Top 5 Alice Cooper Albums

With 29 studio albums and over half a century of activity, there’s no shortage of musical material from Alice Cooper. While a lot of talking points are towards his stage show and theatrics, the shock rock pioneer has a catalog so extensive that he could go on a full tour and not play the same song twice. This wealth of riches is incredible for hardcore fans, but can also be a bit daunting for new listeners that may want to explore deeper into Cooper’s iconic career. There are several eras to dive into – from the years of the original Alice Cooper band in the early 70s, to the “blackout” period of the early 80s, to the straightforward hard rock of the modern day – and what’s even better is no two albums sound the same.

As overwhelming as it can be to listen through so many albums as a new fan, it’s just as daunting for a hardcore fan such as myself to make rankings of any kind in regards to Alice Cooper’s extensive discography – when so many records are favored equally, it gets difficult to narrow things down in any capacity. However, ahead of Alice Cooper’s headlining performance in Wilmington, NC on October 5, I plan to do just that over the next few weeks in anticipation of his first appearance in the Cape Fear area, starting with the top 5 studio albums.

5. Dragontown (2001)

Alice Cooper’s 22nd studio album, Dragontown, follows a similar sonic direction and stands as a sequel of sorts to its predecessor, 2000’s Brutal Planet. The latter was a head-turning success — it stands as Cooper’s heaviest album to date, and is conceptually still as relevant today as it was at the time of its release. Dragontown continues the story by delving further into the world that Brutal Planet built, going even deeper and darker into the mythos of what came before it. Along with encountering characters from the Brutal Planet album here on Dragontown, it’s an environmental allegory of Hell, and Cooper even pays tribute to his late rock and roll companions by sending them there — the title track is said to be a nod to Jim Morrison, “Disgraceland” is entirely dedicated to the King of Rock himself, Elvis Presley, and “It’s Much Too Late” is vocally inspired by John Lennon. Not only that, but there’s also a tie-in to “Nurse Rozetta” from Cooper’s 1978 masterpiece From the Inside, in the form of “Sister Sara.”

Dragontown is sonically a much more diverse collection of songs than Brutal Planet, and continues to deliver on the heaviness of what came before it — “Deeper” is a slow-grinding banger, “Triggerman” is a fantastic opener and one of the most high-energy tracks in Cooper’s catalog, “Fantasy Man” captures the tongue-in-cheek humor that fans have come to know and love, and “Every Woman Has a Name” is the ballad that every Alice Cooper record needs. Additionally, the production is sleeker on this album, allowing it to not fall victim to the “loudness wars” that plagued Brutal Planet and several other hard rock albums at that time. In short, Dragontown succeeds at expanding the Brutal Universe while also having an identity of its own.

Standout Tracks: “Triggerman,” “Sex, Death, and Money,” “It’s Much Too Late”

4. Killer (1971)

There’s a lot to love from the original Alice Cooper band, from “Caught in a Dream” to “Generation Landslide,” but as far as albums go, Killer is the cream of the crop. Whether it’s the live staples like “Under My Wheels” and “Be My Lover” or the back-to-back punch of “Halo of Flies” and “Desperado,” it’s impossible to deny that this is a fantastically cohesive effort with a variety of offerings.

In a few ways, Killer really is the complete package — so much of this album is ingrained in the DNA of Cooper’s show, with just a couple examples being the darkness of “Dead Babies” and the upbeat in-your-face energy of “You Drive Me Nervous.” Also known for performing on stage with a snake, it’s fitting to have the face of one on the album cover, and the musical motif towards the end of the title track is also played by the band each time Cooper goes through the guillotine towards the end of his live performances to this day.

Standout Tracks: “Under My Wheels,” “Halo of Flies,” “Desperado”

3. From the Inside (1978)

From the Inside is a very interesting album in the grand scheme of Alice Cooper’s discography — based on his experiences and the people he met during his stay at the Cornell Medical Center in White Plains, NY to treat his alcoholism, this is one of Cooper’s most personal and introspective releases to date. What makes it even more impactful is the fact that he writes in the first person for a majority of these songs, even when the song is about someone else — this occasionally makes it difficult to discern which lyrics reflect his mindsets while in the ward, but there’s also something poetic about Cooper opting to take on the perspectives of several of the characters on the album. Partnered with songwriting extraordinaire Bernie Taupin (perhaps best known for his longtime collaborative partnership with Elton John), this record features not only one of Cooper’s best vocal performances in the studio, but also some of his most meaningful lyrics.

