"I AM THE FUTURE" ALICE COOPER AND CLASS OF 1984

I think over the course of the last four years I've made it pretty clear that I was a late night TV junky. Ever since I caught a really bad Christopher Lee sci-fi flick at 3 am, I became obsessed with staying up all hours of the night to see what dark delights the weird old TV gods would bestow upon me. Especially when we got cable in the mid 80s. Especially when I got a little TV for my bedroom and I was able to run a cable splitter from the living room TV to my bedroom. Back then USA, TBS, Fox, WGN, and sometimes even the big three would play horror, action, and exploitation films post 11PM. That's how I spent my weekends, flipping through all these channels to find that sweet spot.
Two of my favorite movies that seemed to play all the time were The Warriors and Class Of 1984. I'll be covering The Warriors later this week, in honor of Waxwork Records' original soundtrack double vinyl release, which I have received in the mail, and holy crap, it's awesome!

Class Of 1984 was my first punk film and featured Alice Cooper's "I Am The Future" in the opening credits. At the point I first watched Class Of 1984, Cooper's Trash had just come out. It was his first really big hit record in some time, but it wasn't a very 'Alice' record. It was lousy with guest spots from Aerosmith and Bon Jovi and veered away from the theatrical rock he was known for and more

towards the poodle head cock rock of the day. Fortunately, Trash was still way better than anything by the flavor of the week pop metal bands and actually still holds up pretty well today. I was new to Alice at the time though and very excited about Trash and played it constantly. So I was already hungry for more, especially since my mom had banned Alice from house for being sick and Satanic.

Catching Class Of 1984 was random happenstance while flipping through the channels. It was just starting and didn't take much to hook me, especially when I saw Alice's name in the credits. If you're unfamiliar with this 1982 cult classic, let me give you a little info; it was written by Tom Holland (Psycho II, Fright Night, The Beast Within, Cloak and Dagger, Child's Play) and directed by Mark Lester (Showdown In Little Tokyo, Firestarter, Commando)-cult film royalty, and starred Perry King (Riptide), Roddy McDowall (Fright Night, Black Hole, Planet Of The Apes, Batman '66) and Timothy Van Patton (who went on to direct episode of Sopranos and Game of Thrones among many other shows) and was even Michael J Fox's film debut. Lester also wrote and directed the, um sequel (?) Class Of 1999, which came out in 1990. If you're unfamiliar with that one too, well go find it!

King plays the new music teacher in a really bad school where the kids run wild and terrorize everyone. He has a pregnant wife at home and has basically hit the shit storm jackpot coming to work here. He befriends McDowall's character, who tries to show King the ropes (like carrying a pistol in his briefcase!). Van Patton is the leader of gang of violent, drug dealing punks who push McDowall to his breaking point and forces King to take some drastic action.

I don't want to give away to much more! Class Of 1984 is a really dark action/exploitation film with the heart of a horror movie. You could certainly draw comparisons to old westerns where the good guy shows up in a town run by a bunch of outlaws and has to bring law and order, but there's no clean hands or white hats and no one rides off into the sunset. This movie puts you through the wringer.

If you listen to "I Am The Future" out of context of the film it just sounds like one of those great Alice rock rebellion anthems like "Department Of Youth" or "School's Out". Applied to Class Of 1984 and it's a dire warning of a future going down in flames, of youth rising up and eating their parents, of a day where you can't run to a teacher or a cop for protection...

When does a dream become a nightmare?

When do we do what must be done?

When do we stand and face the future?

When there is nowhere left to run?

And you've got to learn

Just how to survive

You've got to learn

How to keep your dream alive

Take a look at my face

I am the future

How do you like what you see?

Take a look at my face

I belong to the future

And you belong to me

Class Of 1984 was released on Blu Ray from the awesome Scream Factory. It really is a chilling film even now and recommended for fans of Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris) and The Warriors.

MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MONSTERS PART 45; PRINCE OF DARKNESS

People almost universally love John Carpenter's Halloween, They Live and The Thing, but he has a fair number of films that don't get the love and respect they deserve, like the underrated Prince of Darkness from 1987.
Having a Metascore of 50 is unjustifiable, because Prince of Darkness is a smart and original film and a strong example of high concept/low budget filmmaking. Carpenter mixes a touch of sci-fi with gothic and urban horror and religious lore, concocting a plot that's like something out of an Alan Moore Swamp Thing or Hellblazer.
Carpenter was inspired to write Prince of Darkness after researching theoretic physics and atomic theory. The story centers on a mysterious cylinder full of a sentient green liquid that has been protected and kept secret by the Brotherhood of Sleep, a group of monks who's actual function is even a secret from the Vatican. The liquid is actually Satan himself and he's been imprisoned there by his father, the Anti-God, a being bound to the realm of anti-matter (an idea reminiscent of DC Comics Anti-Monitor).
A priest played by Donald Pleasence asks a professor and his physics students to come to an abandoned church to investigate the cylinder and try to determine it's origins and content. The liquid starts to escape and infect people including the homeless community around the church, turning them into zombies who trap the team inside, while the liquid begins to work on the team itself. Meanwhile everyone is having Villains Wikia's entry on PoD for a more in depth explanation on the Anti-God).

