| Killer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 27, 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Studio | RCA, Chicago | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:08 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||
| Alice Cooper chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Killer | ||||
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Killer is the fourth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in November 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. The album peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and the two singles "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" made the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Cooper said in the liner notes of A Fistful of Alice (1997) and In the Studio with Redbeard , which spotlighted the Killer and Love It to Death (1971) albums, that the song "Desperado" was written about his friend Jim Morrison, who died the year this album was released. [5] According to an NPR radio interview with Alice Cooper, "Desperado" was written about Robert Vaughn's character from the movie The Magnificent Seven (1960). "Halo of Flies" was, according to Cooper's liner notes in the compilation The Definitive Alice Cooper (2001), an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform King Crimson-like progressive rock suites, and was supposedly about a SMERSH-like organisation. "Desperado", along with "Under My Wheels" and "Be My Lover" have appeared on different compilation albums by Cooper. The song "Dead Babies" stirred up some controversy following the album's release, despite the fact that its lyrics conveyed an "anti-child abuse" message.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B− [6] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) [7] |
Rolling Stone's Lester Bangs gave it a favorable review. He explained that "it brings all the elements of the band's approach to sound and texture to a totally integrated pinnacle that fulfills all the promise of their erratic first two albums" and that "each song on [the] album finds him in a different role in the endless movie he is projecting on them." He concluded by calling Alice Cooper "a strong band, a vital band, and they are going to be around for a long, long time." [7] Robert Christgau rated the album a B−, stating that "a taste for the base usages of hard rock rarely comes with a hit attached these days, much less 'surreal', 'theatrical', and let us not forget 'transvestite' trappings". However, he said that "[the album] falters after 'Under My Wheels' and 'Be My Lover', neither of them an 'I'm Eighteen' in the human outreach department." [6] AllMusic's Tim Sendra rated "Killer" five out of five stars. He stated that "it offers moments of sweaty rock & roll brilliance, oddball horror ballads, and garage rock freak outs, all wrapped up in a glammy, sleazy package" and that "Each and every track is handled with the same kind of unbridled glee that lets the listener know the band is having a blast; it's hard not to be swept along for the ride." He concluded by claiming that "Killer is the moment where they put all the pieces together and began to soar" [3]
The album reached No. 21 on the Billboard album chart and two singles made the Hot 100 chart. "Be My Lover" reached No. 49 on the Billboard chart and "Under My Wheels" reached No. 59.
| Chart (1971–1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [8] | 22 |
| US Billboard 200 [9] | 21 |
| Chart (2023) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [10] | 27 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [11] | 82 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) [12] | Gold | 500,000^ |
| United States (RIAA) [12] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
Killer is the third-most-represented album in Alice Cooper's concert setlists behind Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973), accounting for 13.3 percent of the songs he has played live. Alongside Welcome to My Nightmare, it is one of only two Alice Cooper albums where every song has been played live, although "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" has never been played since the end of the supporting Killer Tour, while "You Drive Me Nervous" was not played subsequent to the Killer Tour until 1999, and has never been performed since 2006. "Desperado" was performed only once prior to the Trash Tour in 1989, but has been frequently played live since.
John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd called Killer the greatest rock album of all time. [13] Punk icons Jello Biafra and the Melvins covered the song "Halo of Flies" on their 2005 release Sieg Howdy! . Minneapolis rock band Halo of Flies took their name from this song as well. [14] Rockabilly musicians Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper covered the song "Be My Lover" on their 1986 release Frenzy . Heavy metal band Iced Earth covered the song "Dead Babies" for their 2002 release Tribute to the Gods . Guns N' Roses (featuring Alice Cooper) covered the song "Under My Wheels" on the soundtrack of The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988).
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Under My Wheels" | 2:51 | |
| 2. | "Be My Lover" | Bruce | 3:21 |
| 3. | "Halo of Flies" |
| 8:22 |
| 4. | "Desperado" |
| 3:30 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "You Drive Me Nervous" |
| 2:28 |
| 6. | "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" |
| 3:39 |
| 7. | "Dead Babies" |
| 5:44 |
| 8. | "Killer" |
| 6:57 |
| Total length: | 37:08 | ||
Credits are adapted from the Killer liner notes. [15]
Alice Cooper
with:
Billion Dollar Babies is the sixth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in March 1973 by Warner Bros. Records. 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.
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Desperado is the second studio album by the American band the Eagles. It was released on April 17, 1973, by Asylum Records. The album was produced by Glyn Johns and was recorded at Island Studios in London, England. The songs on Desperado are based on the themes of the Old West. The band members are featured on the album's cover dressed like an outlaw gang; Desperado remains the only Eagles album where the band members appear on the front cover.
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Eagles Live is the first live album by the American rock band Eagles, a two-LP set released on November 7, 1980. Although the Eagles were already in the process of breaking up, the band owed Elektra/Asylum Records one more album and fulfilled that contractual obligation with a release of performances from the Hotel California and The Long Run tours.
Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits is the only greatest hits album by American rock band Alice Cooper, and their last release as a band. Released in 1974, it features hit songs from five of the band's seven studio albums. It does not include any material from their first two albums, Pretties for You and Easy Action.
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Love It to Death is the third studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on March 9, 1971. It was the band's first commercially successful album and the first album that consolidated the band's aggressive hard-rocking sound, instead of the psychedelic and experimental rock style of their first two albums. The album's best-known track, "I'm Eighteen", was released as a single to test the band's commercial viability before the album was recorded.
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"I'm Eighteen" is a song by rock band Alice Cooper, first released as a single in November 1970 backed with "Is It My Body". It was the band's first top-forty success—peaking at number 21—and convinced Warner Bros. that Alice Cooper had the commercial potential to release an album. The song and its B-side feature on the band's first major-label album Love It to Death (1971).
"Rough Justice" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones that was released as a double A-side single with "Streets of Love" from their 2005 album A Bigger Bang. It is the opening track from the album. The single was released on 22 August 2005, prior to the album.
“Under My Wheels” is a rock song by Alice Cooper. It was originally released on the group's Killer album in 1971, and was also that album's first single release. The song was written by Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Bob Ezrin. The song peaked at #59 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
"Rock and a Hard Place" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1989 album, Steel Wheels. It was released as the second single from the album and remains the band's most recent top-40 hit in the United States as of 2024, peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"Halo of Flies" is a 1973 single by rock band Alice Cooper taken from their 1971 album Killer. The single was only released in the Netherlands, two years after the song appeared on the album. The song was, according to Cooper's liner notes in the compilation The Definitive Alice Cooper, an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform King Crimson-like progressive rock suites, and was supposedly about a spy organization.
"Be My Lover" is a song by rock band Alice Cooper. It originally appeared on the group's Killer album in 1971 and was released as a single in early 1972. The song was written by guitarist Michael Bruce and was produced by Bob Ezrin.
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