Is It My Body Clones Billion Dollar Babies Alice Cooper

Is It My Body Album: Love It to Death (1971)
Clones Album: Flush The Fashion (1980)
Billion Dollar Babies Album: Billion Dollar Babies (1973)
by Alice Cooper

In 1971, Alice Cooper released the breakthrough album, Love It To Death. It has become one a quintessential rock and roll album.

“Is It My Body,” the fifth track on Love It To Death, asks a critical question – “have you got the time to find out who I really am?” It may seem simple and to the point, but the question begs a deeper, more complex answer.

Alice inquires what it is about him that has captured the affection of his admirer. And, as the song continues, it’s evident that the real question pertains more to an actual, deeper, more genuine connection than just some random fling, hookup, or acquaintance.

What is it that attracts us to the opposite sex? Is it purely physical, or is it more than that? “Is it (their) body, someone (they) might be; somethin’ inside (them)?” What makes us want to be connected to that other person?

One of the fascinating things about the Alice Cooper phenomenon is the cerebral nature of the music and lyrics. Buried underneath the lines and chords, a story is being told. Some are to the point, and some are a little more hidden.

“Is It My Body” is to the point, “what is it about me that makes you want to love me?” The question is straightforward and demands an answer. The answers to such a question are different for each listener.

"Clones" is an attack on forced conformity - it was very popular with high school students. The lyrics paint a future where all traces of the human race have been replaced by dehumanized clones: "We've destroyed the government, we're destroying time. No more problems on the way."

Clones was written by the late guitarist/vocalist/songwriter David Carron, who had been a member of Arlo Guthrie's touring band, Shenandoah, in the 1970s. He was also a member of the short-lived band Gulliver after that.

Clones song peaked at #40 on the US Hot 100. It was Cooper's first single to reach the Top 40 in two years. The track also saw some chart action in other parts of the world. It climbed to #36 on the singles chart in Australia and reached #58 in Germany.
This was the first single from Cooper's album Flush the Fashion. Due to the sluggish sales of his previous album, From the Inside, Cooper decided to take his sound in a new direction. With that goal in mind, he tapped Roy Thomas Baker to produce album. Baker was best known for his production work with Queen (he co-produced A Night at the Opera with the band) and The Cars. Under his production, the tracks on Flush the Fashion have a synth-laced New Wave sound, which was a significant departure from the rougher-edged hard rock and glam metal of Cooper's previous records. This sonic makeover proved successful in boosting Cooper's record sales; the album was his most successful LP in three years, climbing to #44 in America and #56 in the UK.

The Smashing Pumpkins covered Clones. Their version appears on the The Aeroplane Flies High collection.

Billion Dollar Babies is about the dangers of overindulgence. It came just as Cooper was getting famous and exposed to rock star excess, and accordingly it helped make him rich and famous. Alice used the cash to buy a house in Los Angeles and finance more elaborate stage shows and videos. He lived the rock star lifestyle for a while, but in later years settled into a very sensible upper class lifestyle, living in Arizona, playing lots of golf, and making shrewd business decisions. He never became a billionaire, but he did very well for himself.

Cooper and his band recorded Billion Dollar Babies at a mansion they rented out to record the album in Greenwich, Connecticut, which is a very wealthy suburb of New York City.

Billion Dollar Babies is credited as written by Cooper, his guitarist Michael Bruce, and a session guitarist they worked with named Reggie Vinson.

The Billion Dollar Babies album was re-released with new packaging as a DVD in 2000. It contains all the songs plus interviews and bonus tracks.

As part of his stage show, Cooper would mutilate dolls when he performed Billion Dollar Babies. The tour for the album introduced the props Cooper became famous for, including the guillotine, the snake, and hundreds of cans of beer.

Billion Dollar Babies took on new meaning when Cooper started playing casinos in the '90s.

1973 was the last year that Alice Cooper was recognized as a group, rather than just the lead singer. Since the singer, Vincent Furnier, drew most of the attention, many fans did not know the difference between him and the Alice Cooper Band. Muscle of Love was the last album as the group.

As lead singer Vincent Furnier became the known as Alice Cooper and sucked up all the notoriety the band received, the guitarist, bass player, and drummer from The Alice Cooper Band left and formed a group called The Billion Dollar Babies. They released an album called Battle Axe in 1977.

The background vocals for Billion Dollar Babies was sung by Donovan of "Mellow Yellow" fame. Donovan was recording at Willesden's Morgan Studios around the same time as Alice, and got roped into the session.

In a 2016 interview with Donovan, he told the story: "Here was this guy that I just met. He played me the song, and said, 'Would you like to put a vocal on?' I said, 'OK. Give me the chorus.' I listened to the chorus, and his guitar player was playing like Keith Richards - something very powerful that he'd learned from Keith or from Brian Jones in the Stones. And when I listened to the chorus, I said, 'OK. I'll give it a go.'

But I learned something: I had to sing in falsetto. Power bands in Britain had already learned that to have a singer in a power rock outfit, you need a singer who can go into falsetto. That's why you've got Robert Plant in Zeppelin, Jon Anderson with Yes. They have to raise their voices into the high range.

Chris Squire of Yes, who was a friend at the time, I said, 'Why is it?' And he said, 'Well, it's very easy. If you want your voice to be heard, you've got to climb above the guitars in the mid-range, or else you won't even hear the vocal.' And it's true.

So, I immediately said, 'Hey Alice, what do you think of [singing falsetto] Biiiillion Dollar Babies? So I did the falsetto, Alice loved it, and then I forgot about it, and never even thought about it, until someone told me later, it went to #1. And I was half the vocal! So Alice and I, when we meet, we have a chuckle and a laugh about it. It was a great pleasure. And the best thing about it was nobody knew it was me for so long!"

Notwithstanding the sometimes grotesque subject matter, Cooper told Gibson.com that one of his main inspirations for the album was Chuck Berry. "[Berry] was my favorite lyricist," said Cooper. "When I first heard something like 'Nadine,' or 'Maybelline,' I understood those songs told a story. As the lyrics went along, you really got a picture of what was going on. He took the girl out; he couldn't get his seat belt off - things like that. I always wanted to write three-minute stories that were funny, or maybe not just funny, but also dramatic. The idea was to compact everything into three minutes, which is really hard to do."