Today’s classic Best Perk Me Ups A-Z – Round 3. Today’s letter is C. From Wikipedia………..Clones (Were All) is a 1980 single by rock singer Alice Cooper taken from his 1980 album Flush the Fashion. It reached #40 in the US charts, his first top 40 single in two years. The song is about forced conformity. Cooper reports that he wanted to do the song because he was looking for a new sound. It was written by David Carron (1948-84), who had played in Arlo Guthries Shenandoah, and the short lived Gulliver………….Back to me……………..I love this song. It’s got 1984 style vision to it’s lyrics and at the time people were very nervous about cloning and computers and how they could enslave us. It is the epitome of a great cross of pop-rock-punk and new wave. Although not usually a huge fan of 80’s punk/new wave rock songs, there are easily a good 50 that I thought were OUTSTANDING representations of a new sound and direction. This is one of those. I am surprised it only got to #40. When I heard it (along with Shattered by The Rolling Stones) – I really thought (along with some newer rockabilly explosion influenced stuff and some of the new wave- punk stuff such as Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, The Police and XTC, The Talking Heads etc.) that we were entering a new age of rock and roll re-defining its past and reinventing its present and future. I remember telling people that Clones was going to be remembered among the great pop-rock songs for a long time. Guess I was wrong. But it’s still brilliant, it’s lyrics insightful and intelligent, so whacky and somehow STILL FUN! Still LOVE this track! I never saw the video until 6 months ago that I’m going to show you! Alice’s new wave dance is UNBELIEVABLE as only Alice can be. In the 70’s, I thought Alice Cooper was one of the more overrated of the rock stars but after having heard a cross section of his massive song catalogue over the years from his radio show. I have changed my mind. He’s got a brilliantly WIDE selection of oddball, demented and WHACKY material, some great rockin stuff and some elements of great pop. He seems like an artist who is not afraid to try anything and everything. I admire that! If you ever get to see Alice Cooper’s performance at the Toronto Rock And Roll Festival from 1969. CHECK IT OUT! That was one WEIRDASS demented crazy performance by the whole band. It seems the audience was not only treated to Yoko’s oddball art, but this performance of Alice Cooper’s is mindnumbingly insane and anarchy ridden in rock and roll. I now know why Frank Zappa took such an interest in the early career of Alice Cooper. Alice was admired by many different artists of many genres. The ones that surprised me most was the close friendship of Pat Boone and Alice Cooper but even more so was the fan of Alices known as Groucho Marx. Groucho admired Alice, having started out himself in Vaudeville, as a modern Vaudeville artist unique in his style! Fair enough! Anyways, enjoy this terrific song and oddball performance of Alice Cooper! Having an incredibly hard time posting Clones video off Youtube. Perhaps the video or song is being removed from Youtube. I found a version with great difficulty. So if the link doesn’t work eventually, you’ll know it’s been removed from Youtube for some reason. It happens sometimes either the record company or a law suit or the artist will remove something for professional, monetary and legal reasons!..........But for now………………Here it is! https://youtube/watch?v=sk0B41VxAYs&list=RDsk0B41VxAYs&feature=player_detailpage
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 19:44:11 +0000
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