Let me start by first saying that I am honored to have the opportunity to review this masterpiece of an album. It is surely one of my all-time favorites (by any artist or band). The message woven throughout resonates to my very soul (thus where I shall focus most of my attention of this review). Musically, there’s something for almost any Alice fan, as it is a mixture of vintage 70s Alice with a few modern rockers sprinkled throughout. In my humble opinion, a strong case could be made that “The Last Temptation” (“TLT”) is one of the best albums of Alice Cooper's career. It can easily (and should) be spoken of in the same sentence as such Alice classics as "Love It To Death," "Killer," "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Welcome To My Nightmare". And speaking of "Welcome To My Nightmare," TLT gives us the return of the beloved character 'Steven' in this concept album that is designed to be a morality tale (closely mirroring Alice’s own personal journey of faith).
 
TLT finds Steven bored with life (“Sideshow”); nothing seems to interest him. This then opens the door for the Lord of Darkness, Satan himself (in the form of a sideshow barker), to come in and offer his “assistance”. Satan makes Steven an offer that is difficult to refuse… all the pleasures this world has to offer: power, money, drugs, sex, you name it… Steven can have it all.
 
What Steven is not told is that… in the end… there is always a heavy price to pay for accepting the quick and easy wicked ways of the world ("Nothing's Free"). The frustration and futility of chasing after things… the “American dream” are highlighted in “Lost In America”. “Bad Place Alone” warns of the pitfalls, dangers and the eventual unsavory demise of those trapped in gang violence and drug addiction. “You’re My Temptation” is a resounding warning to steer clear of the deceptive seductiveness of sexual sin (especially shunning the temptress by which it comes). “Stolen Prayer” is a litany of the many regrets from walking this deceived path (sent desperately Heavenward).
 
Underpinning all of this, a spiritual battle is being waged (“Unholy War”). It is a battle of good vs evil, right vs wrong… a battle for the soul of a man, where a decision must ultimately be made (with his eternity hanging in the balance). With this decision of utmost importance pending, “Lullaby” examines the many consequences of sin. “It’s Me” is an ode and call to a lifelong relationship based on love and commitment. TLT finishes up with an enduring message for all of us of hope, grace and redemption (“Cleansed By Fire”): "What about truth/What about life/What about glory/What about Christ/What about peace/What about love/What about faith in God above".

​BIO:
Waylon James Glunt is husband (of 26+ years) to his wonderful wife Stephanie Jo, father of 2 boys (Waylon James II & and David Edwin) and recent new grandfather of Daniel Allan Glunt. He spends his days (besides work) listening to music, watching movies, working out (running and biking)... and catering to the every whim of Daniel Allan’s Jedi Mind powers.

 
Two minutes and fifteen seconds
 
by Shawn Macomber
 
 
 
--That’s all it took Alice Cooper to steal the eighth highest grossing film of 1992—a movie that had, in fact, sat in the number one box office slot for five straight weeks and in the subsequent quarter century has proven an enduring cultural touchstone.
 
Two minutes and fifteen seconds.
 
Yet Cooper’s role in Wayne’s World almost didn’t happen.
 
“When I got the script, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was already there,” director Penelope Spheeris told Billboard last year. “The studio wanted to have Guns N’ Roses in there somewhere, and Mike wanted to have Aerosmith as the performance band. Aerosmith said they didn’t want to do it. You’ll notice that Aerosmith is in Wayne’s World 2, however. I’m gonna call that ‘two bad decisions.’ So when Aerosmith declined, I immediately brought up Alice because I had just worked with him on Decline of Western Civilization Part II.” 
 
Smart choice. But, of course, as with every aspect of his career, Alice wasn’t looking to do the standard issue cooler-than-thou rock star cameo—and writer/star Mike Myers was only too happy to facilitate a classic Cooper absurdist subversion.
 
In fact, Cooper learned upon arrival that in addition to performing “Feed My Frankenstein,” Myers had written him five pages of dialogue.
 
