Hell”. Probably because I can relate to it. That one hits me right in the heart every damn time.
You all need to see Super Duper Alice Cooper. He openly talks at length about freebasing coke..he had a serious problem with it...he almost killed himself because of it
Have that film, and it was pretty hard to watch that bit, especially the bits of archive footage, you can literally see him deteriorating. I once read an interview from the 80's he had, and even reading it came across like he wasn't with it.
I know how this whole early 80’s era of Alice is now commonly referred to as “the blackout years”, but personally I’ve always likened it to Apocalypse Now. Coop is basically Willard, and he just keeps winding further and further upriver into the jungle, descending ever deeper into madness with each click. If Flush The Fashion is the river’s mouth where the journey begins (and Charlie don’t surf), then I’d say that Special Forces is the USO stage, where the Playboy bunnies make their appearance and it’s still fun, but things are beginning to get pretty weird and you can really start to sense the darkness up ahead. After this was Zipper Catches Skin, which is like the last outpost on the river, where all the C.O.’s are dead, no one is in charge, and it’s just pure chaos. By this point Alice is still Willard, but by the time they reach the compound (DaDa), he’s pretty much transformed into Kurtz. The horror.
The one and only Alice. Vintage stuff. Thanks for the post. One of his lesser known albums, but still great music as only Alice can do it. Can't agree it's his worst album, but I respect your opinion. I'm a die hard Alice fan!
Danny Dunne gotta figure if someone calls this his "worst" LP.. then that's saying a lot about him.. if his 'worst' is this good.. then he truly is one of the best..Ever! Not realy all that familiar with this part of his career.. but seeing how 'Punk' it is.. I'll def be taking a closer look at this LP & this time line if his life... He was mainstream, for me from 1970 till.. oh just after the "Goes to Hell" LP.. & kinda lost touch.. didnt realize he changed all his make up style and jus seems a litlle more Punk sounding... but.. def taking a second look at this era... thanx
..and I've seen him 3 times after he sobbered up... and he had reverted back to his regular make-up again...like I said.. i didnt remember him changing so much.. and look at how thin he was.. def on the Crackin's Diet... lol
Special Forces is *FAR* from his worst album. Not even remotely close. I can think of several, right off the top of my head that are much, much worse. I won’t name names because it would invariably start a pissing match… but let’s just say that in the 80’s alone, this was one of his best albums, even if it wasn’t wasn’t his most successful.
This time Alice was at his best, I loved all his early albums, I went to see him live in Birmingham for the very first time on this your, was awesome. Why didn't he keep this band together they were great
“At his best”? Really? More like at his most bizarre and drug-addled. It’s an interesting period of his career for sure, and much better than his cheesy hair metal period that followed it, but I’d hardly say he was “at his best” at this time. He’s damn lucky his heart didn’t give out on him back then. He looked like death eatin’ a cracker.
I love Alice and I'm probably one of his most loyal fans. Most folks don't know he's a devout Christian and his pop's was a preacher as was his wife's pop's.
FANTASTIC VERSION! (So much better than the studio versions) This version of this song has been among my favorite Alice Cooper songs ever since this aired!
This definitely is much better than the album version, as is every other live recording I’ve heard from this period. Also I saw Alice on this tour in the fall of ‘81, and though it was a looong time ago, I do remember thinking the sound was awesome (not that he’s ever sounded bad live). I like Special Forces, but it’s produced for shit. I’ve never been a big fan of remixing, but that’s one album that would really benefit from a full remix and remaster, though I seriously doubt that will ever happen.
I had no idea he was also into cocaine at this time until last night when I saw Super Duper Alice Cooper. Apparently he talked about freebasing and rock cocaine use for the very first time in it, partly because his friend Bernie Taupin would only appear in the film if Alice would finally open up about coke, which Taupin apparently got him into in the first place in the late 70's. He always said it was a big alcohol blackout that these early 80's albums were made in, and I think it's still true he was abusing booze at this time, but it's weird cause the documentary doesn't actually mention the whole sip of Cheryl's wine relapse story that he's told over and over for years.
+Mark Rago Me too. At this same time in the '80s, pretty much EVERYBODY that partied did some coke. I did more than my share, but I started to see people go down the fucking toilet in a hurry and was lucky enough to get away from it relatively unscathed. Uncle Alice was WAY down the fucking rabbit hole though, holy shit!
He probably invented that story. It isn't the only story he's invented over the years. I knew before Super DUper Alice Cooper that something didn't add up. While I have no experience with coke, I know how drunks behave and he clearly isn't drunk here. He's the opposite of drunk. Drunks have slow and slurry speech and they're slow in general. Alice is extremely speeded here, so it's obvious he's on something that makes him like that. .
