Raise Your Fist And Yell

About

"Raise Your Fist and Yell" is the tenth solo studio album and seventeenth studio album overall by American rock singer Alice Cooper. It was released on September 5, 1987, by MCA Records. The album features the song "Prince of Darkness", which appears briefly in John Carpenter's 1987 horror film of the same name. Cooper makes a cameo appearance in the film as a murderous vagrant, and the song is heard on the Walkman of one of his victims. "Freedom" was released as the album's only single and was accompanied by a music video. "Raise Your Fist and Yell" is the only Alice Cooper album to feature drummer Ken K. Mary and the second and final album to feature bassist Kip Winger. The album continues the horror-themed approach of Cooper's previous album, "Constrictor" (1986), drawing on imagery associated with slasher films. The track "Lock Me Up" features an appearance by actor Robert Englund, known for portraying Freddy Krueger in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film series. The album cover was painted by artist Jim Warren. Cooper supported the album with the "Live in the Flesh" tour, which attracted attention in Europe in 1988 for its graphic violence and theatrical staging. The production included the return of the gallows, which had not been used in his stage shows since 1972, alongside elaborate horror-themed sequences depicting simulated violence and deaths. One scene involved Cooper being impaled with a microphone stand. A similar visual was used in "Prince of Darkness", in which his character kills another character with the front forks of a bicycle. The stage production drew on imagery from contemporary horror films and made extensive use of theatrical blood. The show's graphic content prompted controversy in several countries. German authorities required Cooper to remove some of the more violent elements of the production. In the United Kingdom, David Blunkett, then a Member of Parliament, called for the show to be banned, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Five songs from "Raise Your Fist and Yell" were performed during the supporting tour: "Freedom", "Prince of Darkness", "Chop Chop Chop", "Gail" and "Roses on White Lace". "Roses on White Lace" returned as a regular part of the setlist during the 2019 "Ol' Black Eyes Is Back" tour. "Freedom" was included in the closing segment of several performances in late 2022 and early 2023, when guitarist Kane Roberts temporarily rejoined Cooper's touring band. "Lock Me Up" became an opening song for live shows in 2023. Other songs from the album have not been performed in subsequent tours, according to available setlist records.

via Last.fm