a reoccurring dream that may be a message from the future, warning of the return of the Anti-God. (I recommend reading
Prince of Darkness is such a cool and out-of-left-field concept for a movie that on it's surface almost plays like a supernatural Assault on Precinct 13. The first time I rented it I had to rewatch it again that same afternoon, to fully understand what I just saw and I was still a little unsure of everything. My only complaint is that Carpenter didn't have double the budget to more fully realize some of those bigger ideas.
Also worth mentioning is Alice Cooper's appearance as one of the zombified homeless people. He adds to the already significant creep factor with his wordless performance.  

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK; 10.3.15 OCTOBER HAS BEGUN MIX

HAPPY 4TH, 'MERICA! HERE'S A SOUND ATTACK 7.4.15

X-4th of July

Alice Cooper- Lost In America

Descendents-'Merican

Circle Jerks-Stars and Stripes

Good Riddance-Flies First Class

Dead Kennedys-Stars and Stripes of Corruption

ESSENTIAL ALBUMS; ALICE COOPER'S DADA

Alice Cooper's Dada, from 1983, is one of three albums that he has no recollection of writing and recording and he believes it's the scariest album he's ever recorded. It also happens to be my favorite of Cooper's entire discography. Since I got it from my friend Jase a few years ago, I've listened to it more than any other album. At work, I've let Dada play through as many as ten times on my phone in a day.
Cooper claims he has no idea what the album's about, but it often sounds like a conversation between the artist/entity Alice Cooper and the host personality Vincent Furnier. Take the song Former Lee Warmer; if you insert Vince into the role of narrator and Alice into Lee and consider Alice's world at that time (declining career, relapse into alcoholism) the song is near autobiography. And again, No Man's Land, Alice as a mall Santa or I Love America, Alice as a car salesman? These aren't favorable views of himself or where his career has taken him. Pass The Gun Around is probably the most naked, emotional, autobiographical song on any Alice album about his weird lonely world of touring and alcoholism. Other songs like Scarlet and Sheba and Fresh Blood are pure horror show Alice, but with subtext that could make them metaphors that line up with the aforementioned tracks.
Dada doesn't sound like a cry for help, though. The tone is set with track two, Enough's Enough. A defiant anthem about a young man standing up to his evil father in the wake of his mother's suspicious death. Scared, defeated, humiliated, broken, but defiant, on track after track. Even on the snarky I Love America, with it's redneck spoken word tangent, there's Alice aping the image of every parent's worst nightmare who'd been tamed to the point of appearing on The Muppet Show and even hosting The Grammys.
Musically, the album is a bit dated. The keyboards and compressed drumming is very '80's, but it doesn't hurt the playability of the album. In fact, I prefer Dada over the classic rock sound of some of the original Alice Cooper Band and definitely more than the overproduced Lace and Whiskey and Goes To Hell. The next time we see Alice is in '86 with Constrictor where the Devo/New Wave influence of the last three albums are replaced with a more focused metal approach and the beginning of a long line of great albums.
Dada is the weird middle child album that no one loved or understood, but probably had more to say about the relationship between Alice and Vince than any other album he's ever recorded. It's too bad he has no recollection of making the album, because I'd love to hear what was going on in his head when he was writing these songs.

Enough's Enough

Fresh Blood

Scarlet and Sheba

Pass The Gun Around

   

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK 3.31.15 YOU'RE HAVING A BAD DAY MIX

ALICE COOPER...I AM THE FUTURE

THE FLESH EATERS...THE WEDDING DICE

THE GUN CLUB...HOUSE ON HIGHLAND AVE

X...UNDER THE BIG BLACK SUN

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES...INSTITUTIONALIZED

D.I....RICHARD HUNG HIMSELF

DRI...PAYING TO PLAY

AGENT ORANGE...LIVING IN DARKNESS

TSOL...DANCE WITH ME

DEAD KENNEDYS...DEAR ABBY

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK 10.9.14 HALLOWEEN TIME AGAIN!

SAMHAIN...ALL MURDER ALL GUTS ALL FUN

WOLFMEN OF MARS...DOWN THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE

ALICE COOPER...ROSES ON WHITE LACE

THE CRAMPS...HUMAN FLY

MISFITS...HORROR BUSINESS

RAMONES...YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE OPENED THAT DOOR

THE EXPLOITED...HORROR EPICS

CALABRESE...BORN WITH A SCORPION'S TOUCH

BALZAC...D.A.R.K.

WEREWOLVES IN SIBERIA...NIGHT OF THE FLESHEATERS

MISSION CREEPS...CREEPY

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK 9.1.14 LATE NIGHT MTV OF MY YOUTH, FIENDS!

I'll spare you Queensryche, KISS, and Skid Row, kids. These are some videos that I was absolutely excited to see when I'd stay up all night watching MTV and Night Flight. 