“It was fairly complicated,” Cooper recalls in his autobiography Golf Monster. “[I asked] ‘When are we going to shoot this?’”
 
In about half an hour came the answer.
 
“When I walked out on camera to do the scene, I honestly couldn’t remember the details in the lines, so I started winging it,” he continues. “I adlibbed about half of it.”
 
And this is how we end up following Wayne and Garth backstage where rather than waist deep in wild decadence the pair instead finds their hero more interested in discussing the sociopolitical history of Brew City.
 
“So, do you come to Milwaukee often?” Wayne asks.
 
“Well, I'm a regular visitor here,” Cooper replies. “But Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600s to trade with the Native Americans.”
 
“In fact, isn't ‘Milwaukee’ an Indian name?” guitarist Pete Friesen—a veteran of the Hey Stoopid and Trash tours—replies.
“Yes, Pete, it is. Actually, it's pronounced ‘mill-e-wah-que’ which is Algonquin for ‘the good land.’”
 
“I was not aware of that.”
 
Though the cognitive dissonance is evident, Cooper presses on: “I think one of the most interesting aspects of Milwaukee is the fact that it's the only major American city to have ever elected three socialist mayors.”
 
“Does this guy know how to party or what!”
 
Now, I’m no Aerosmith hater—on the right days that video of Steven tyler sidling up to the Russian busker will definitely make me tear up—but can anyone envision that legendary frontman pulling this off with anywhere near the deadpan, sly brilliance of Cooper?
 
Of course not.
 
There’s a very meta aspect to this as well: When Wayne and Garth fall to their knees and make that immortal declaration—“We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!”—it’s true not just in the cinematic world of the scene, but out here in the real world as well; a place where it is clear very few human beings past, future, or present can fuck around with convention in such a effortless, effective way.
 
Wayne and Garth aren’t worthy—and neither are we.
 
One last tidbit before I stop monopolizing your attention and allow you to run to the nearest streaming service to revisit this hilarious triumph in all its undimmed glory: What appeared on screen, we now know, was only the tip of the iceberg.
 
“I think we did it in two takes,” Cooper told Billboard of the scene. “Of course, Dana and Mike, on the floor with the ‘We’re not worthy!’ thing, were doing everything they could to get me to break up. But they didn’t realize my iron will, so I went right through that dialogue, and I think I surprised them. But if you would have seen the outtakes of ‘We’re not worthy, we’re scum,’ it goes on for like five or six minutes. And it just gets vile. Whoever owns those outtakes owns a little treasure.”
 
It’s been twenty five years—release those tapes, motherfuckers! 

 
You know that uncle that says questionable things and is maybe a little crazy? The one whose company you pretend to abhor like the rest of your family but with whom you're secretly fascinated? That uncle is FREDDY'S DEAD. Released in 1991 and directed by until-then producer Rachel Talalay, the film was met with hideous critical reception and a general sense of WTF. At the title suggests, this was meant as the final chapter in the blockbuster franchise, but despite those poor reviews, it pulled in enough dough to merit the sequel NEW NIGHTMARE, from which Wes Craven would mine his meta ideas and create a little known offering called SCREAM shortly after. But if Craven brought the films back to their more serious roots, then FREDDY'S DEAD was the tipping point. An entry so bat shit crazy, it more closely resembles a Looney Toons sketch than a horror film.

To sum up the plot is a truly ludicrous task. You've got an unnamed amnesiac character, supposedly the last remaining Elm Street survivor, who finds his way to a shelter where he's treated by a psychologist experiencing the same dream—er, nightmares—as him. You've got a road trip back to Springwood (the very place our John Doe was running from) and a cast of fucked-up kids who are victims of early nineties fashion (the only actual horror element of the film). From there, it goes further off the rails, if indeed it was ever on them.