Me too. I always knew he was an ALCOHOLIC. But I hadn't known that he ever had a DRUG problem until RECENTLY when I looked into THIS period ( which was pretty obscure for a long time ).
I don't believe the relapse back into alcohol was a cover up.In his Golf Monster autobiography it reconfirms the story of taking a sip of his wife's wine and goes into more detail.It talks about how he was hiding bottles of liquor all over the house.It was at that time she tried to file for divorce because she couldn't stand to watch him kill himself anymore.
A few tunes from Flush The Fashion, but nothing from any of the other “blackout” albums. Not to my knowledge anyway. It’s a shame too, because there were some real gems from that period.
My gawd. He looks skeletal here...thinning hair, teeth yellow. Looks like he weighs about 80 lbs. Lot of great Rock Stars, in better shape than that, died so Young. Glad he recovered, And still performing great Rock today. LEGEND.
this album was hard rock with new wave influences. very good album with good music. every song is cool. i think my favorite solo albums are "go to hell", "special forces", "DaDa", and actually "paranormal" is very good
He completely lost me during this era.. I saw the Killer Show in '72 and Billion $ Babies in '73. Now THAT was Alice in his prime. Nothing equaled AC and the original group afterwards. Shit I don't even recognise him in this vid. Like a totally different person. Thank God he cleaned up...
Compared to the original band, anything after ‘74 is going to suck by way of comparison. However, I’ll take this era of Alice over late 80’s/early 90’s hair metal Alice, or late 70’s muppet-lounge Alice any old time. At least this stuff was weird enough to be interesting and disturbing.
I just keep wondering what he was thinking, in his rather 'druggy' moments, in front of his backstage mirror, doing his makeup.... "Let's see here...let's do...ONE giant eyebrow...yes, that's good...and let's just put a little bit of dark shadow under each cheek bone-just a smidge....ok...and some seriously white, simmey eye shadow...overdrawn lips....annnnnd we have it!" XD
+creatornat Boy, I'm sure he was going for "weird" but HOLY SHIT!!!! I hated this "new" look and sound of his when it happened...I was a die-hard Alice fan WAY before he "re-invented" himself during this era of his career. I remember HATING his new look and sound when I first heard and saw it. It's funny...this all happened when I was a teenager, and I remember being disappointed when I found out that the "evil ghoul/maniac" that was Alice Cooper in the '70s was basically a "gimmick" and he was actually a really nice guy...then Special Forces (and the other albums of this period) came out and I HATED it! I pretty much gave up on him during this era. Looking back at it though, during this part of his career, he pretty much BECAME the sick, twisted, fucked up person I wish he was when I was younger...and it's taken all of the decades since for me to revisit those weird "new wave" and "punk" albums he put out in the early '80s, to realize how messed up he actually was at that point.
Not too mention the hair pinned up like an old ladies! I think he looks a bit like a punk / junkie version of that "sweet transvestite" guy from Rocky Horror. It kind of brought the ANDROGYNOUS element, that he had in the really early ( 70 / 71 ) days of the persona, back into the image in a very weird way. MY favorite SONG from THIS album is You Look Good In Rags.
@@creepyskulldini581 I believe I heard him say he was aiming for the look to be like Joan Crawford in ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane'' Heres a picture for an example: derekwinnert.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/whatever-happened-to.jpg
It’s just produced lousy, is all. Normally I can’t stand it when bands remix their old albums, but I’d make an exception in the case of Special Forces. Alice needs to get hold of the master reels and do a complete remix and remaster. You even said it yourself - there’s some really good songs on there. They’re just mired by a shitty mix. I saw him on this tour and I remember the way everyone was talking about how much better all those songs sounded live.
I loved this era of Alice, but I am surprised that man is still alive.
back when Alice still had some ziggy in him......you can see the bowie influence. i like this stuff so much more than the 90's version...
Alice cannot die.
I think he is too
@@billharding6693 He went through some rough patches but amazingly pulled himself together....Just a normal guy then there is Alice!
@DEFUND WELFARE uh, he was a huge coke head at this point. It’s talked about in his latest documentary. I was also surprised to hear that because I heard the same stories as you.
