The Space Boss wrote:
> Reading the reviews of MUSCLE OF LOVE on Amazon, many fans say "It was
> clear things were over for the Alice Cooper Group by the time of
> Muscle of Love..." and that there was nowhere to go but in the
> direction Alice went: solo, Welcome to my nightmare, etc..
>
> Would you agree? Are things finished because of a bad album? Or could
> they have come back with another "Billion Dollar Babies"?
>
> The truth is, sometimes a band NEVER REALLY DOES recover from a bad
> album. Take KISS's "Dynasty".. things were never, ever the same after
> that album. Ever.
>
> Then again, you have to take the Amazon reviews with a grain of salt,
> as you've got people saying that "From the Inside" is the greatest
> Alice Cooper album OF ALL..
>
They were probably, unfortunately, finished. A lot of factors come into
play here:
1. Buxton had become a non-functioning member of the band at this time.
2. With one or two exceptions, Mike wrote all the music and the well was
running dry.
3. Exit Ezrin. Douglas's production on this was very dry. Which makes no
sense because his work with Aerosmith at this time was incredible.
4. MOL shows a major ****ft in in album "personality". No menace, no
snarl, no creepiness at all. There's a lot of "Puttin' on the Ritz"
attitude. All the edginess was smoothed out to a ****ny polish. It almost
plays like a Bob Hope Texaco Special with its all-star cast. Liza
Minelli, Pointer Sisters, Ronnie Spector.
5. "Pretties" was recorded back when they were all barely 20 years old.
By the time MOL was done, they were all around 25. They had all changed
as people and musicians to the point where being locked in a studio or
bus or jet airplane with each other endlessly had become very unpleasant.
6. Bob Greene's book published the things none of them would say to each
other.
Bands can and do "come back" from an album that tanks. Witness Rush or
ZZ Top still cranking them out. But the popular music business is
fickle. What is outrageous, fresh, and edgy today is cliched, stale and
tired tomorrow. And your label will drop you if you can't sell enough
product.
I'm going to retract a bit from an earlier discussion. While "Nightmare"
or "Goes" have no stylistic resemblance to "Killer" or "School's Out",
they are VERY similar to MOL.
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