First-time director Rachel Talalay took the film in a more comedic direction. That's not to say the prior movies were lacking in the LOL department. Freddy had already pounced from refrigerators, eaten soul pizzas, and who can forget about his jaunt as a superhero in THE DREAM CHILD? But parts one through five, no matter how esoteric, still maintained a somewhat serious tone. After all, we're talking about a child molester whose vigilante undoing signed a death sentence for dozens of teenagers. But Talalay finally edged Freddy into full-fledged roast master, with a never-ending supply of one liners. And while this may have been jarring for long-time fans, the transition makes total sense. Talalay's sensibilities lay much more in comedy than horror. Just take a look at her credits. She directed TANK GIRL, for crying out loud.

And with each film edging closer to that fine line, it shouldn't have been a shock. But it was. And it is. Many Freddy fans, to this day, like to pretend this false ending doesn't exist. Not to the extent of the remake (what remake?) but it's prevailing opinion nonetheless. And I'm here to scream it from the mountain tops: FREDDY'S DEAD is freaking great. Is it a series highlight? Absolutely not. But it doesn't aim to be. It aims to take the story in a different, albeit ballsy direction, and, above all else, it strives to be in-fucking-sane. This is a film whose last ten minutes are in 3D for no apparent reason. A film that features cameos from Roseanne Barr, Tom Arnold, and—wait for it—Alice Cooper himself. A film where Freddy's first on-screen moment finds him riding a broom in homage to the Wicked Witch of the West. This movie ain't taking itself serious and neither should you. Anything can happen and nearly everything does.

Speaking of Alice: according to a very snazzy NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET wiki page, Cooper's character is named Edward Underwood and is actually Freddy's adopted father. I'm not sure where this name came from, as he's technically uncredited, but maybe these rabid fans have access to some dark web script notes that I don't. He drinks a lot. He yells a lot. And he's fond of his belt, which he uses to whip a young Freddy into oblivion. Eventually, his son experiences a we're-not-gonna-take-it revelation and gives it right back. In the form of a straight razor to the eye. Cooper isn't given much screen time but his flashback scenes are some of the most crucial. They inform what I still believe to be an excellent plot twist even if there are plenty of less-than-subtle hints up to that point.

Uncle FREDDY'S DEAD might be weird. Might be over the top. Heck, he might even be shunned by fans galore. But Uncle FREDDY'S DEAD is just misunderstood. He wants to have a good time. Wants to tell you all his whacky stories, some of which are in 3D because why not? Next time you see him, take that first step. Don't be shy. He's dying to recount his glory days, how he was meant to be a harbinger of doom but instead grossed enough to give way to another pivotal sequel. Maybe you'll learn to love him despite his flaws or maybe not. Either way, you're in for one hell of a ride.

Alice certainly wanted to party with his friends on the 1991 album, Hey Stoopid. Accompanying the Cooper band, Ozzy Osbourne was there to grab a microphone, Nikki Sixx thumped Bass, and guitars were passed between Slash, Steve Vai, Vinnie Moore and Mick Mars. However, the largest contribution saw Joe Satriani hammer his Ibanez on five of the twelve tracks as well as providing backing vocals alongside Ozzy on the title track.

During the early-nineties, I wore the true colours of the metalhead, and as a fifteen year-old permanently plugged into a Sony Walkman, I bought the Hey Stoopid single, helping it reach Number 4 in the UK charts. Impressed with the B-sides “Wind-Up Toy” and “It Rained All Night”, I needed the album for my fast-growing CD collection. So heading into Our Price, the only record store in town, I snatched a copy from the shelf and saw those big names credited. It cost me something like two-weeks’ wage as a paperboy.

Incidentally this album and so many others of that time, proved more important than my GCSEs (my results are evidence of this).

Following the hit of its 1989 predecessor, Trash, this latest album had much to live up to. But it fell short of album sales in comparison. I am fully aware that the eighties oozed cheesy rock, ridiculous hair and bandanas, but I do wonder if Hey Stoopid’s low chart rating was because a third of the album contains a bit too much stilton.