I saw this tour front row at Melody Fair in Buffalo NY. Loved it but man it was a different Alice. Opening was a girl band from NY called Spider. I remember they were pretty hot. I got some amazing photos from the show and I had an 8x10 made of one perfect shot. In 1986 I went to downtown Toronto to meet Alice and thankfully by miracle a buddy from college was working the door and got me first in line. Very cool. I got to meet Alice and Kane Roberts. Kane looked and my photo and laughed and asked Alice what the hell that was about. I said it must have been a bad acid trip and they both laughed their heads off. Alice signed the photo, let me take some pictures and shook my hand. It was an amazing experience and unlike signings today, it was FREE. Alice was super nice and real pleasure to meet my childhood idol. Alice is the BEST!!!
post the picture for gods sake
I also saw this tour. It was at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City.(I think) An excellent show! I miss the edgier punk sound he had then.
@@empoweryou1 i always wondered why people lived in kansas city and cincinatti whats the draw there?
@@davicus100 Strong seasons, lot's of fishing/hunting available. Some of the best housing prices in the country, decent nightlife. We have more restaurants per capita than many larger cities(at least pre-covid)The highway system is effective(easy to get around)These are a few reasons off the top of my head. Have you ever visited?
3 beers & a single hit ...how big was the venue & did he play much of his early stuff ?
Alice during the 80's is SO underated.
Flush the Fashion is one of my favorite AC albums even after being a fan for years.
Period
Flush The Fashion, Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin, Da Da is the best albums Alice Cooper ever done. I know he was anorectic and marked by heavy alcoholism and he really hates these albums from the 80-s but he is so wrong. They are all so screwed, exciting and musically great, nothing before or after is in the same unique leage.
@@kristianhjorth2402 They are great albums! What people should be dissing is all the garbage released after 1987. His last listenable album was Raise Your Fist and Yell.
Even though Alice was in a truly awful state with addiction and almost dead he STILL absolutely was on it when performing. So glad he got sober and is doing awesome at nearly 80 too. Love ya Coop.
I loved the era of the original band. Billion$babies. Every decade Alice Cooper is different. He looks pretty rough here. I wanna feed him. He's overcome a lot in his life. And I'm thankful he has and keeps making great music
You could have fed him with a shovel every hour of every day back then and he still would have looked like this. Extreme cocaine addiction will do that to a person. When you have half of Bolivia coursing through your veins, you tend to metabolize food faster than you can consume it.
He didn't look quite as bad during the Flush The Fashion tour, but he didn't look healthy either. Old Alice was best -- newest Alice looks better, but his voice is gone.
Snyder was so underrated for giving good treatment to rock acts of the day. Always respectful, good questions.
Little known fact: Comedian Freddy Lewis was OBSESSED with this era of Alice! xoxo The Clarences
Lewis used to show up at The Holy City Zoo wearing that Japanese bandana around his neck for months on end. He stopped when Robin Williams told him that it looked fantastic.
@@rockinyouallnight Freddy was a unique character!!! xoxo The Clarences
Hi Clarences ! How are you... Phil from The Nothings ! I usually don't like solo Alice...but this is really great ...! I was devastated when the original band broke up...nice to see you enjoying good music ! The Alice Cooper group and the Sex Pistols...along with the original 4 guys in Kiss ...The Ramones (and a band called Mott the hoople) are my all time favorites...oh and my band too 😀...hope you're doing well !
@@philipholmes5884 Hi Phil! Good to hear from you! How is everything? xoxo The Clarences
he makes the most reckless punk rock icons look wholesome in this year.
Cool era of Alice but unfortunately Warner Bros. never pushed those albums well .. I think if they had then Alice Cooper might have played this role for the length of the 80's ..
@@zombie2wo You can't really blame the record company for not making any real effort in promoting an artist who, by his own later admission, was so fucked up that there was no guarantee he'd turn up for an interview or show, or worse, turn up so fucked up that he'd probably end up throwing up on or attempting to dry hump, or both, the host of the show, or the entire audience all at once.
He doesn't even remember making this album or touring it.
"ACTING!" - The Great Thespian.
@@stuartjenkins3039 it probably wasn't even because of that. Warner Bros are just assholes in general
one of the Best album of Alice in the 80's !!!!!!!!
Yes, in the 80’s. That’s not saying much though.
Damn! I am surprised that Alice made it through. I like this periods music but it is kind of hard to see Alice so far out there.
So true He was smoking copious amounts of freebase at that time
Yeah he was a real wreck at this time. From all accounts he was really going at it hard and heavy. Not just the freebase but also the usual heavy drinking, only exacerbated by the coke. He really is lucky to have survived that period. If he had been any older his heart probably would’ve given out. I saw him on this tour, and though at the time most people weren’t aware he was doing coke, it was pretty obvious something was seriously wrong. He looked like a painted corpse, and was all jittery and twitchy. I thought he had cancer at the time. I’m glad he survived.