GRIM REAPER...FEAR NO EVIL

IRON MAIDEN...BRING YOUR DAUGHTER TO THE SLAUGHTER

MOTORHEAD...IRON FIST

DEATH ANGEL...BORED

DRI...BENEATH THE WHEEL

ALICE COOPER...FREEDOM

THE PLASMATICS...THE DAMNED

JUDAS PRIEST...PAINKILLER

BLACK SABBATH...TV CRIMES

HELLOWEEN...HALLOWEEN

METAL CHURCH...DATE WITH POVERTY

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK 10.13.13

of course we begin with the Misfits Halloween

and an ex-'Fit The Undead...I Made a Monster

Alice Cooper Keepin' Halloween Alive

Grave Robber...Altered States

Let's Do The Time Warp Again..!

45 Grave...Party Time NSFW! (Linea Quigley...)

The Birthday Party...Release the Bats

King Vulture's Sound Attack 7.19.13; Detroit Edition

It is a shameful failure of government that a major American city has had to file bankruptcy. I'm not going to get all political here, I just want to say my heart goes out to all the people in Detroit who's lives will be negatively affected by this nonsense. Detroit is called the Motor City, but it could just as well be called Music City, with it's deep rich and varied musical history. Let's sample a bit of the awesome that is Detroit Rock City!

MC5...Kick Out The Jams

The Temptations...Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Detroit Cobras...Cha Cha Twist

The Dirtbombs...Candy Ass

Gore Gore Girls...Fox In A Box

The Supremes...Come See About Me

John Lee Hooker...Motor City Is Burning

Alice Cooper...Detroit City

Necros...I Hate My School

Iggy and the Stooges...Search and Destroy

Negative Approach...Ready To Fight

Street Lordz...Come Roll (NSFW)

The Gories...Nitroglycerine

White Stripes...Jolene

And of course...KISS...Detroit Rock City

King Vulture's Sound Attack 6.12.13

He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)

Love's A Loaded Gun

Clones (We're All)

Department of Youth

Poison (Uncensored NSFW)

I Am The Future

Dirty Diamonds

King Vulture's Sound Attack

Wolfmen of Mars...Seance By The Sea

The Mugshots...Dr Bloodmoney

Bedtime For Robots...Guess Who This Is

ReAnimator-Suite from the original soundtrack

Alice Cooper...I Am Made of You

King Vulture's Sound Attack

Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13...Hello Hooray (Alice Cooper cover)

Alice Cooper...Pass The Gun Around (from Dada)

Misfits...Science Fiction Double Feature (Rocky Horror cover)

Electric Frankenstein...Cocaine Blues (Johnny Cash cover)

Radio Birdman...Murder City Nights (Detroit rawk by way of Australia)

Lydia Lunch...Spooky (Queen of Siam)

My Heroes Have Always Been Monsters Part 27

I don't even know where to begin with Vincent Price. I guess for me, the first two roles I knew him from were Michael Jackson's Thriller (that voice!) and as Egghead from the 60's Batman series. Later he voiced the character of Vincent Van Ghoul in one of the Scooby Doo series from the 80's.  

Then of course there was his appearance in Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands, which is when I got interested in finding out who this guy really was. I started with the Roger Corman adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's work; Masque of The Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Raven (he did more, but I didn't see them until later), because I'd been reading Poe since elementary school. I'm a child of the 80's and grew up on the slasher films of the day, but I always had a soft spot for the classic horror of Universal and RKO and I was constantly looking out for anything by Hammer Films. The Corman/Poe   films were right up my alley. Masque...may be the best, here's the trailer;

 My favorite of Price's films though would have to be The Fly, which I've covered in an earlier post (go here for MyHeroes Have Always Been Monsters Part 2) and also The Bat (covered here in Part 6). These two films are extra significant for me since they were the first two horror films I ever shared with my son. He's become a huge fan of Mr. Price.
One of Price's other great roles was the first adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend called the Last Man On Earth, which was an influence for Night Of The Living Dead.

Price appeared in 105 films, hosted PBS's Mystery, appeared on the Muppets and several other tv shows. A true icon who's films may not have always been great, but he was always great in them. I'll leave you with something I personally love...

Keep watching the sky, nerds!

King Vulture's Sound Attack

Tonight we've got Freedom from Alice Cooper and American Witch (mmmNSFW) by his little brother Rob Zombie. BTW Arrow is on in ten minutes, if you skipped last week's debut thinking it would suck like Smallville, well, it didn't. Catch up, junior, but first enjoy some horror rock!

Print Is Dead...And It's Corpse Is Coming To Eat You!

Aw yea, Titans! Just got the latest Horror Hound; the Metal issue with a sick Rob Zombie cover painted by Jason Edmiston!

 Featuring a new interview with Alice Cooper, a retrospective on House of a 1000 Corpses, the sickest Death Metal album covers, the collision of metal and horror movies and more sick crap than you swing an outta ammo shotgun at!