For me, four incredibly whiffy songs pull it down the ranks, four cheesy-stilton hummers: “Love’s A Loaded Gun”, “Burning Our Bed”, “Might As Well Be On Mars” and “Die For You”. Seriously, they’re so damn cheesy it upsets me:

Oh, oh, oh, you can hold my heart for ransom.
But you’ll never own my soul.

However, there is much to love about Hey Stoopid. The title track for instance is a brilliant opener, and there’s “Feed My Frankenstein” which saw fame in the 1992 movie Wayne’s World. Other belters are “Hurricane Years”, “Little By Little,” and “Dirty Dreams”, each with some cracking riffs. Most of which can be attributed to those fine party-goers already mentioned. And I must say, these particular tunes all contain a more inspiring level of lyrical value. Finally, we have the twelfth track “Wind-Up Toy” and by far my favourite. It’s atmospheric with Alice’s voice perfectly stacking up the creep factor as he tells us:

All my friends live on the floor, tiny legs and tiny eyes.
They're free to crawl under the door. And, and someday soon so will I.

The early-nineties brimmed with as much cheese as the eighties, and inevitably Hey Stoopid did not escape, yet the album as a whole whiffs just a little. It’s a fine album with some incredible tunes featuring some incredible names. I often play it… although may end up skipping the odd track or two.

Hey Stoopid. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey stoopid! Get back here. Look, I'm sorry I called you stoopid. Yeah I know I'm the one who’s stupid for spelling stoopid incorrectly. But hear me out here: It's actually Alice Cooper who is stoopid. And he’s stoopid on purpose.

Way back in 1991 he released his 19th studio album titled Hey Stoopid. Spelled just like that. So, you see I wasn't actually being stupid, I was just singing the titular song from the album when you happened on by. I wasn't actually calling you stoopid, I was just singing. So maybe if you just minded your own business we could have avoided this unpleasant confrontation.

But, since I've got your ear now, let me tell you more about this glorious album from the pantheon of Vincent Funier’s illustrious musical career (that's Alice Cooper's real name which I’m sure positive been shoved down your throat a million times in previous Summer of Alice articles already. But damnit, what kind of esteemed music journalist would I be if I didnt offer up that basic but important piece of information on the man more colloquially known as Alice Cooper. And how damn long can I make this parenthetical aside anyway?)

So Hey Stoopid was released in 1991 as the follow up to the wildly successful Trash. That album was a tough act to follow. It was an album that put Alice back on the map, driven by the mega-hit, Poison. Add to that a music atmosphere on the cusp of changing over to the Pacific Northwest’s Grunge sound. Hey Stoopid had big shoes to fill. And if you ask this reporter it succeeded on both fronts.

Let’s face facts, it wasn’t the hit record that Trash was. Not commercially speaking. Where Hey Stoopid shines is hearing Alice Cooper better balance that gritty, shock horror sound he was known for with the pop-rock success of most of the music on Trash. It wasn’t the album that brought Alice Cooper back into popular conscience but it was the type of album that won back his more hard core fans who may have been offput by the pop rock sound of Trash.

Alice also re-employed the tactic of having guest musicians play on various tracks. Heavy hitters such as Slash, Joe Satriani, Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai, Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars of Motley Crue and even Elvira, Mistress of the Dark add flavor and depth to Hey Stoopid. Those names alone helped give a darker, edgier sound over the Bon-Jovi inspired pop rock sound on Trash.

The titular track kicks off the album. Hey Stoopid the song is an anti-drug anthem, comical coming from Alice Cooper. This is a guy who can’t remember recording several albums due to heavy drug use and here is he being the poster boy for Just Say No. But the reality is, who better to point that out. This was also a time in rock where many habitual rock and rollers were stumping for R.A.D (Rockers Against Drugs), usually as part of a community service agreement issued by a judge for letting their habits get the best of them. Typically, after they’d shoot a “drugs are bad” commercial to run on Headbangers Ball, they go plow through an eight ball and a fifth of Jack. But I think when it came to Alice, he was done with the stuff.