Music producers of today pour tens of millions into the “artists” today, and not a single one of them can replicate what’s happening here. There’s only one Alice. God bless Alice Cooper.
The only god blessing this man is Satan. Better pray for him to find his way to Jesus out hell is all that awaits him.
special forces is one of my favs
Me 2. What's the best cut ?? I generation? Vicious rumors is!!
He looks like the corpse in movie 7 that pops outa the bed babbling
Title track, VIcious Rumors, Skeletons in the Closet... Such good tracks.
Special Forces is my favorite album also. I saw Alice do the Special Forces show in a small venue/club called the Agora Ballroom in Atlanta.
You Look Good In Rags@@GRILLBUOY101
Smoking on live tv, unthinkable today!
So Happy You Found You're Way My Friend, To Overcome All The Demon's, Such A Cool 😎 Person You Are, I Have Went To Six Of You're Shows, Always A Great, Fun, Show. Thanks Sir
I followed Alice on the UK Special Forces tour in early 82. I loved the four shows I attended and have a great love for the Special Forces album. 40 years on from this video and Alice is better than ever ... who'd have bet on that!
What I find incredible with Alice is his interpretation of the lyrics. He is no extraordinary voice but he can bring you deep with him in his songs like david bowie. And he is free from music style standards, it s just Alice Cooper and that means alot
iggy also
@@baronweirwulf5221 naa
@@baronweirwulf5221 And Lou Reed.
Special Forces was/is his most consistent album since the glory days. its easily my favorite solo album
Alice was very sick between '80-'82 was his Family finally got him help for the 2nd time around. He went into a Long Term Clinic in the late 70's around '77 for Alcoholism. All it took for him to hit rock bottom the 2nd time was a sip of his wife's wine. (I don't know about the Cocaine) By that night he had already purchased and hid 2 bottles of whiskey. Thank God he got Clean & stayed Clean! I love him and it makes me so sad to see him this way. Shocking!!!
There are a lot of inconsistencies in these stories, so it is hard to tell what the real truth is.
One other thing I noticed is that in Super duper Alice Cooper he talks about waking up with a gun and blood running from his eyes and that it was then he decided to get clean. But the song Pass the Gun Around on Dada clearly recounts that story and he has stated that he was still messed up when he recorded that album. It doesn't add up. So, what's the truth?
Alice stopped completely drinking in '78, and never fell off the wagon. He started freebasing cocaine instead until he almost died from it. After 1984, hes been completely sober. It took some major guts to finally come clean about his drug use in the Super Duper doc! Also when you know this fact, you can clearly tell that everyone is lying about "falling off the wagon" in the VH1 segment. And it's painfully obvious when you watch live performances from this era.. Compare them to live performances from his alcoholic era and see for yourselves
His Golf Monster book also confirms the Behind The Music story.It talks about how he was hiding bottles of liquor all over their house.I haven't seen the Super Duper documentary,but I believe both stories are likely true.
UMMM BIP BIP UMM BIP BIP YAAAA. London Gardens, London Canada 1981 I WAS THERE . Best album EVER
GREAT PERFORMANCE !!! Better than I expected on Tom's show. Not to mention I just bought his new Cd and it is fantastic !! WAYYY BETTER than most other music coming out of the states right now. Would love to see him visit Nashville again !!!
the best look and so funny ! 🙂
Special forces is Alice cooper most underrated album. It's got everything. Rock, punk, electronic, and the lyrics are some of Alice's best ever
Probably an underrated one because the 80's were his blackout years when he was wacked out of his mind. Man couldn't remember making these songs.
I saw that tour at Memorial auditorium in Kansas City. ~1982? It was crazy. Very fun.
@@empoweryou1 I saw it at the Hammersmith odeon in London. Was brilliant
I truly think Da, DA, is a true Alice Cooper album.
Rare, with John Nitzinger, guitarist. Awesome to see him here! -Judy
That was a heck of a band
wait wasnt that the era with crazy ass Mile Pineda from Thee Image the guitarist during that era??
Alice did Glam better than almost anyone, he did Punk better than almost everyone, he did ballads better than almost anyone, he did hard rock better than almost anyone, he did metal better than almost anyone and he was DEFINITELY the best Alice Cooper anyone ever saw. This is a guy who gave not a single fuck. Not one.
+Guy Fawkes Remember, remember the 5th of November. Now you're a man who knows what he's talking about. I totally agree. Long live Alice.
