12@12

Alice Cooper – Poison (Cooper/Child/McCurry) b/w Trash (Cooper/Frazier/Sever/Child) Ballad Of Dwight Fry (live) (Cooper/Bruce)

1989

When 70s shock rocker Alice needed to bring his sound bang up to date and compete with the new kids on the hair metal block he knew exactly who to turn to.

Enlisting the help of super producer and songwriter Desmond Child had worked for so many fellow rockers before and it worked again for the Coop.

Poison is still the most loved and instantly recognisable Alice tune for anyone under the age of 35 and more than two decades after it stormed the charts it still commands a key slot in his live show. This three-track record also showcased the title track from multi-million selling return to form Trash and, as a nod to those die-hards who might just have lost faith with Cooper during his mid-80s slump, there’s a cracking live version of the classic Ballad Of Dwight Fry. Recorded in Cincinnati it sizzled alongside two tracks so far removed from Alice’s late 60s/early 70s roots.

The iconic image of Cooper in his leather jacket with split face T-shirt sticks in the mind of any rocker growing up in the glossy early MTV era. And without his timely makeover – both personally and musically – Alice may well have slipped into rock obscurity.