Since I have mentioned Alice Cooper in a previous Facebook Status being a Christian, I thought I would share a few lyrics and comments from his three albums “The Last Temptation Of Alice Cooper” (1994), “Brutal Planet” (2000) and “Dragontown” (2001)
In these three albums, he explores his personal faith quite openly.
“The Last Temptation” is a redemptive story with a final song, “Cleansed By Fire” that goes down in history as being my favorite Alice Cooper song of all time.
Check out the lyrics:
Cleansed By Fire
I don’t know but I’ve been told / The streets of hell are paved with gold
Crazy, crazy
You told me that nothing’s free / Except my own insanity
Crazy, maybe
Wake me, shake me / Wake me, shake me
You offer me the world and all its wealth / All for myself
You promised me a life eternally / And drink to my health
I may seem only half-glued / But I can see right through you
[CHORUS]
Burn it up, burn it down / Burn this sucker to the ground
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Going, going, going, gone / There’s a party going on
Do you think I don’t know who you are / A fallen star
When I feel my soul scream out at night / I know you’re not far
You need a better disguise / This one won’t win any prize
[CHORUS]
Cleansed by fire, cleansed by fire / I may seem only half-glued
But I can see right through you
What about dark / What about light
What about wrong / What about right
What about death / What about sin
What about the web you’re trying to spin
What about truth / What about life
What about glory / What about Christ
What about peace / What about love
What about faith in God above
What about war / What about hell
What if I stumble / What if I fell
What about blood / What about greed
And all of these things you’re offering me
Yeah, what about me, little me / You lose and I win
You couldn’t suck me in / It’s over, you have no power
You’re lost / And I’m found
And I’m Heaven bound / Go back to where you belong
To where you fell / Go to hell
I absolutely love that song. It’s the perfect close to an incredible story of coming into faith in Jesus Christ.
His next album, which came 6 years later has some great lyrics on it as well. While not a story, nor are they “outwardly Christian”, each song deals with an issue that is plaguing us today like racism, gluttony, nihilism, gossip, greed, domestic violence, as well as sitting back and not doing anything about the problems other than complaining about them. Certainly all things that we as Christians should be doing something about.
Following that album is Dragontown, which continues the trend Brutal Planet and has some of the best lyrics from any Cooper album, only with a little more of a direct approach of stepping on our toes.
Dragontown is a fictional representation of Hell. (Get it?) It’s like each song is sung from somebody spending an eternity there and serves as a warning.
For example, a song called “Sex, Death, And Money” is all about hypocrisy among Christians. It talks about a Christian who is claiming to be upset about nudity and violence in the movies, yet sits for three hours taking it all in. For brevity, I won’t share the entire song. Some of the lyrics are:
I was so offended / As I sat for three hours / It was mental cruelty / I was so shocked / Just a little more flesh / Just a little more blood / Little closer to the edge / A little deeper in the mud / I’ll never be the same
Later in the song, it goes to talk about going to a strip club and spending hundreds of dollars, yet telling others how offensive it was.
The chorus pretty much sums it all up:
Sex, death and money, sonny / Makes this wicked world go round
Sex, death and money / It’s the Gospel here in Dragontown
Sex, death and money, honey / Grease the wheels and make them fly
Sex, death and money, sonny / That is why we all are gonna fry
One of the funniest songs Alice has done in a long time is called Dis-Grace Land. We finally know where “The king of Rock and Roll” now lives. He even sings it like “The king” Check this lyrics out:
Dis-Grace Land
I wanna tell you a story / It happened long ago
About a redneck boy / Down from tupelo
I got the slick black hair / I played a rock guitar
I liked to shake my hips, man / Then i went too far
He ate his weight in country ham / Killed on pills and woke in disgraceland
Dis-Grace-Land / Dis-Grace-Land / Dis-Grace-Land
I had a lot of girls / I had a lot of guns
When they found me dead / The whole world was stunned
Went to the pearly gates / Said, “I’m the hippest thing”
And Peter said “Well son, / We already got ourselves a king”
He finished his short life, / Sweaty and bloated and stoned
(A-Hey-Hey) He ruled his domain and he died on the throne
No “Yes-Men”, no colonel, he went……all alone…
(Hey, man, that looks like me down there on the floor)
I heard the devil cry / Real loud and clear
“You were the big man, there / You’re just a sideman here
Well, I know your face / And I’ve heard your name
Looks like heaven’s loss / Is gonna be my gain”
(I’ve got plans for you, man)
Well, I woke up, right here / In dis-grace-land
Thank ya. Thank ya very much
The clincher song on this album though is “It’s Much Too Late”
It’s Much Too Late
I never kicked a dog, / A child or my wife
I never looked at pornography / I swear it on my holy saint mother’s life
But somehow she’s down here with me
The road to hell is littered / with nice guys with good intentions
But once you’re there, you’re there / It’s much too late
I can cry and scream it’s just not fair / To leave me here like you don’t care
There must be some mistake up there in heaven
Now it’s much too late / My time has passed away
All my plans and dreams have all ended
Now it’s much too late / To try and plead my case
And I don’t know the God I’ve offended
It’s too late
I never stole a thing / A toy or a kiss
My conscience is a clear as can be / And when I was a teen
All the sex that I missed / Was an abstinence blessing to me
The road to hell is littered / with nice guys with good intentions
But once you’re there, you’re there / It’s much too late
I can cry and scream it’s just not fair / To leave me here like you don’t care
There must be some mistake up there in heaven
Now it’s much too late / My time has passed away
All my plans and dreams have all ended
Now it’s much too late / To try and plead my case
And I don’t know the God I’ve offended
It’s too late
Anyway, he has released several albums after this series, and while lyrically they may contain one or two songs about his faith, they are typically just really good rockers, usually of a darker theme, but this series of three albums he decided to publically talk about his faith. I am glad he did.