Guy Fawkes I'm going to see him with Deep Purple and Edgar Winter in September
Mark Rago wow. I didn't know Edgar Winter still toured!
Guy Fawkes
im jazzed! im gonna see him in June 😜
+Mark Rago
WOW! That will be one helluva show! I'm jealous!
I found this cassette, new for $1 back in the early 80s. Love it!! Loved, Youre a Movie.
A decade later, saw Alice out of makeup walking down Kalakaua in waikiki with a tall blonde bombshell. I literally walked right past him, less than a foot away. He never made eye contact with me, but i was too shocked to realize, that was really Alice
This is when the wheels flew off
Way off
I saw this tour in Toronto! It was great and really underated. A shame Alice Cooper says he does not remember much of it.
agree !
I bet he remembers it. He just thinks it was a big mistake... he looks pretty lucid to me in this video.
He doesn't remember it because of the cocaine...
+austinfailz he has said that he doesn't remember recording special forces, zipper catches skin or dada at all. Flush the fashion a little bit.
@@razrhiannaspiers8506 In an interview I read about a year ago, he said that the only albums he has zero recollection at all of recording were Zipper and DaDa. He said he had some very blurry, vague memories of recording Special Forces, but no memory whatsoever of the tour that followed it.
One thing I’ve noticed is that he seems to change his story quite a bit about this recollections of this era, which kind of leads me to think it might just be a case of the old “selective memory”. Who knows.
I love, love, LOVE Tom Snyder. I just can't get enough of him. His voice, his smile, his laugh, his eyes.....the man was intoxicating.
Saw him during this period after his show we went to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW trippin all night!
love this Album! Had it on vinyl just bought it again on CD off of Amizon.
The voice and the Rock was still very well represented in this era of Alice's career.....
Genius! Alice the untouchable!. The guitar work on this performance is awe inspiring.
Great song and performance.
Saw Cooper during his change...He was still Badass still Cooper Great Showman...did'nt like it at first...but before the show was over Loved it...!!! always a Cooper fan...!?!
Rough period for Alice. Times and musical tastes had changed, his teenage audience from the 70s had grown up and moved on, his record sales were declining, and the concert venues were getting smaller. Throw hard drugs into the mix and you get...this. Still, it is interesting that Alice chose to include a cover of "Seven and Seven Is." It is as if he were saying to the world, "I'm not a has been, and I'm not an imitator. You know all of those giants like Arthur Lee, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, etc.? They are my contemporaries, and I am their equal, and I am still here!" Rock on, Alice. Glad that you are still here!
I’ve never understood the concept of “I grew up and outgrew all the bands I loved as a kid”. I’m in my mid 50’s, and I still listen to pretty much everything I loved as a teenager or even as a little kid (Alice Cooper being a case in point). Sure, there were a small handful of bands… mainly the more angry, light speed tempo bands… from my teenage rage years that I left behind, but compared to the hundreds (maybe thousands) of bands that I never stopped loving, they’re an anomaly.
I guess my point is that I think it’s downright silly to “outgrow” music that brought you joy in your youth. I mean sure, you’re not ever gonna see me in the pit again when I go see these bands for the 25th time, but I’m still going to go see them and continue to buy their music. That stuff is sacred and lifelong for me.
Sorry, I know that’s not really what you meant in your post, but the bit about “growing up and moving on” must’ve hit a nerve. 😁
great cover of Love's "Seven and seven is.., in fact about the best cover of that song. I wouldn't expect less from this band though.
Alice also covered Talk Talk on Flush The Fashion. It was a song by The Music Machine
Definitely as it’s performed here. The studio version on the album is pretty mediocre to be honest. This version kills though.
This is a more RAW COOPER .... LOVE IT 😁👍🏻👍🏻
Alice cooper was allways the best. I loved him since I was a little kid never got tired of him
Wow that totally punked out and I loved it. 🤘💥
Band was right there with him !💋
My first concert was AC special forces tour in London's Hammersmith Odeon. I was about 14, it was Fantastic. They don't make them like Alice any more :-(
Dave - the Hammy O gig was my one and only AC gig - brilliant - can't bring myself to go to another to hear the same old 70s greatest hits stuff....!
You and I must be exactly the same age. I also saw him on this tour when I was 14, at Cardi’s in Houston. Back then nobody really knew he was strung out on coke, but it was pretty obvious that something weird was going on with him. He looked like he could drop dead at any given moment. I remember thinking he had cancer. Everyone at that gig was talking about how terrible he looked. He still put on a good show though. I much prefer the original AC band, but as far as the 80’s stuff goes, Special Forces and DaDa are my favorite Alice albums.
