Posted on 09/02/2009 8:27:45 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Veteran American singer Alice Cooper's concert scheduled for Tampere in December has been shifted to Espoo because of concerns over his shock-rock image.
Tampere Arena, which was to have hosted the December 11 show, cancelled it because a perceived conflict with the venue's "Christian-based policies".
"The [Lutheran-based charismatic revivalist] group Nokia Mission and others use Tampere Arena for their events, so the venue's management did not want Alice Cooper appearing in the same hall. The contract which we received from Tampere Arena specifies that no artists may perform there who 'incite evil and the power of darkness'," promoter Kalle Keskinen told YLE.
Tampere Arena CEO Harri Wiherkoski announced the concert's cancellation on Friday. He said the contract was not signed after he read in a newspaper that Alice Cooper would be performing there. Wiherkoski says two previous concerts have been barred from the hall for the same reason.
"We never imagined that a rock veteran who has performed in Finland in four separate decades without any problems and who has spoken in public of his own religious convictions would not be allowed to perform at Tampere Arena in 2009," says Keskinen.
The 61-year-old Cooper began his career in the early 1970s, reportedly taking his stage name from a seventeenth century witch. He has often evoked horror-movie and macabre themes in his music and stage shows. However in later years, he has described himself as a born-again Christian and an avid golfer.
Cooper last appeared in Finland in November 2007, when he played in Helsinki and Oulu and at Powerpark in Alahärmä, Ostrobothnia.
18 holes. Every day.
>>” So now you’re trying to associate him with pedophile priests?! You’ve got issues.”
I’ve got ISSUES? Do they not say they are Christian? Do they not have degree in theology (or DIVINITY)? What they DO, and what HE DOES, right now, that damages people. This is his latest song:
POISON
Your cruel device
Your blood, like ice
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
I want to love you but I better not
Touch (dont touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
Tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
Much (too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
Are venomous poison
Youre poison running through my
Veins
Youre poison, I dont want to
Break these chains
Your mouth, so hot
Your web, Im caught
Your skin, so wet
Black lace on sweat
I hear you calling and its needles
And pins (and pins)
I want to hurt you just to hear you
Screaming my name
Dont want to touch you but
Youre under my skin (deep in)
I want to kiss you but your lips
Are venomous poison
Youre poison running through my veins
Youre poison, I dont wanna
Break these chains
Poison
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
I want to love you but I better not
Touch (dont touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
Tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
Much (too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
Are venomous poison
Youre poison running through my
Veins
Youre poison, I dont wanna
Break these chains
Poison
I want to love you but I better not
Touch (dont touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
Tell me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
Much (too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
Are venomous poison, yeah
I dont want to break these chains
Poison, oh no
Runnin deep inside my veins,
Burnin deep inside my veins
Its poison
I dontt wanna break these chains
Poison
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/alice+cooper/poison_20005797.html
I will not post a video. You can find it easily enough.There is no way to discern between this, and the performance of the most deviant sociopath heathen.
Matthew 15:11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
DG
There’s a big difference between a theology degree and a divinity degree. There’s also a big difference between a rock star who converted and then sought an education about it, and a religious leader who abused his position.
Poison isn’t his latest song. That song is 20 years old, also pre-conversion. Trash is probably my least favorite of his albums, largely because I find it redundant. He’s already done an album that was all weird sex songs, the much better Muscle of Love, and Trash suffers from the bubblegum metal influence of Desmond Child. It was a very popular album though, brought him back into a the lime light after a few years of struggle.
If you can’t tell the difference between this and the performance of the most deviant sociopath heathen you probably need to sequester yourself from all outside influences. Poison is just a song about a BDSM freak, not even a really good song.
Too cool..!! LOL!!
My 21 yr. old daughter digs BOC....and many more bands of our young times.
It's funny to turn my kids on to the bands/groups I listened to, in my teen years.
Spencer Davis Group, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Hendrix, etc, etc...
FRegards,
>>”Poison isn’t his latest song. “
Sorry, I just put “Alice Cooper” and “newest song” into Google, and poison was what I got.
