Billion Dollar Babies
Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox album Billion Dollar Babies is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on February 27, 1973<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The album became the best selling Alice Cooper record at the time of its release, hitting number one on the album charts in the United States and the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The album has been retrospectively praised by such critics as Robert Christgau, Greg Prato of AllMusic, and Jason Thompson of PopMatters, but The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) gave the album only two and a half stars.
Songs were recorded in both the state of Connecticut and London, England. Lyrics cover topics and themes such as necrophilia, dental fear, horror, and sexual harassment.
Recording and production
Drummer Neal Smith has said that the album can be traced back to the song "Caught in a Dream" from the album Love It to Death (1971). The first recording sessions for the album took place in Greenwich, Connecticut, in a mansion called the Galesi Estate. To achieve certain vocal sounds and echoes, microphones were run through rooms of various sizes and through a greenhouse. Other sessions were held at Morgan Studios in London, where singer Donovan contributed to the album by singing on its title track. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin with Gerry Lyon as assistant in New York, Connecticut and London.<ref name="Gibson">Template:Cite web</ref>
Guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce both used Gibson SGs for the album.<ref name="Gibson"/> Three additional guitarists (including longtime band friend Mick Mashbir and New York-based session musicians Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter) were retained to cover for Buxton, who suffered from alcohol abuse-related pancreatitis throughout the sessions.<ref name="TTTM">Template:Cite book</ref>
A quadraphonic mix of the album was released on both 8-track and reel-to-reel format, as well as vinyl. This features radically different mixes of all of the songs, including different vocal tracks ("Raped and FreezinTemplate:'"), unfaded endings ("Generation Landslide"), and editing ("I Love the Dead"). Alice's lead vocals are more upfront in the quad mix than the stereo mix. Rumors that this mix of the album can be found on the DVD-Audio release are untrue. The DVD-Audio release contains a newer 5.1 channel mix of the album, based on the original 2-channel tracks as opposed to the quad mix. In June of 2023 Rhino released a Blu-ray with the quadraphonic and stereo mixes.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
Lyrical themes and subjects
The album's title comes from the fact that the five members of Alice Cooper were surprised about their success. Cooper related: "How could we, this band that two years ago was living in the Chambers Brothers' basement in Watts, be the Number One band in the world, with people throwing money at us?"<ref name="Houston Chronicle">Template:Cite news</ref> The title was also later used as the name of the group Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway, and Michael Bruce formed after Alice Cooper group had split up.<ref name="BBB">Template:Cite web</ref> Cooper said, "The whole idea behind the Billion Dollar Babies album was exploiting the idea that people do have sick perversions."<ref name="Creem">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Alice Cooper, who wrote the majority of the album's lyrics, cited Chuck Berry as a key influence on his writing.<ref name="Gibson"/> "Hello Hooray", the album's opening track, was written by Canadian singer/songwriter Rolf Kempf and was previously recorded by Judy Collins. The band wanted their version of the song to sound like "Alice Cooper meets Cabaret".<ref name="Golf Monster">Template:Cite book</ref> The album's third track, "Elected", is a rewrite of the song "Reflected" from Pretties for You (1969). "Raped and FreezinTemplate:' has been called a "hilarious and gorgeously catchy" take on the idea of sexual harassment by PopMattersTemplate:'s Jason Thompson.<ref name="PM"/> "Unfinished Sweet" is about visiting a dentist with sound effects recorded by Gerry Lyon.<ref name="PM">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The title track was co-written by Reggie Vinson (credited on original pressings of the album as "R. Reggie", i.e., "Rockin' Reggie Vinson"), who had played guitar on and performed vocals for School's Out (1972).<ref name="The God pumpers">Template:Cite book</ref> Donovan described the song as a "horror story song".<ref name="Donovan">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album's closing track, "I Love the Dead", is a tongue-in-cheek song about necrophilia.<ref name="This Ain't the Summer of Love">Template:Cite book</ref>
Touring
After the album was released, the band embarked on a tour which broke the United States box office records previously held by the Rolling Stones and included a scheduled 64 concerts in 59 cities in 90 days. The gross revenue of the tour was anticipated to be close to $20 million,<ref name="Bang your head">Template:Cite book</ref> but only about $4 million was achieved.<ref name="Gibson"/>
Cooper hired magician James Randi to design effects for the show, and Randi traveled with the tour to supervise and coordinate the effects. Randi even played a role in the stage show as "The Executioner".<ref>Pevere, Geoff (August 8, 2014). "An Honest Liar: An expose of trickery". The Globe and Mail.</ref>