But the album Hey Stoopid runs far deeper than the titular song.

Forget about the lead track, Hey Stoopid has way more to offer. There's also “Love’s A Loaded Gun” a dark murderous love song all too apropos for an Alice Cooper album. And if you want dark love songs with a sneer, there's also “Snakebite” and “Dangerous Tonight.” And for my money, the femme fatale anthem custom built for 90’s strip bar DJ’s heavy rotation list, “Little by Little” is nearly perfect.

Above all other songs on Hey Stoopid shines the black diamond, “Feed My Frankenstein”. Driven by Nikki Sixx’s pounding bass line, licked and polished by the dastardly duo of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani’s sizzling guitars and the added dose of the sexy, sultry, silly sound of Elvira’s scintillating voice, “Feed My Frankenstein” is rock n’ roll perfection. The lyrics drip with sexual innuendo based on food play. The lines border on silly (I'm a hungry man But I don't want pizza I'll blow down your house And then I'm gonna eat ya) but are given credibility by virtue of Cooper’s gravel vocals.

“Feed My Frankenstein” is so good, in fact, that Alice Cooper added a theatrical stage performance for it to his live show. That is like the ultimate treatment for an Alice Cooper song. Everyone who goes to an Alice Cooper concert looks forward to this song so they can see Alice get electrocuted on stage and turn into a giant Frankenstein’s monster that actually sings out the chorus through the end of the song. A highlight moment of every Alice Cooper concert to be certain.

In hindsight, I always look back on Hey Stoopid as Alice Cooper’s pivotal album from the glammy 80’s rock sound into what would be his 90’s angst-ridden Last Temptation album. Love it or hate it, Hey Stoopid is all Alice Cooper. It’s pop rock with a dark edge. It’s got a song built for a show stopping moment during an Alice Cooper concert. And really, that’s all any Alice Cooper fan really listens to an Alice Cooper album for: How is this song going to look live?!
 
...They come here every night
I see them
Don't you see them
Hmm that's odd isn't it
I'm so tired
I'm winding down
You'll have to go now
It's bedtime

I don’t know how it came about but my brother and I were watching Wayne’s World. I’m pretty sure it was something my brother had come across. We gleefully noticed Meat Loaf as a club doorman- we’d known of him since getting our Dad a Meat Loaf greatest hits CD for Father’s Day a few years before. We had no idea who Alice Cooper was though. I can’t speak for my brother, but when Cooper burst through that skeleton and started working his way through Feed My Frankenstein, I was blown away! Not only had I never seen someone who looked like Cooper, but I’d not seen someone with the attitude he had, nor had I heard music like Feed My Frankenstein. Being older than me, my brother got hold of an Alice Cooper album before I did. I believe it was The Last Temptation as Lost In America is almost ingrained into my eardrums.

The first Alice Cooper album I brought was Trash. It was a few years after seeing Wayne’s World when I was in HMV. The cover of Cooper, head hanging, a leather studded jacket on with a t-shirt that had an image of Alice Cooper on with half of his flesh removed from his face, immediately grabbed me and I remember sticking the disc straight in my Hi-Fi when I got home.

The first few seconds of "Poison" crawled from my speakers and straight into my head. Compared to the poppy stuff I tended to listen to this felt real, dirty, like an exposed nerve which is felt throughout the album. The conflict of passion for someone who could be so poisonous to you wasn’t something I would experience until years later, with Poison smashing to the forefront of my mind when it did.

After Poison we get "Spark In The Dark". Not as memorable as some of the other tracks on the album but one of my favourites. It has that grimy element to it, and strikes home how passionate that early part of a relationship can be.

With "House of Fire" we get a track that is pure optimism and one of the catchiest tracks on the album. Its simple lyrics and energy have stuck in my mind from when I first heard it. I really do love the positivity of the song. There’s a sense of that during passion the right person can bring, but it’s also a song that pumps me up. It makes me feel like I can do anything I want, if I put my mind to it. It’s also a great track to have blaring in the car on a hot summer’s day.