>>”If you can’t tell the difference... ...you probably need to sequester yourself from all outside influences.”
Uh huh. And what objective standard sets his work apart from the rest?
DG
Poison was his last big hit, but it was 20 years, 8 albums, and 1 religious conversion ago.
What form of separation are you looking for and who are the rest? He’s a clever lyricist with a good ear for talent and good musical instincts whose always believed his fans deserve a full entertainment experience. In the realm of heavy metal he’s probably one of the most influential guys ever, there pretty much hasn’t been a heavy metal artist that picked up their instrument after 1975 who doesn’t list Alice in their top 5 influences. He’s dealt with topics lyrically that are so far out there that even Frank Zappa wouldn’t touch them, but he’s always kept a strong concept within the songs that his characters are, either bad people doing bad things or victims of bad people. Since his conversion he’s been open about his faith and always willing to discuss it, how he converted and why he converted. Even before he converted he had a history of helping younger stars deal with the excesses of life in rock, something that’s continued with the addition of discussions of faith since conversion.
What you, like many of his detractors, are missing is the difference between the stage character of Alice and the person. The stage character is a bad guy, the darkness within all of us, an expression of the thoughts that run through our heads that we don’t like. But that’s just a character he plays on stage, no different than any heavy played by any actor in a play or movie, we don’t think the person who plays the Devil in a production of Faust is a bad person, even if they’re method. Off stage Alice is a guy who quit drinking and drugs over 20 years ago, never cheated on his wife, believes in the divinity of Jesus, thinks rock stars should shut up about politics, and loves to golf.
Thanks for making me feel old! I remember buying the CD and playing it in my Mirage.
BTW: You do realize that Zappa himself discovered Alice Cooper, and produced "Pretties for You."
Still think that "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" is one of the greatest rock songs EVER.
I was dating the serious girlfriend BEFORE the one I’ve been married to for 17 years when Trash came out. So yeah, if makes me feel old too.
Being a big fan of both I’ve always enjoyed the FZ - AC connection, I’ve always thought there was a lot of cross pollination musically. If only Alice would have been able to teach FZ how to break his groupie habit, maybe Frank wouldn’t have over used his prostrate and he’d still be with us.
>>”What you, like many of his detractors, are missing is the difference between the stage character of Alice and the person. The stage character is a bad guy,...”
If his offstage life is as you say, and that was his whole life, I would have no issue with him. BUT This post is all about SNEERING at a venue for not allowing a performance. SNEERING, since “because he has a theology degree, his performance must be OK.”
The performance is the problem. Unless he has changed dramatically, from what he was doing in the past, the performance is BAD. If the words he writes/sings, and the way he acts onstage, is indistinguishable from those artists who’s message is completely anti-Christian, hedonistic, drug-oriented, and just plain evil. why should sny follower of Christ call the performance anything but evil?
Is there any objective standard, which sets his performance apart?
DG
Against, *obviously*.
That's from an album done in 1989 [that was *20* years ago, in case the point eludes you].....LOL!
His latest album is "Along Came A Spider". [July, 2008] which includes the song "Salvation"
Salvation
What if I'm wrong,
I've been deceived all along
What if I'm wrong
What have I done
Did I waste a life just for fun
What have I done
What did I do
I did what voices told me to
What did I do
Where will I go
Will I sink through fire down below
Where will I go
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation for eternity
Any chance of salvation
Someone died for me
Washed in blood he cared enough to pity me
Why do I care
What's wrong with me, my hate is gone
Why do I care
When did I change
What's different now, it's very strange
When did I change
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation for eternity
Any chance of salvation
Someone died for me
Washed in blood he cared enough to pity me
In my heart
In my soul
Something's new, that's very old
Like a pain that's finally gone
I feel my heavy burden lifted
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation for eternity
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation for eternity
Any chance of salvation
Any chance for me
Any chance of salvation for eternity
Sal-va-tion
Sal-va-tion
Sal-va-tion
Sal-va-tion
Vince is a pretty conservative guy. I know.