There is also an argument to be made that From the Inside is Alice Cooper’s best album from a musical perspective — the orhestral elements in songs like “Inmates (We’re All Crazy)” and “Nurse Rozetta” help take things to another level sonically, and the diverse cast of characters also allows for a variety of tonal shifts from song to song. While songs like the title track and “Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills” flow from one to the other very well, songs like “The Quiet Room” and “How You Gonna See Me Now” stand on their own in the best way possible, as if everything else comes to a halt and these songs are the only things in the spotlight. With ten tracks to take you through the psych ward that Cooper stayed in, the album flies by remarkably fast, and it’s hard to listen to one track without listening to them all.

Standout Tracks: “The Quiet Room,” “Serious,” “For Veronica’s Sake”

2. Hey Stoopid (1991)

Hey Stoopid could very easily be a greatest hits album of sorts — fresh off the success of his commercial comeback, the 1989 glam-rock extravaganza Trash, Cooper upped the ante with this 1991 follow-up. Still embracing the glam-rock sound of the mid to late 80s, everything about Hey Stoopid was just bigger in comparison to Trash — the songs sounded bigger, the features and collaborations were abundant, the emotions were more earnest, and it’s just an epic record all around (and it’s not just because of the record label it was released under).

Featuring contributions from Ozzy, Slash, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and even horror goddess Cassandra Peterson (also known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), Hey Stoopid has a plethora of killer tracks that go way further than just the phenomenal title track and the insanely fun “Feed My Frankenstein.” The album is perfectly split into equal parts of hard-hitting bangers and beautiful ballads — “Snakebite” and “Hurricane Years” are some of Cooper’s catchiest works, and “Might As Well Be On Mars” may very well be the greatest song he’s ever written on a technical level, let alone one of his best ballads. Every album has their highlights, but as a collective body of work, this is easily one of Alice Cooper’s strongest efforts to date.

Standout Tracks: “Hey Stoopid,” “Snakebite,” “Might As Well Be On Mars”

1. The Eyes of Alice Cooper (2003)

After the ultra-heavy pairing of Brutal Planet and Dragontown at the start of the new millennium, Alice Cooper returned to his patented hard rock roots for 2003’s The Eyes of Alice Cooper. Donning the Love it to Death-style of eye makeup on the cover, this album was hailed by fans and critics as a bit of a return to form, with the single “Between High School & Old School” catching the most attention at the time of release. Today, it stands as one of the most emblematic albums of Alice Cooper’s catalog.

Every quality of Alice Cooper one can think of is presented on this record — there’s the embrace of the macabre in “This House is Haunted,” the love letter to his hometown roots in “Detroit City,” the humor of “What Do You Want from Me?,” the tender-heartedness of “Be With You Awhile,” the angsty/sinister qualities of “Spirits Rebellious” and “I’m So Angry,” and so much more. The cover art suggests that the album would be relatively heavy and unrelenting, in a way that’s almost in the spirit of punk rock, but it subverts those expectations with songs like “Novocaine” and “The Song That Didn't Rhyme,” and no Alice Cooper release is complete without a couple curveballs. While it has some more modern rock sensibilities than the traditional hits like “School’s Out” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” everything about this album still screams “ALICE.” As far as the name goes, it may be as close as we’ll get to a self-titled album, and after a complete listen through the full record, it’s easy to tell just how fitting it is.

Standout Tracks: “Novocaine,” “Spirits Rebellious,” “The Song That Didn’t Rhyme”

While the Master of Madness has had an incredible career, he’s not done yet — his 29th studio album, Road, was just released on August 25. Click here to read my track-by-track thoughts on the album, and click here to buy/stream it.

Alice Cooper’s also currently on the road with Rob Zombie, Ministry, and Filter on the second annual Freaks on Parade Tour, with more solo tour dates to follow until the end of the year. For dates and to buy tickets, click here.

To keep up with Alice Cooper, click here.

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