Forget everything you know about Alice Cooper, for the godfather of shock rock still has the capacity to surprise, as he proves today with the release of Our Love Will Change The World, possibly the perkiest, most upbeat song he’s ever recorded.
The second single from Cooper’s upcoming Detroit Stories album, Our Love Will Change The World harks back to the singer’s high school band The Spiders, with its warm, infectious melodies, sunny ’60s pop vibe and uncharacteristic sense of joy and optimism.
But, on closer inspection, is there a hidden darkness lurking beneath its shiny exterior, with its references to “pessimistic creeps” with “very little respect for everything”?
“I think Our Love Will Change The World is one of the oddest songs I’ve ever done,” Cooper admits, “and it was one that came to us by somebody else, another Detroit writer. And it was so strange, because it was happy and what it was saying was anything but happy – it was simply a great juxtaposition. And I got it immediately and said, Okay, this is going to be great. The music [is] saying one thing and the lyrics saying something else, I love that song. It is totally different from anything else on the album.”
Detroit Stories is intended as a celebration of the sound and spirit of the Golden Era of Detroit rock.
“Detroit was Heavy Rock central then,” explains Alice, “You’d play the Eastown and it would be Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, the Stooges and The Who, for $4! The next weekend at the Grande it was MC5, Brownsville Station and Fleetwood Mac, or Savoy Brown or the Small Faces. You couldn’t be a soft-rock band or you’d get your ass kicked."
“After not fitting in anywhere in the US (musically or image wise) Detroit was the only place that recognised the Alice Cooper guitar driven, hard rock sound and our crazy stage show. Detroit was a haven for the outcasts. And when they found out I was born in East Detroit... we were home.”
Produced by Bob Ezrin, Detroit Stories will be released on February 26 on earMUSIC.
Detroit Stories track listing:
1. Rock & Roll
2. Go Man Go (Album Version)
3. Our Love Will Change The World
4. Social Debris
5. $1000 High Heel Shoes
6. Hail Mary
7. Detroit City 2021 (Album Version)
8. Drunk And In Love
9. Independence Dave
10. I Hate You
11. Wonderful World
12. Sister Anne (Album Version)
13. Hanging On By A Thread (Don’t Give Up)
14. Shut Up And Rock
15. East Side Story (Album Version)