Now contrast that song with one from the album “The Last Temptation” [1994]
[he had just successfully completed alcohol rehab]
Cleansed By Fire
I don’t know but I’ve been told
The streets of hell are paved with gold
Crazy, crazy
You told me that nothing’s free
Except my own insanity
Crazy, maybe
Wake me, shake me
Wake me, shake me
You offer me the world and all its wealth
All for myself
You promised me a life eternally
And drink to my health
I may seem only half-glued
But I can see right through you
Burn it up, burn it down
Burn this sucker to the ground
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Going, going, going, gone
There’s a party going on
Do you think I don’t know who you are
A fallen star
When I feel my soul scream out at night
I know you’re not far
You need a better disguise
This one won’t win any prize
Burn it up, burn it down
Burn this sucker to the ground
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Going, going, going, gone
There’s a party going on
Cleansed by fire, cleansed by fire
I may seem only half-glued
But I can see right through you
What about dark
What about light
What about wrong
What about right
What about death
What about sin
What about the web you’re trying to spin
What about truth
What about life
What about glory
What about Christ
What about peace
What about love
What about faith in God above
What about war
What about hell
What if I stumble
What if I fell
What about blood
What about greed
And all of these things you’re offering me
Yeah, what about me, little me
You lose and I win
You couldn’t suck me in
It’s over, you have no power
You’re lost
And I’m found
And I’m Heaven bound
Go back to where you belong
To where you fell
Go to hell
You *really* haven’t followed the story of this man’s life, have you?
Like all of us filthy sinners, he came to the light after getting hopelessly lost in the dark.
*You* are in no position to judge him.
“Still think that “The Ballad of Dwight Fry” is one of the greatest rock songs EVER.
Hell yeah!
Every time I’m riding my Harley and it comes up on the iPod playlist, I crank that puppy *up*.....:))
>>”Salvation”
These words seem unobjectionable. Must re-evaluate my position.
>>”*You* are in no position to judge him.”
You are correct, in that. But I not only can, but MUST judge what he, or any other performer DOES. He very effectively PROJECTS ideas, and thoughts, and images, into the minds of his audience. If All he did was songs like “Salvation,” one could say “that is good.” But, that is not all he does, only a little bit of it.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/along-came-a-spider-album-alice-cooper.html
The lyrics to all the songs on the album are here. All except “Salvation” are the maunderings of a psychopathic, sexual, serial killer. The came from his mind, and are being projected into the minds kids all over the world, thanks to the power of his performance. One song of “Salvation” cannot sanctify, or even bless, the remainder of the album.
We are BOTH judging this music. I say that it is BAD, You say it is GOOD.
DG
Medical science has developed amazing treatments and medications for OCD. Just sayin...
How odd.
I’ve listened to his music for over 30 years and have yet to kill anyone, become a drunk or behead myself.
Maybe I just have a stronger faith than most and am immune to mimicking everything I see or hear.
[if you repress your “dark side”, it *will* come back later and bite you hard in the arse...better to let it out and deal with it in the light].....:)
So *you* hate Alice Cooper because he doesn’t meet *your* standards.
We all GET it.
You’re not “changing any minds” here.
This is officially an Alice Cooper celebration thread.
[and you’re just a tad out of place and infinitely annoying]
*Some* of us rejoice that he beat his past addictions and experienced God’s salvation.
Have a nice night[mare]!
[and FYI, I have EVERY song/album he’s ever done and am very familiar with the content, thereof]
Pharisees won’t take pills.
>>”So *you* hate Alice Cooper because he doesn’t meet *your* standards.”
You know that I don’t *hate* him. I am saying that what he does for a living is unredeemed. It hurts people. It is bad.
>>”You’re not “changing any minds” here.”
I am aware of that, but I must speak the truth.
>>”This is officially an Alice Cooper celebration thread.”
No. It is a SNEER at anyone who does not wish to promote vileness thread.
>>”*Some* of us rejoice that he beat his past addictions and experienced God’s salvation.”
That joy cannot justify accepting as “good” the continuing projection of corruption.
>>”[and FYI, I have EVERY song/album he’s ever done and am very familiar with the content, thereof]”
Why am I not surprised. You have imbibed from polluted waters for so long that you imagine it to be sweet.
DG
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