No More Mr. Nice Guy – Alice Cooper | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#25); 1973
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
As a teenager, Vincent Damon Furnier was already an old hand at making records in Phoenix having released two local singles with the Spiders and one with Nazz.
Nazz’ Lay Down And Die, Goodbye didn’t burn exactly up the Top 40, plus it turned out there was a Pennsylvania band fronted by an-as-yet unknown Todd Rundgren with that name, so a change was in order.
Nazz became Alice Cooper and the band moved to LA. Frank Zappa sensed commercial potential in Alice and signed the group to his label. Two albums later Cooper’s ship still hadn’t come in so the boys took a breather in Alice’s hometown of Detroit.
A rejuvenated AC returned to LA, released Love It To Death, and soon had Eighteen on Top 40 radio. 1972’s School’s Out buried the naysaying critics when the album went to #2 and the single to #7.
The chart-topping Billion Dollar Babies followed with No More Mr. Nice Guy‘s humorous commentary on the band’s bad reputation.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Bob Ezrin
Lyrics Written by:
- Alice Cooper
- Michael Bruce
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).