''Flush the Fashion'' is the fifth solo studio album by American singer

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

, released on April 28, 1980 by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. It was recorded at

Cherokee Studios Cherokee Studios is a recording studio facility in Hollywood founded in 1972 by members of 1960s pop band The Robbs. Cherokee has been the location of many notable recordings by such artists as Steely Dan, David Bowie, Journey, The Cars, Foreign ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

with producer

Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter and arranger, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s. Career Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an a ...

, known for his work with

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and

the Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboard ...

. Musically, the album was a drastic change of style for Cooper, leaning towards a new wave influence. The

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

" Clones (We're All)" peaked at No. 40 on the U.S. '' Billboard'' Top 40.

Background

The album's ten tracks touch on themes such as the loss of identity, taking on other roles, and the usual Alice Cooper-esque

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

. This is evident even in the lyrics of ''Flush the Fashion's'' cover songs (for example the "Clones" single). Cooper also performs several "story" songs, presenting a series of intriguing vignettes in lieu of more traditional subject matter. By the time of ''Flush the Fashion'', after a much-publicized stint in a sanitarium in 1977 for

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

and subsequent sobriety, Cooper had secretly developed a heavy addiction to

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

, although, unlike his subsequent three studio albums Cooper has some recollection – if not perfect – of making ''Flush the Fashion''. Cooper did tour the album through the United States and Mexico City during 1980, playing " Clones (We're All)", "Pain", "Model Citizen", "Grim Facts", " Talk Talk", "Dance Yourself to Death" and "Nuclear Infected" on a regular basis. The first four songs remained part of the setlist for the ''Special Forces'' tour a year later. Since 1982, songs from ''Flush the Fashion'', as with all Cooper's albums from between 1976 and 1983, have rarely been performed live. The only cases have been: *"Clones (We're All)",'Clones (We're All)' performance data
/ref> of which there were a few irregular performances between 1996 and 2003 and was a regular part of Cooper's setlist during the 2011–2012 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' tour *"Pain", which was regular on Cooper's 2017 'Spend the Night with Alice Cooper' tour, and *"Grim Facts" with was part of "A Paranormal Evening with Alice Cooper" in 2018. According to Alice Cooper on his radio show on October 5, 2020, all the song titles on this album were taken from Headlines (hence Track #10) from the ''

National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''Flush the Fashion'' liner notes. Musicians * Alice Cooper –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Davey Johnstone David William Logan Johnstone (born 6 May 1951) is a British rock guitarist and vocalist, best known for his long-time collaboration with Elton John as a member of the Elton John Band. Career Johnstone's first work was with Noel Murphy in ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

Fred Mandel Frederick Lawrence Mandel (born 1953) is a Canadian session musician, keyboard player and guitarist. Career Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Mandel became involved in music from an early age. He started playing the piano at four and picked up t ...

– keyboards;

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

;

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Dennis Conway – drums * John Cooker Lopresti –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Flo & Eddie Flo & Eddie is a comedy rock duo consisting of Mark Volman (Flo, short for Phlorescent Leech) and Howard Kaylan (Eddie). The two were the original founding members of the Top 40 mid-to late 1960s rock and pop group The Turtles. After the Turt ...

– backing vocals *

Joe Pizzulo Joe Pizzulo is an American vocalist best known as one of the lead singers on 1980s hit singles credited to Sérgio Mendes, including " Never Gonna Let You Go" (from Mendes' self-titled 1983 album) and "Alibis" (from the 1984 album ''Confetti''). ...

– backing vocals * Keith Allison – backing vocals * Ricky "Rat" Tierney – backing vocals Production and artwork *

– producer * Ian Taylor –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

* John Weaver – assistant engineer * Eddy Herch –

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

* Jonathan Exley – back cover and sleeve

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

* Fred Valentine – front cover photography * Alice Cooper – art direction * Peter Whorf – art direction

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Flush the Fashion Alice Cooper albums 1980 albums Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker Warner Records albums