"Why Trust You" is a track that I often forget when thinking about this album, but when I listen to it it’s got the same energy as much of the album and Cooper sounds like he’s having a lot of fun with the vocals. This song also strikes home how false people can be, how someone can promise you the world but can’t follow through. There’s also some great lyrics in it that I find very memorable and it’s a good addition to Trash.

"Only My Heart Talkin’" is one song on the album that doesn’t grab me. I like my music a little faster than this track and it hasn’t got the sort of intensity that resonates with me either. Listening to the lyrics always makes me feel like that old cliché where men aren’t supposed to vocalise how they’re feeling because it just wasn’t done, and how hard it is to not say those things. It isn’t a bad song, and slows down the album halfway through which serves as a breather before picking up the pace with "Bed Of Nails."

"Bed Of Nails" is one of the best songs on the album for me. I love the energy and pace it has. It feels a little like a cross between "Poison" and "Spark In The Dark", but quicker and much more in your face. Its that fiery type of relationship where it balances between pure rage and passion. This is a song that I easily see as one you’d put in a high tempo playlist. I’ve got it in a motivational one myself. Definitely a song I always sing along to.

"This Maniac’s In Love With You" has a different energy to the rest of the album. It has a sense of resignation to it that comes with blind love. What really sits with me about this song is how it’s paced. It builds up slowly to the chorus and then drops down and begins again. The intensity of the song and how it builds up works really well together. I don’t think it’s one of the iconic tracks on the album but I find it one that’s very memorable and like "Only My Heart Talkin’" slows the pace of the album down before we hit the title track.

"Trash." I always love when an album has a title track. I don’t know why, it’s kind of like when you’re watching a movie and the title is mentioned in dialogue. "Trash" has that dirty, no holds barred feel to it. The lyrics are on point and are saying that it doesn’t matter what you wrap yourself in, you’ll always be the same person at the core. This song isn’t a ballad, it’s not one you’ll blurt out the lyrics to like "Bed Of Nails" but it’s damn good though. Although it sits very snugly with the rest of the album it feels a lot more like its own entity then the rest of the tracks here.

The pace of the album drops again with "Hell Is Living Without You." Where this differs with "Only My Heart Talkin'" is its intensity. This song feels like someone is lying on their bedroom floor with their heart torn out by the person they love the most, but it’s more. They’ve been tossed aside like a piece of garbage. It’s heartbreak in that moment of realisation before you’ve pulled yourself out of the pit it’s put you in. There’s no redemption in the song, it’s just that pain of the moment.

Then we get fired up by "I’m Your Gun." This is an adrenaline-filled, vulgar ballad. You cannot help but sing along to it. Like the rest of the album it feels dirty but it’s different in its energy. It’s another song you pop into motivational playlists as it gets the blood pumping. "I’m Your Gun" ends the album with a bang.

Trash had a lot of hands in it that need mentioning. It was produced by Desmond Child, who also co-wrote a number of the songs on the album. Steve Tyler, Jon Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, Richie Sambora played a part in writing various songs. Bon Jovi and Tyler both added vocals as well. Joe Perry and Richie Sambora added guitar on tracks as well. I’m sure there are other recognisable names in the mix as well, but I’m not well versed in music and the names I’ve mentioned are ones that I recognised.

I’ve only listened to a handful of Cooper’s albums but this feels like the most mainstream of them. It’s the one I’d recommend to someone who was curious about Cooper and wanted to know where to start.

It’s not my favourite Alice Cooper album, that will always be The Last Temptation, but Trash is where it all started for me. It grabbed me and took me into a world of music that wasn’t the cheesy pop I’d see each week on Top Of The Pops. It was real, it was raw, but it was only a taster to what Alice Cooper really is. You can call it watered down and commercial but it’s still Alice Cooper. He didn’t bring people in and leave them to it, he played a part in writing each song.

