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Dennis Dunaway (original Alice Cooper)

#21
JimK said:
Cool...I still have all of those original LPs (pink panties still on the School's Out record)...for some reason, the book cover from MOL is missing.
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One of the AC shows I caught was outside [J Geils opening]and they had a helicopter drop panties on the crowd...good times, good times.:D
 
#23
gweimer said:
Another big Dunaway disciple here. I recall reading that Ezrin pushed him to think outside the box during the recording sessions. Dennis is one of my friends on MySpace. I wrote him, and told him that he influenced me as much as Jack Bruce and Chris Squire
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+1

between Mel Schacher and DD, that was pretty much my first "bass school". I stole more from those two guys than probably anybody, and I still hear their influence in my playing today.

/rick
 
#28
The second real rock concert I went to was the Love it Death show in 70? Maybe '71. I had no real frame of reference for live music, but I remember that band as having an amazingly cohesive vision both visually and sonically. None of them were truly great players, but they were total pros - and they looked like they came from another planet, wearing these zip-up spandex body suits and looking like every parent's worst nightmare.

Exactly what my teenage taste delighted in!

I learned all their stuff when when I was learning how to play.

Incidentally, my FIRST rock show was the Frost from Detroit, and how coincidental that Dick Wagner from that band became the studio guy for Bob Ezrin and consequently Alice Cooper. He was a great player and had a nice voice too.
 
#32
JimK said:
I agree...School's Out was my first...then a month or so later, Killer...then Love It To Death.
Some will say Billion Dollar Babies was the AC groups' best...for some reason, it did not do it for me like the earlier 3.
And Muscle Of Love, IMO, was not as bad as everyone else said it was.

That said, Dunaway's pedal on "Hello Hooray" threw me ("Why is he not playing the changes"?!). ;)
"No More Mr. NIce Guy" & "Billion Dollar Babies" are nice DD cuts.
From MOL, "Crazy Little Child" & "Never Been Sold Before" were cool.
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Agree with it all, but I really like Billion Dollar Babies too. Maybe because I saw them do it live. As well as School's Out. Will always love them! :bassist:
 
#33
The School's Out album has some of the most juiced bass lines ever, running through them, DD put the freak in the Alice Cooper BAND. Billion $ Babies, is a good album, yet sounds un-inspired (read; musical creativity was forced to the back seat for the megalomaniacal visual aspect of the Alice Cooper show).

Down hill ever since.
 
#35
Was he on "No More Mister Nice Guy?" We just covered that tune for a Halloween gig. I learned it note-for-note, and I thought his style was crazy cool. Just listen to the last chord where the guitars end on an A maj. and the bass lands a fifth up on an E. Badass. You can't get away with that on just any song.
 
#36
"Thinking outside the box." That's the one thing you couldn't help but notice about his playing and something that (IMO) is one of the hardest things to do. To play something that sounds so out there but it still fit's the song perfectly.

I've always thought that Dennis was a masterful player.
 
#39
RickC said:
+1

between Mel Schacher and DD, that was pretty much my first "bass school". I stole more from those two guys than probably anybody, and I still hear their influence in my playing today.

/rick
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And a double +1 to this! I'm 56, been playing since I was 14. McCartney first, but my playing is definitely more influenced by Mel & Dennis. Awesome bassists! Listening to the "Killer" album still gives me chills....

"Halo Of Flies".....man....
 

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