By Chris Johnson
“We can dig you a hole, deep in the ground, bury your soul, down in DragonTown.” That chilling lyric is just a taste of the evil that shock-master Alice Cooper paints for us in his demented world, known simply as DragonTown, the capital of Brutal Planet. Last year’s Brutal Planet was the first chapter of Alice’s twisted vision of the future. Now, in the year 2001, DragonTown presents us with the citizens who inhabit this apocalyptic city.
In Alice Cooper’s 25th album, we are introduced to the “Triggerman,” a gun-crazed maniac, “The Sentinel,” a song that hits too close to home as it deals with a terrorist who has it in for the whole world, “Sister Sara,” a nun whose love for God meant nothing as she broke every sin in the book, and finally, we learn the true fate of Elvis Presley as he was sent down to “Disgraceland.” Think of DragonTown as Alice’s version of Hell, and this is where the wicked are sent.
Cooper tells us that “Sex, Death, and Money” are the reasons we are going “Deeper” into the heart of “DragonTown.” To lighten the mood on such a dark album, we are given the obligatory ballad, “Every Woman Has A Name” and it is one of the best ones he ever wrote, along the lines of classic ballads like “Only Women Bleed” and “Take It Like A Woman.” The story is far from done as death and genocide occur “Somewhere in the Jungle.” Society tries to be bigger than it really is, as someone says, “I Just Wanna Be God.” In the end, Alice has condemned us to DragonTown as we realize “It’s Much Too Late.”
Last year’s critically acclaimed Brutal Planet ended with us being stranded on a desolate planet, alone and scared. Alice Cooper returned to take us into DragonTown, and he will complete the trilogy of terror in the near future. After more than thirty years in the business, Alice Cooper has shown time and time again that he only gets better with age. Cooper, 53, has said that he has years left in him and he is proving it with his new stageshow, Brutal Planet: Descent Into DragonTown, in cities all around the country. Take a look at today’s music and you will see influences everywhere; even Britney Spears has borrowed stuff from Alice. What people need to realize is that Alice Cooper brought a theatricality to rock and music in general that did not exist before. Hands down, Alice Cooper is the original, the innovator, and the legend. I leave you with these haunting words: “I’m just doing my job to pull you down, cuz it’s a one way ticket down to DragonTown.” Pray we don’t end up there.