Trash is the gateway drug for the world of Alice Cooper. 

If THE THING if Carpenter's best film, then PRINCE OF DARKNESS is his most Carpenter film. It's John with nearly complete creative control and, for better and worse, it shows. After his previous film, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, faced studio rewrites and initial critical failure (a running theme with his filmography), he strove for something more independent, with less studio interference. Enter PRINCE OF DARKNESS, a film he conceived while reading about quantum physics (as one does). Having penned the script himself (under the pen name "Martin Quatermass"), the film was co-produced by Larry Franco Productions and Alive Films (with whom Carpenter would go on to release THEY LIVE the following year). It's entirely possible this one may have slipped through your cracks, and you're not alone. But it's a damn shame because PRINCE OF DARKNESS kicks major ancient evil ass.

Before we go any further, I know you're itching for some Cooper facts. It's why you're here after all. In case you're unfamiliar, Alice is in fact a minor character in PRINCE OF DARKNESS, playing one of the possessed derelicts outside the church and primary location of the movie. Here's some trivia. Executive Producer Shep Gordon also managed Cooper at the time, which how his rock star client came to be involved. He's officially credited as "Street Schizo," which sounds like it would be one of his albums or at least a B-side. He also contributed to the soundtrack. The song, named (oddly enough) "Prince of Darkness," can be heard in the background of one scene only. I'm not going to tell you which. You should watch this film for a number of reasons, this being one of them. It could probably be turned into a drinking game, though not a very exciting one. When the song in question arrives, take several shots to make up for its rarity throughout the running time.

Back to the film, though. The plot's a bit contrived but in a nutshell: a priest (played by a hamming-it-up Donald Pleasance) enlists the help of a quantum physics professor (played by an equally-hamming-it-up Victor Wong) and a dozen other academics in studying a mysterious canister of green ooze that looks like it would be the best Kool-Aid flavor ever. Through some investigation of ancient texts and painfully dated computers, it's revealed that this isn't just lime-flavored fruit water but Satan himself. The canister's eventually opened and it affects a good portion of the team, turning them into possessed minions that have gained super strength and now walk slower than most grandparents.

If the plot doesn't immediately wow you, don't worry. This is a Carpenter film (the most Carpenter film if you remember from thirty seconds ago) and, as if often the case with his work, it's less about the plot and the characters and more about the experience. This thing's dripping with atmosphere. The soundtrack is chill-inducing. Synth-laden and brooding, just the opening credit sequence alone (which lasts for nearly ten minutes and must be some sort of record) is enough to let you know that this is going to be a dreadful ninety minutes. The characters are all likeable even if we aren't given much to work with. In some ways, PRINCE OF DARKNESS is similar to THE THING, in that we've got a motley cast of people trapped in a single location and we're given just enough traits and quirks through their reaction to the central conflict to route for them. And those wide shots. They're everywhere. It's like Carpenter entered a contest and won a lifetime supply and you know what? Fine by me. It only adds to the film's general eerie tone and hallucinatory imagery.

It's funny: these Carpenterisms (definitely not a made-up word) are the reason the film was panned by critics upon its initial release. No character development. Too cheesy. Way out there. But like many of his other now-classic films, PRINCE OF DARKNESS was given a second life on home video, which eventually gave way to a cult following. That's not to say it's received the recognition it deserves. Talk to anyone about his catalogue and you're going to hear all about the mind-blowing the effects in THETHING, how those ghost pirates in THE FOG led to nightmares, and of course how HALLOWEEN helped usher in the slasher boom. And that's not to say those statements aren't valid. I agree with all three. But I also agree that PRINCE OF DARKNESS is one of his most consistent entries a decades-spanning career. From the atmosphere to the heady concepts, the nightmare-fueling imagery to the claustrophobic cinematography, PRINCE OF DARKNESS deserves to be mentioned in the same conversation as his other classics. And maybe, as more time passes, the fondness I hold will spread like the puke green devil ooze it represents.
 

