Maps of Music

Flush the Fashion (1980)

Where the lyrics of Flush the Fashion take you, and where it was really made.

The album cover is a photo of a title Cooper reportedly carved with a knife into a studio bathroom cubicle wall, after learning the artwork budget was about $5,000.

Key places

Recorded at Cherokee Studios (1980)

Recording site Cherokee Studios — The album was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles with producer Roy Thomas Baker. The Discogs release note also lists Cherokee Recording Studios, LA as the recording place. The point marks the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Flush the Fashion is the fifth solo and twelfth studio album by Alice Cooper
• Released 28 April 1980 by Warner Bros. Records
• Recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, produced by Roy Thomas Baker
• Ten tracks in about 28 minutes, the shortest running time of any Cooper album
• Drastic change of style, leaning toward new wave

Background

• Themes include loss of identity, taking on other roles, and dementia
• Several story songs present a series of vignettes instead of traditional subject matter
• Came after a publicized 1977 stint in a sanitarium for alcoholism and sobriety
• Cooper had secretly developed a heavy cocaine addiction by then
• Cooper has some recollection of making this album, unlike his next three studio albums

Recording

• Roy Thomas Baker is known for his work with Queen and the Cars
• Engineer Ian Taylor, assistant engineer John Weaver
• Mastered at Sterling Sound

Cover

• Cover art is believed to have been created by Cooper himself
• After learning about $5,000 in artwork budget, he reportedly carved the title into a studio bathroom cubicle wall with a knife
• He then had Warner Brothers photograph the inscription for the cover

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Alice Cooper originated in Phoenix, Arizona in 1964 as a band formed by Vincent Damon Furnier, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith.
• The group first performed as the Earwigs and later renamed themselves the Spiders and then Nazz.
• In 1968 the band adopted the name Alice Cooper, which was later also the new legal name of Furnier.

Members

• The classic lineup consisted of Furnier (lead vocals), Buxton (lead guitar), Bruce (rhythm guitar), Dunaway (bass) and Smith (drums).
• Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper after the band disbanded in 1975.

Career

• The band released seven studio albums from 1969 to 1973, including Love It to Death, Killer, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies.
• The band is known as a pioneer of shock rock, using theatrical stage shows with props and illusions.
• As a solo artist he released Welcome to My Nightmare in 1975 and has released 30 studio albums in total.
• The original band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
• Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be 'The Godfather of Shock Rock'.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

Reappraisal

• Classic Rock wrote that the album is "very much of its time" but among Cooper's most fun records
• Classic Rock described it as a rollicking collection of herky-jerky skinny-tie robot rock
• Tracks from the album were rarely played live after 1982
• Regular 1980 set items included "Clones (We're All)" and "Pain" on the US and Mexico City dates

Records

• Lead single "Clones (We're All)" reached number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100
• Album peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200
• Highest-charting release by Cooper since 1977's Lace and Whiskey
• Shortest running time of any Cooper album, at 28 minutes

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The cover image shows a title reportedly carved with a knife into a studio bathroom cubicle wall.
• In 1980, Cooper played "Clones (We're All)", "Pain", "Model Citizen", and "Grim Facts" on a regular basis, and the first four stayed in the setlist for the Special Forces tour a year later.
• Cooper said on his radio show on 5 October 2020 that all the song titles were taken from the Headlines track of the National Enquirer.
• Songs from this album have rarely been performed live since 1982.
• "Clones (We're All)" was a regular part of the 2011–2012 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' setlist.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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