Trying to follow up the mega-success that was Trash would have been no mean feat for one of the great icons of music. To help out, he pulled together an array of friends to help write and perform on the new album, and the end result was Hey Stoopid.
Like Trash this has a great mix of Alice Cooper rockers and ballads, and while it is probably rubbished by hard core Cooper fans as it is not a ‘traditional’ album of his style, it was perfect for the time. Having moved with the times (again) he and his buddies have produced an almost flawless combination of songs.
There is something for everyone here. Lyrically every song has its message, even the ‘love ballads’ have that Alice Cooper message infused into their words. As with all of Alice’s work in this direction, there is still enough rock in these songs to stop them falling into the same category as most soft rock ballads that many hair metal bands of the day fell into. Songs such as “Love’s a Loaded Gun”, “Burning Our Bed” and “Might As Well Be On Mars” are still great rock songs. “Might As Well Be On Mars” in particular showcases the best that not only Alice, but his band, has to offer, and is one of my favourites on the album – yes, that’s right, a ‘ballad’ is one of my faves.
Of course, there are the faster, heavier tracks here too. The title track for one, “Feed My Frankenstein”, “Hurricane Years” and “Little By Little” are up there with the best of this generation’s Alice Cooper works.
Not only does he have a great group of musicians around him as a part of his band, the guests on the album reads like a who’s-who of music at the time – Ozzy Osbourne, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Mick Mars, Slash, Nikki Sixx.
Though the ‘traditionalists’ may disagree, I think this is one of Alice Cooper’s finest moments. It is certainly one of my favourite of his albums, if not my absolute favourite. I guess seeing as I spent one night pumping about $45 dollars into a video jukebox, just so my mate and I could watch the video to “Hey Stoopid” about one hundred times in a row back when it was released (missing the movie we had specially gone out to see in the process), I’d have to like it a little bit…
Rating: A great album from one of the finest artists in his time. 5/5.
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