By Steve Newton
Finally got around to watching the 2014 documentary Super Duper Alice Cooper for the first time the other night, and it was awesome: except for the part where they refused to even mention the name “Michael Bruce”.
For the uninitiated, Bruce was the rhythm guitarist for the Alice Cooper Band during its first seven albums, which include the crappy ones Pretties for You and Easy Action and the great ones Love It to Death and Killer (1971), School’s Out (1972), and Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle of Love (1973).
During his time with the band Bruce had an enormous effect on the music that every rock-loving kid in the ’70s adored. He cowrote every single song on the greatest Alice Cooper album of all time, Killer–except “Be My Lover”, which he wrote on his own. He cowrote the song that blasted Cooper into fame, “I’m Eighteen”, from Love It to Death, and he single-handedly came up with that album’s wicked opening track, “Caught in a Dream”.
“Michael Bruce is still alive and he is sort of a controversial omission from the movie,” SDAC director Reg Harkema told legendaryrockinterviews.com, “but it was difficult to try and get an interview with him for various reasons and trying to wedge in the presence or story of someone into the film whom you don’t have access to just feels weird and only the most hardcore fan who somehow doesn’t know how to Wikipedia is going to care.”
Fuck that noise, Reggie. I’m a hardcore fan, and I know how to Wikipedia. What’s your fvcking point? Fact is you should have at least mentioned his name once.
At least you didn’t photoshop him out of the band photos.
Thanks for that.
The other thing that bugged me the most about Super Duper Alice Cooper was the crapping on Muscle of Love as somehow inferior to the other four albums that preceded it. Just because it was the first of the five not to be produced by SDAC contributor Bob Ezrin doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great album.
As someone who, at age 16, raced out and bought that LP in its faux grease-stained, corrugated cardboard package and loved it from “Big Apple Dreamin’ (Hippo)” through “Woman Machine”, I can tell you that–while obviously not a masterpiece like Killer–it is not something to be crapped on. It’s the last great Alice Cooper album.
Anyway, I’m not suggesting a boycott of Super Duper Alice Cooper. If you’re a hardcore Cooper fan like me, you will get a lot out of it.
But keep some toothpaste handy. You’ll be left with a bad taste in your mouth by the way they pretend Michael Bruce wasn’t even there.
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I wonder what the deal was at the time…scheduling? bad blood? hard to say. I’m just glad they seem to have patched it up!
Wow, did you leave out any of the other interviews you’ve had. So, you article was entirely all about you huh?
Steve,
Great article. Suggest you give another listen to PFY and EA.
We
right? They’re just as amazing as the rest but just in a very different way, and closer to the original spirit of the band & pre-AC bands THE NAZZ & THE SPIDERS
… maybe he wasn’t photoshopped out of SDAC… but he was photoshopped out of the “Good To See You Again Alice Cooper” DVD cover photo.
I agree not mentioning M.Bruce is inexcusable. I differ with you on muscle of love (and I’m not a producer or relayed to Ezrin!). I listen to Easy action more than muscle, the only group album I fond hard to get into is pfy.
M. Bruce name should have obviously been mentioned regardless of what happened and to top it off the religious front man Alice should have insisted on it as well. Maybe M.Bruce should do a documentary and not mention Alice?
I respectfully disagree. Muscle of Love was not a good album.
well, my 16-year-old self sure enjoyed it
It’s good.
I just watched the documentary again tonight, and Michael’s complete omission bugged me even more this time than it did the first time I watched this. As I understand it, his contributions to the classic catalog were as important if not may be more important than Alice’s. Very frustrating to not even get a mention of his name, let alone any insight into the inner workings of the band and their songwriting.
Oh, and by the way, muscle of love does suck.
no way, it’s awesome
I love Alice Cooper but prefer the solo stuff personally, no disrespect intended to the original band, it is all subjective. But I disagree with Muscle of Love being great. It was okay and that’s it. Better than PFY and Easy Action yes bit nowhere close to LITD thru Billion Dollar Babies as far as the original band goes.
And frankly I sort of get the issue. Yes Bruce should have been able to tell his side but for those that can’t get past the original band (I can) Bruce largely was the one who pushed taking a break and doing some solo stuff so Alice did the same. The difference is Alice’s was a hit, Bruce’s wasn’t and no disrespect there but had Michael Bruce been successful he would stayed solo as would anyone else in that situation. It is the risk you take and while he seems to be a nice guy, he also is the one who has said some things and seems to be the one most bitter about everything despite being the one who initiated it at first.