I saw Alice on this tour quite by chance. Rachel, a young lady of my acquaintance, all red hair and a bra size larger than her IQ called me to say she’d won tickets to see a female singer she’d heard me mention and was I interested in going. It didn’t matter who it was if she was involved I was interested. The fact the “woman” was Alice Cooper just made me much more interested. It was a great show, Faster Pussycat opened, (Ace Frehley was on the bill too but, big surprise, canceled), with a seriously energetic and sleazy set. Then Alice took the stage and introduced his band, my jaw dropped when he introduced his guitarist, Kane Roberts. Having just gotten serious about working out seeing somebody with 18” arms on a concert stage blew me away. Sadly, the years haven’t been kind to Raise Your Fist and Yell. He hasn’t played anything from it live since that tour from what I’ve read, (he certainly hasn’t at any show I was at), and the album itself has been pretty much forgotten. And that’s a shame because it’s the closest thing to a metal album he’s done and a fine collection of tracks. It deserves rediscovery and re-examination.

The album opens with “Freedom” a high energy track that contains the title lyrics “Freedom...Raise your fist and yell!” This should have become a concert anthem for Alice instead of being discarded. Granted it’s swipe at Russia might be an issue for the vocally Republican Cooper now that his party has climbed into bed with Putin, but there was no reason to shun it back in the day. From there it flows into the equally rebellious “Lock Me Up” and “Give The Radio Back”. Alice is raising a big middle finger to the PMRC and the forces of decency in general. While “Lock Me Up” is an agreeably muscular declaration of evil intent but “Give The Radio Back” and the next track “Step On You” are pretty close to filler. Overly simplistic and repetitive, they’re not horrible but they are the kind of songs that go by unnoticed when you listen to the album. The side ends with “Not That Kind Of Love” a neat little ditty about young lust and differing expectations in a relationship.
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Flipping it over to side two was literally going over to the dark side. Thematically it was like putting on a whole new album. While “He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” got all the attention “Prince of Darkness” from John Carpenter’s film of the same name, is the song that should connect him to genre films. A dark look at the fallen angel himself it’s gifted with an incredible solo from Kane. “Time To Kill” makes clever use of the title phrase’s double meaning. The kind of rock/metal track perfectly suited for all the angry youth who feel the system has screwed them over. Which is to say every teen ever. Raise Your Fist And Yell closes with a linked trilogy of songs revolving around a serial killer, his crimes and origin. Leading off with “Chop, Chop, Chop” wherein the killer boasts about his activities. It’s a solid, if unspectacular piece of rock, and probably your only chance to hear Alice use the phrase “It’s a symbiotic function”. The song’s final line leads into the next track “Gail”. A ballad that tries to be to this album what “Steven” was to “Welcome To My Nightmare” it doesn’t really manage that but it does make a great bridge to the album’s last track. “Roses on White Lace” is probably the single heaviest song he’s ever done, approaching thrash at a couple of points. Detailing the murder of a woman, (one would assume Gail), on her wedding night and
the killer’s taking of souvenirs it’s also one of his nastier moments lyrically, pushing into splatter territory. Alice had an excellent band backing him up here, apart from Kane Roberts it also included Kip Winger, (say what you want about Winger the band, Kip is a solid musician) and Ken Mary on drums. While not a well known name, he’s an excellent player who put in time with bands as diverse as Chastain, Fifth Angel, House of Lords and currently Flotsam and Jetsam. Sadly his next album, Trash, would see him with a new band and a much more commercial, radio friendly sound. It was certainly successful from a sales point of view and yielded the huge hit “Poison” but it felt like a huge sell out at the time. 

Bio
Long time fan of rock, metal and horror, gym rat and crazy cat guy-these are all words that describe James Morrazini. Currently living in the middle of the Canadian prairie from where he runs his website Voices From The Balcony - voicesfromthebalcony.com