The live performances featured Cooper wearing a costume with fake blood stains at the crotch, tearing apart baby dolls, attacking mannequins, and being decapitated by a guillotine.<ref name="Rock eras">Template:Cite book</ref> Cooper has said that the mutilation of the dolls symbolized child neglect.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Between 40 and 50 people were employed and 26,000 pounds of equipment were used.<ref name="BB">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In preparation for the tour, two semi-trailer trucks carried a wide variety of props including a dentists drill, four whips, a surgical table, six hatchets, 33,000 program books, 300 baby dolls, 22,000 sparklers, 58 mannequins, 280 spare light bulbs, 1,000 patches, 6,000 mirror parts, 14 bubble machines, 28 gallons of bubble juice, and 250,000 packages of bubble bath.<ref name="BBB-book">Template:Cite book</ref>
Critical reception and influence
Template:Music ratings Billion Dollar Babies was commercially more successful than Alice Cooper's previous albums; it went to No. 1 in both the United Kingdom and United States.<ref name="Bang your head"/> The album's singles "Elected", "Hello Hooray", "Billion Dollar Babies", and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", all became hits on the Billboard Hot 100.<ref name="Charts">Template:Cite web</ref> In March 1973 the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and in 1986, it went platinum.<ref name="RIAA">Template:Cite web</ref>
In a contemporary review for Creem magazine, Robert Christgau said that Billion Dollar Babies is Cooper's "most consistent album", even though it lacks a song as strong as "School's Out".<ref name="RC">Template:Cite journal</ref> In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Greg Prato awarded the album four and a half out of five stars and called it "one of Cooper's very best; it remains one of rock's all-time, quintessential classics".<ref name="Allmusic"/> Jason Thompson of PopMatters praised the album, saying it was "arguably the original Alice Cooper Group's best album".<ref name="PM"/> However, the 2004 The Rolling Stone Album Guide was less positive about the album, giving it two and a half stars and criticizing songs like "I Love the Dead" for being "predictable".<ref name="RS"/> Daniel Bukszpan, the author of The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal, called it a "classic" and "arguably the original band's finest offering".<ref name="TEoHM">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2005, Billion Dollar Babies was ranked number 283 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Treble named it in its list "10 Essential Glam Rock Albums".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Chris Cornell of Soundgarden stated that it was one of his favorite records. In an interview with Spin magazine in 1989, he commented that: "When I was in junior high, every Friday the teachers would let the kids play their favorite records. I brought in Billion Dollar Babies [Alice Cooper, 1973] and they wouldn't let me play it. They never vetoed anyone's choice before. It was then I knew that rock'n'roll could scare the fuck out of certain people."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Norwegian band Turbonegro made a song called "Zillion Dollar Sadist" as a tribute to Billion Dollar Babies.<ref name="TN">Template:Cite magazine</ref> David Byrne of Talking Heads has said that the album inspired him to write the song, "Psycho Killer".<ref name="Mix">Template:Cite web</ref> The Swiss extreme metal group Samael did a cover of the song "I Love the Dead" on their Rebellion EP. Italian heavy metal band Death SS covered the song "I Love the Dead" on their debut album, ...in Death of Steve Sylvester (1988).
Billion Dollar Babies is the second most-represented album in Alice Cooper's live sets, behind only Welcome to My Nightmare (1975). The only song from the album that has never been played live in any form is the short "Mary Ann", although "Generation Landslide" was not played until the tour eight years later following Special Forces (1981), on which it had been re-recorded.
Track listing
LP
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Deluxe Edition CD bonus tracks
The 2001 CD reissue includes these additional tracks on a second disc:<ref name="Deluxe">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Track listing
Personnel
Credits
<ref name="Credits">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Alice Cooper group
- Alice Cooper – lead vocals, harmonica
- Glen Buxton – lead guitar
- Michael Bruce – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
- Dennis Dunaway – bass, backing vocals
- Neal Smith – drums, backing vocals
with:
- Donovan – vocals on "Billion Dollar Babies"<ref name="Gibson"/>
- Steve "The Deacon" Hunter – guitar solos on "Generation Landslide", "Billion Dollar Babies", "Sick Things", "Raped and Freezing" and "Unfinished Sweet"; pedal steel guitar on "Hello Hooray"
- Mick Mashbir – guitars
- Dick Wagner – guitars
- Bob Dolin – keyboards
- Bob Ezrin – keyboards
- Allan Macmillan – piano on Mary Ann
- David Libert – backing vocalsTemplate:Col-2
Technical
- Bob Ezrin – production
- Jack Douglas – engineering
- Robin Black – engineering
- Frank Hubach – engineering
- Ed Sprigg – engineering
- Logan Jervis – engineering
- Shelly Yakus – engineering
- Peter Flanagan – engineering
- Brian Kehew – editing, remixing
- George Marino – mastering engineering
- Pacific Eye & Ear – design
- E.A.R. – design, concept
- Greg Allen – art direction, design
- Hugh Brown – art direction
- David P. Bailey – photography, cover photo
- Neal Preston – photography
- Lynn Goldsmith – photography
- Jo Motta – project coordinator
- Steve Woolard – project coordinator
- Randy Perry – project assistant
- Vanessa Atkins – editorial supervision
- Norma Edwards – editorial research
- Shawn Amos – editorial coordinator
- Brian Smith – liner notes
Charts
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Weekly charts
| Chart (1973-1974) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref> | 4 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)<ref name=FINI>Template:Cite book</ref> | 1 |
| Chart (2024) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 12 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1973) | Position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 26 |
Certifications
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