Zipper Catches Skin is the fourteenth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1982.
Co-produced by Cooper and his bassist at the time, Erik Scott, Zipper Catches Skin is musically known for its dry and energetic hard rock style, with pop punk and post-punk influences and less emphasis on hard riffs, carrying on a similar musical direction of the preceding Special Forces with sonically slicker and clearer results. Lyrically, Cooper employed a much stronger focus on comical sarcasm and on avoiding using clichéd subject matter. Erik Scott has stated the album “was meant to be lean, stripped down, and low on frills. Punkish and bratty.” However, although it saw the return of guitarist Dick Wagner to Cooper’s band, Zipper is generally not considered to be up to the same standard as his previous works.
Despite its first single “I Am the Future” being featured in the film Class of 1984 as its theme song, and The Waitresses’ Patty Donahue appearing on its other single “I Like Girls”, Zipper Catches Skin failed to chart in most countries, including in the US where it became Cooper’s first album to not dent the Billboard Top 200 since Easy Action. The album’s inconspicuous front cover, featuring just the album’s lyrics with a smear of blood rather than exploiting the vivid imagery suggestive of the album’s title, did not help the situation.
At the time, Cooper described Zipper Catches Skin as “totally kill. Real hardcore. The stuff that I do has always been a lot like that. In fact, I invented a couple of songs that were remakes of other songs, just for the purpose of attacking clichés. There are no clichés on this album, and I did that for a specific reason. Rock and roll right now is jammed with clichés.” Cooper described the photograph of him on the album’s back cover as “very Haggar slacks. I look good. I look like a GQ ad, only I’m zipping up my pants and you can see definite pain on my face."”
Dick Wagner, who left halfway through the recording sessions, described Zipper Catches Skin as “the off to the races speedy album” and a “drug induced nightmare”. Wagner later revealed in a segment of the Deleted Scenes on the 2014 documentary film Super Duper Alice Cooper that Alice was smoking crack cocaine at the time and had a curtain set up behind the recording mic with a stool on it where he kept his crack pipe; he and other members of the band would sneak behind the curtain to take hits in between recording takes.
Zipper Catches Skin is the second of three albums which Alice refers to as his “blackout” albums, the others being the preceding album, Special Forces, and the following album, DaDa, as he has no recollection of recording them, due to the substance abuse, although he did manage to film a TV advert intended to promote Zipper at the time. Cooper stated “I wrote them, recorded them and toured them and I don’t remember much of any of that”, though he actually toured only Special Forces. There was no tour to promote Zipper, and none of its songs have ever been played live.Zipper Catches Skin is the fourteenth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1982.
Co-produced by Cooper and his bassist at the time, Erik Scott, Zipper Catches Skin is musically known for its dry and energetic hard rock style, with pop punk and post-punk influences and less emphasis on hard riffs, carrying on a similar musical direction of the preceding Special Forces with sonically slicker and clearer results. Lyrically, Cooper employed a much stronger focus on comical sarcasm and on avoiding using clichéd subject matter. Erik Scott has stated the album “was meant to be lean, stripped down, and low on frills. Punkish and bratty.” However, although it saw the return of guitarist Dick Wagner to Cooper’s band, Zipper is generally not considered to be up to the same standard as his previous works.
Despite its first single “I Am the Future” being featured in the film Class of 1984 as its theme song, and The Waitresses’ Patty Donahue appearing on its other single “I Like Girls”, Zipper Catches Skin failed to chart in most countries, including in the US where it became Cooper’s first album to not dent the Billboard Top 200 since Easy Action. The album’s inconspicuous front cover, featuring just the album’s lyrics with a smear of blood rather than exploiting the vivid imagery suggestive of the album’s title, did not help the situation.
At the time, Cooper described Zipper Catches Skin as “totally kill. Real hardcore. The stuff that I do has always been a lot like that. In fact, I invented a couple of songs that were remakes of other songs, just for the purpose of attacking clichés. There are no clichés on this album, and I did that for a specific reason. Rock and roll right now is jammed with clichés.” Cooper described the photograph of him on the album’s back cover as “very Haggar slacks. I look good. I look like a GQ ad, only I’m zipping up my pants and you can see definite pain on my face."”
Dick Wagner, who left halfway through the recording sessions, described Zipper Catches Skin as “the off to the races speedy album” and a “drug induced nightmare”. Wagner later revealed in a segment of the Deleted Scenes on the 2014 documentary film Super Duper Alice Cooper that Alice was smoking crack cocaine at the time and had a curtain set up behind the recording mic with a stool on it where he kept his crack pipe; he and other members of the band would sneak behind the curtain to take hits in between recording takes.
Zipper Catches Skin is the second of three albums which Alice refers to as his “blackout” albums, the others being the preceding album, Special Forces, and the following album, DaDa, as he has no recollection of recording them, due to the substance abuse, although he did manage to film a TV advert intended to promote Zipper at the time. Cooper stated “I wrote them, recorded them and toured them and I don’t remember much of any of that”, though he actually toured only Special Forces. There was no tour to promote Zipper, and none of its songs have ever been played live.false2022-12-21 09:17:06Zipper Catches Skin719821982-01-011982-01-0133Hard RockNew WaveRock14486522720441103d22f-561b-4922-914f-5c5c978e5912ee58c59f-8e7f-4430-b8ca-236c4d3745ae855d5ec9-2123-37f2-9f75-0183ca74c5c4/media/data/media5/Music/Alice Cooper/Alice Cooper - Zipper Catches Skin (1982)/folder.jpgAlice CooperAlbumArtist/config/metadata/People/A/Alice Cooper/folder.jpgAlice CooperArtist/config/metadata/People/A/Alice Cooper/folder.jpgAlice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.
Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, "Alice Cooper" was originally a band with roots extending back to a band called the Earwigs, consisting of Furnier on lead vocals and harmonica, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, and Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and backing vocals. By 1966, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar joined the three and Neal Smith was added on drums in 1967. The five named the band "Alice Cooper", and Furnier eventually adopted it as his stage pseudonym. They released their debut studio album Pretties for You in 1969 with limited chart success. Breaking out with the 1970 single "I'm Eighteen" and the third studio album Love It to Death, the band reached their commercial peak in 1973 with their sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies. After the band broke up, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a solo career in 1975 with the concept album Welcome to My Nightmare. Over his career, Cooper has sold well over 50 million records.
Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, mainly hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and glam metal, but also new wave (1980–1983), art rock on DaDa (1983), and industrial rock on Brutal Planet (2000) and Dragontown (2001). He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and has been described as the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". He is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". Aside from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio disc jockey (DJ) with his classic rock show Alice's Attic.