Alices act was always supposed to be creepy/scary, but this era was by far his creepiest
And without him even trying to be creepy 😆 He was just so wacked out at the time and looked like a painted corpse from all the coke he was freebasing that it was authentically creepy as f**k. Very strange but fascinating chapter in his career. I’m glad I got to see him on this tour.
Glad he woke up and cleaned up his act. To dang skinny and sickly looking here. Hes 75 years old abd doing so much better in 2024!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤ Alice Cooper ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Tom Snyder was great. Still is - and he will never be replaced.
Love this era of Alice! Flush the fashion is a classic and one of my favorite albums. Just been to see him in Glasgow and we are now in 2022! Unbelievable!
Fave album from this era . Be safe 💝
That was excellent. I need to buy the Special Forces album…..again.
I’d just stick with this if I were you. This sounds a million times better than the studio/album versions. Special Forces has some great songs, but it’s produced for shit.
Just seen video of Alice on Johnny Carson 1977 It's amazing it's the same person.
Confession. I wish he had done a ballad or two. I still tear up every time I hear 'You and Me.' For all the pomp and carnival, Alice can really deliver the sweetness.
Forgive me.
The only one of his ballads I ever really liked (more like LOVE really) is “I Never Cry” from “Goes To Hell”. Probably because I can relate to it. That one hits me right in the heart every damn time.
You all need to see Super Duper Alice Cooper. He openly talks at length about freebasing coke..he had a serious problem with it...he almost killed himself because of it
Have that film, and it was pretty hard to watch that bit, especially the bits of archive footage, you can literally see him deteriorating. I once read an interview from the 80's he had, and even reading it came across like he wasn't with it.
luckily he got some help *& overcame the addiction. It can ruin a persons life, drugs suck.
Droga
Frula
He looks terrible here for sure.
That was a powerful performance!
This is pretty fantastic! Should be the music of the day during these post-apocalyptic Covid times.
I know how this whole early 80’s era of Alice is now commonly referred to as “the blackout years”, but personally I’ve always likened it to Apocalypse Now. Coop is basically Willard, and he just keeps winding further and further upriver into the jungle, descending ever deeper into madness with each click.
If Flush The Fashion is the river’s mouth where the journey begins (and Charlie don’t surf), then I’d say that Special Forces is the USO stage, where the Playboy bunnies make their appearance and it’s still fun, but things are beginning to get pretty weird and you can really start to sense the darkness up ahead.
After this was Zipper Catches Skin, which is like the last outpost on the river, where all the C.O.’s are dead, no one is in charge, and it’s just pure chaos. By this point Alice is still Willard, but by the time they reach the compound (DaDa), he’s pretty much transformed into Kurtz.
The horror.
The one and only Alice. Vintage stuff. Thanks for the post. One of his lesser known albums, but still great music as only Alice can do it. Can't agree it's his worst album, but I respect your opinion. I'm a die hard Alice fan!
Danny Dunne
gotta figure if someone calls this his "worst" LP.. then that's saying a lot about him..
if his 'worst' is this good.. then he truly is one of the best..Ever!
Not realy all that familiar with this part of his career.. but seeing how 'Punk' it is.. I'll def be taking a closer look at this LP & this time line if his life...
He was mainstream, for me from 1970 till.. oh just after the "Goes to Hell" LP.. & kinda lost touch.. didnt realize he changed all his make up style
and jus seems a litlle more Punk sounding... but.. def taking a second look at this era... thanx
..and I've seen him 3 times after he sobbered up... and he had reverted back to his regular make-up again...like I said.. i didnt remember him changing so much..
and look at how thin he was..
def on the Crackin's Diet... lol
Special Forces is *FAR* from his worst album. Not even remotely close. I can think of several, right off the top of my head that are much, much worse. I won’t name names because it would invariably start a pissing match… but let’s just say that in the 80’s alone, this was one of his best albums, even if it wasn’t wasn’t his most successful.
WOW i ❤❤❤❤ Alice cooper
Tom Snyder must have had a deceptively awesome taste in music: Alice, Wendy O. , and he clearly got along with the best member of KISS (Ace Frehley).
I got special forces for Christmas 81(?). I wish I could find a copy of it nowadays.
Special Forces may be my fav AC album.
He went for the drunken geisha look n nailed it.
Kimono Alice's House!!
Drunken geisha? More like “painted corpse”.
I always say of Alice.
