Among his many other accomplishments, the erstwhile Vincent Furnier, known now to most of the world as the hard-rocker Alice Cooper, did a lot better than his peers in the genre in crossing over to the pop charts. And he did it over a longer stretch than you might remember, as the hits rolled right through the ’70s into the early ’80s.
He was also able to shift styles when need be, as he was just as adept with ballads as with the thunder-bringers. Here are the five Alice Cooper songs that made the biggest dents on the U.S. pop charts.
5. “I Never Cry” (No. 12 in 1976)
Cooper’s connection with Bob Ezrin certainly helped him to forge a path that included high-drama ballads in his repertoire. As a producer, Ezrin had a knack for putting these songs in settings that were tough and tender all at once. Notice how the French horn sort of sneaks up in the background of this track, while the drum fills of Allan Schwartzberg play up the pomp of the melody. “I Never Cry” was meant as a kind of emotional centerpiece to the 1976 album Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, but it did quite well when cut loose on the world as a single.
4. “How You Gonna See Me Now” (No. 12 in 1978)
Here’s another ballad that takes advantage of Cooper’s natural ability to play the bad boy with a heart of a gold. If this song gives you a bit of deja vu, it’s because it certainly seems an attempt to mimic Elton John’s sweeping slow ones from his classic period. In fact, to get just the right bit of authenticity, Cooper employed Bernie Taupin to help with the lyrics. David Foster produced this one, which could be why it skews a bit more toward the adult contemporary genre than, for example, the slow stuff produced by Bob Ezrin. Nonetheless, it’s an affecting melody that Cooper sings to the hilt.
3. “You and Me” (No. 9 in 1977)
Cooper kept churning out concept albums throughout the ’70s, usually in conjunction with Bob Ezrin as producer and Dick Wagner as co-writer. Lace and Whiskey from 1977 presented Cooper as a kind of film-noir private detective, because, well, why not? “You and Me” was the breakout hit from that album, and it’s shown to have a lot more staying power than the other ballads we’ve already profiled on this list. Maybe because it’s less of a woe-is-me rock star’s lament and more a song about two simple people in love, a far more relatable topic.
2. “Poison” (No. 7 in 1989)
Cooper deserves a lot of credit for influencing many different genres throughout his career. The “hair metal” that dominated radio and MTV in the late ’80s certainly owed a great debt to him, from the outlandish imagery accompanying the music to the reliance on power ballads. It made sense then that Cooper’s big comeback (“Poison” was his first Top-40 hit in almost a decade) fit so well into the genre. In fact, you could argue that Cooper’s ability to effortlessly inhabit the outsized structure of the song (co-written with hit-maven Desmond Child and future Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald) found him beating the kids at their own game.
1. “School’s Out” (No. 7 in 1972)
Once he left behind his original band and became more of a solo artist with session men, the controversies surrounding Cooper’s approach began to fade and he became a pop culture icon. But there was a time in the late ’70s when he was actually viewed as a menace to society. He took advantage of that to great effect by finding song topics that played into his rebellious image. What better way to reach out to disaffected youth than by penning an anthem devoted to the final moments of the school year, only exaggerating it to the point the school in question is blown to bits? Genius move, and as catchy a hard rocker as you’ll find from that era.
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