Alice Cooper

Album: ‘Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits‘
Year: 1974

It can be difficult to wrap ones mind around the fact that music like Alice Cooper paved the way for modern metal music, but the proof is all right there. He has the rough edge, the sense of hardcore sound, and the sense enough not to care what anyone thought. That’s metal AF right there.

But much of Cooper’s groundwork seems to be swept aside and forgotten by younger generations who believe that the likes of Metallica invented metal when, in fact, it had been in the works for nearly two decades prior. I tend to forget this sometimes until I hear the likes of Cooper, The Stooges, and Black Sabbath and it brings me back to earth and reminds me that metal didn’t start as the grinding roar we know today: it started as something just hard enough to make parents ask the kids to turn it down a bit.

Track of Distinction: “Billion Dollar Babies” should be the unofficial theme of our current presidential administration.