THE BEST OF THE BEST 💞
This time Alice was at his best, I loved all his early albums, I went to see him live in Birmingham for the very first time on this your, was awesome. Why didn't he keep this band together they were great
“At his best”? Really? More like at his most bizarre and drug-addled. It’s an interesting period of his career for sure, and much better than his cheesy hair metal period that followed it, but I’d hardly say he was “at his best” at this time. He’s damn lucky his heart didn’t give out on him back then. He looked like death eatin’ a cracker.
It's awesome!
Seven is and Seven was,,, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
the only thing controversial about this now is an interviewer smoking on tv!
You got that right! 😆
@@olliecrow3547 And that Alice's teeth are rotting right out of his head.
40 years ago it was possible !
Amazing album!
0:46 Who Do You Think We Are
3:20 Seven & Seven Is
amazing , my favorite coop' period 81
seen this concert in Alpena MI. in 1981 5 july , was trippin my ass off. great show. after the Rockets opened for them.
WOW, never seen this before, Special Forces is a real great album, also Zipper Catches Skin and DaDa ❤
Scary Alice! Like the album. And If you want kids to stay off drugs have them watch this!
I loved up to his early 80's best... Black Widow, School's Out, Cold Ethel..... 💯💞😎😎
Those songs were from the 1970s Lisa
Those songs were from the 1970s Lisa
@@laurencelevene4333 ok good, you agree
Welcome to my nightmare is probably my favourite Alice album
🤣🤣🤣
Alice Cooper was turning punk rock at that time which was perfect.
He was never punk
He was always a punk...just long hair & make up on his eyes...
@@heimeygazzonteight7347 Obviously you never heard the early Nazz and Spiders singles. Or his love of Detroit bands like The Stooges, MC5, etc.
@@heimeygazzonteight7347 it's an expression dummy.
“Turning punk”? Is that like turning Japanese?
Never got into this album may have to get it. Love the Coops. Xxx
Great Love cover
Wow the "LOVE" cover starting at 3:30 is amazing!!
Love it.
I saw him on this tour in Feb 82. he was amazing 3 encours..
Loved the "Joan Crawford" look.
You nailed in man! I bet you are not far off the mark if you were to ask Alice.
I hear Old Joan has risen from the grave : )
Yeah funny. Looks more like kathryn.hepburn. but i love me some alice
*NO WIRE HANGERS EVER!!!*
I saw this tour summer of 81 Sun Dome in Tampa
Freakin awesomely killer!!!
I love Alice and I'm probably one of his most loyal fans. Most folks don't know he's a devout Christian and his pop's was a preacher as was his wife's pop's.
Most people actually do know that. He’s also an avid golfer.
@@Shikta-poobah67 yip!
40 years ago, what a trip
J'adore Alice (Vincent Furnier, so french).
It was the best Ken Dodd impression of Alice Cooper ever....
FANTASTIC VERSION! (So much better than the studio versions)
This version of this song has been among my favorite Alice Cooper songs ever since this aired!
This definitely is much better than the album version, as is every other live recording I’ve heard from this period. Also I saw Alice on this tour in the fall of ‘81, and though it was a looong time ago, I do remember thinking the sound was awesome (not that he’s ever sounded bad live). I like Special Forces, but it’s produced for shit. I’ve never been a big fan of remixing, but that’s one album that would really benefit from a full remix and remaster, though I seriously doubt that will ever happen.
I hope to find a recording, ware te greatfull dead performed unplugged, on Tom Snyder's program
Outstanding!
his little bouncy boxing thing is great
Now runs a Christian School and Charitable Center in Nashville, TN-Vincent Fornier
This right here,is all kinds of hot,cool,and fucking amazing
I had no idea he was also into cocaine at this time until last night when I saw Super Duper Alice Cooper. Apparently he talked about freebasing and rock cocaine use for the very first time in it, partly because his friend Bernie Taupin would only appear in the film if Alice would finally open up about coke, which Taupin apparently got him into in the first place in the late 70's. He always said it was a big alcohol blackout that these early 80's albums were made in, and I think it's still true he was abusing booze at this time, but it's weird cause the documentary doesn't actually mention the whole sip of Cheryl's wine relapse story that he's told over and over for years.
Sam Windmill I too know the evils of crack cocaine. Fortunately not anymore. I can relate to where he was at this point though. So strange
+Mark Rago
Me too. At this same time in the '80s, pretty much EVERYBODY that partied did some coke. I did more than my share, but I started to see people go down the fucking toilet in a hurry and was lucky enough to get away from it relatively unscathed. Uncle Alice was WAY down the fucking rabbit hole though, holy shit!
He probably invented that story. It isn't the only story he's invented over the years.
I knew before Super DUper Alice Cooper that something didn't add up. While I have no experience with coke, I know how drunks behave and he clearly isn't drunk here. He's the opposite of drunk. Drunks have slow and slurry speech and they're slow in general. Alice is extremely speeded here, so it's obvious he's on something that makes him like that. .
Me too. I always knew he was an ALCOHOLIC. But I hadn't known that he ever had a DRUG problem until RECENTLY when I looked into THIS period ( which was pretty obscure for a long time ).
I don't believe the relapse back into alcohol was a cover up.In his Golf Monster autobiography it reconfirms the story of taking a sip of his wife's wine and goes into more detail.It talks about how he was hiding bottles of liquor all over the house.It was at that time she tried to file for divorce because she couldn't stand to watch him kill himself anymore.
You're a movie! Yes! Send us to the Lines!
I wonder if he still performs material from this pop-rock period. I like a lot of it. Particularly his Flush the Fashion album.
Ken Maziarz he does, he’s played Pain, Clones and Grim Facts recently.
A few tunes from Flush The Fashion, but nothing from any of the other “blackout” albums. Not to my knowledge anyway. It’s a shame too, because there were some real gems from that period.
That was an experience ⚡️⚡️
My gawd. He looks skeletal here...thinning hair, teeth yellow. Looks like he weighs about 80 lbs.
Lot of great Rock Stars, in better shape than that, died so Young.
Glad he recovered, And still performing great Rock today.
LEGEND.
this album was hard rock with new wave influences. very good album with good music. every song is cool. i think my favorite solo albums are "go to hell", "special forces", "DaDa", and actually "paranormal" is very good
back when musicians were talented.
Yeah, because all the talented musicians either died or retired… derp. 🤨
He completely lost me during this era.. I saw the Killer Show in '72 and Billion $ Babies in '73. Now THAT was Alice in his prime. Nothing equaled AC and the original group afterwards. Shit I don't even recognise him in this vid. Like a totally different person. Thank God he cleaned up...
Compared to the original band, anything after ‘74 is going to suck by way of comparison. However, I’ll take this era of Alice over late 80’s/early 90’s hair metal Alice, or late 70’s muppet-lounge Alice any old time.
At least this stuff was weird enough to be interesting and disturbing.
Cool!!!
I just keep wondering what he was thinking, in his rather 'druggy' moments, in front of his backstage mirror, doing his makeup....
"Let's see here...let's do...ONE giant eyebrow...yes, that's good...and let's just put a little bit of dark shadow under each cheek bone-just a smidge....ok...and some seriously white, simmey eye shadow...overdrawn lips....annnnnd we have it!" XD
+creatornat
Boy, I'm sure he was going for "weird" but HOLY SHIT!!!! I hated this "new" look and sound of his when it happened...I was a die-hard Alice fan WAY before he "re-invented" himself during this era of his career. I remember HATING his new look and sound when I first heard and saw it. It's funny...this all happened when I was a teenager, and I remember being disappointed when I found out that the "evil ghoul/maniac" that was Alice Cooper in the '70s was basically a "gimmick" and he was actually a really nice guy...then Special Forces (and the other albums of this period) came out and I HATED it! I pretty much gave up on him during this era. Looking back at it though, during this part of his career, he pretty much BECAME the sick, twisted, fucked up person I wish he was when I was younger...and it's taken all of the decades since for me to revisit those weird "new wave" and "punk" albums he put out in the early '80s, to realize how messed up he actually was at that point.
Not too mention the hair pinned up like an old ladies! I think he looks a bit like a punk / junkie version of that "sweet transvestite" guy from Rocky Horror. It kind of brought the ANDROGYNOUS element, that he had in the really early ( 70 / 71 ) days of the persona, back into the image in a very weird way. MY favorite SONG from THIS album is You Look Good In Rags.
@@creepyskulldini581 I believe I heard him say he was aiming for the look to be like Joan Crawford in ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane''
Heres a picture for an example: derekwinnert.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/whatever-happened-to.jpg
You know that overused saying; “Cocaine is a helluva drug”? Well….
I've always thought the Special Forces Album is horrible for the most part and still do but I've always found the songs sound good live.
It’s just produced lousy, is all. Normally I can’t stand it when bands remix their old albums, but I’d make an exception in the case of Special Forces. Alice needs to get hold of the master reels and do a complete remix and remaster. You even said it yourself - there’s some really good songs on there. They’re just mired by a shitty mix. I saw him on this tour and I remember the way everyone was talking about how much better all those songs sounded live.