Customer Reviews

No More Mr Nice Guy: The Inside Story of the Alice Cooper Group

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Michael Bruce was the meat and potatoes of the Alice Cooper Group. He penned all of the classic Cooper hits, I'm Eighteen, Be My Lover, No More Mr. Nice Guy, to name a few. Then the group broke up, Alice was onstage with dancing spiders and Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway faded into obscurity. I read the first edition of this book in 1997 and was surprised and amused by Michael's tales of starvation and stardom. This book has it all, from the group's days as the Spiders, the ACG's rise to the top in '73, to the group's attempt to reclaim their fame without Alice. Michael reveals what he's been up to for the past 25 years and what the other band members have done with their lives. The updated version of NMMNG contains information about the ACG mini-reunions, Glen Buxton's death and Michael's latest musical accomplishments. If you ever wondered what happened to this Billion Dollar Baby, you gotta have this book!

Maybe Michael Bruce should have hired a ghost writer. But don't hold it against him. Until a better writer happens along, this will probably have to be the definitive account of Alice Cooper's early life---as in, when the name indicated a band first and foremost, even if the lead singer decided to adopt the name as his own stage name, too---if only because it comes from the man who was probably the real most valuable player in the band.

Though they began as a gang of rabble-and-rollers who also had a sense of the absurd which veered between the surreal and the downright insane (you have to hear their very first album, the Frank Zappa-produced "Pretties For You," to understand), it didn't take long before Alice Cooper began shaping into a slashing band with hooks to burn---the maturity which began on their second album ("Easy Action") and all but exploded on their third ("Love It To Death"). They may have been a rather watered-down and cartooned-up version of the Stooges' genuine teenage-wasteland angst, but there was no escaping the quick grip of songs like "Eighteen," "Under My Wheels," "Be My Lover," "Caught In A Dream," "School's Out," "You Drive Me Nervous," "Dead Babies," "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets," "No More Mr. Nice Guy," and "Billion Dollar Baby." And it was predominantly Michael Bruce---who was actually the better musician between the band's two guitarists, though fellow guitarist Glen Buxton usually earned the raves for the spiky lead guitar work even when he didn't play it (which, beginning with the impossibly best-selling "Billion Dollar Babies," was damn near all the time; the stories abounded about the band using unseen guitarists to cover for Buxton while Bruce actually switched between lead and rhythm guitar onstage)---who provided the hooks and the overall balanced structure that made the songs workable even without the stage act whose shock value, in hindsight, wore off into self-parody rather quickly.

It probably should have surprised no one that the overworked Alice Cooper five delivered something less than their front line with 1974's "Muscle of Love." But what happened next proves somewhat tawdry---announcing a temporary hiatus for the band, on the pretext of regrouping and refreshing, Cooper the singer cut a well-received solo album ("Welcome To My Nightmare") with most of the band he swiped from Lou Reed (the famed "Rock and Roll Animal" group, spearhead by twin guitar slingers Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner)...and then some solo concerts with a few new variations on his old stage tricks...then another solo album...a few hit singles (especially 1977's surprisingly masterful and haunting ballad, "You And Me")...another couple of solo albums, including a live album at least a third of which was stuff from the old band. Meanwhile, the old band twisted in the wind and figured out the hard way that Alice Cooper the singer had no intention of ever reuniting Alice Cooper the band. (Almost a year and a half later, while Cooper was riding his slowly swelling solo success, the band gave interviews in which they assured one and all that yes, they were only on temporary vacation and they were just waiting for Alice to pass the word it was time to rock again.)

The band was fool enough to try it on their own for awhile (minus Buxton, apparently), changing the name to Billion Dollar Babies, and cutting an album which had plenty missing beginning with the foolishness of their new name. From there, they drifted apart to various ventures none of which came even close to their old glory, and practically the whole world forgot Alice Cooper was born as a band.

As all but the musical director of that band, Bruce has all the reason in the world to be bitter over their shabby treatment. He may not be David Niven as a show business memoirist, but given his limitations as a prose writer he's telling a story fans of the 1970s (remember: Alice Cooper the band was the hottest act in American show business from 1971-73) and of Alice Cooper will want to know, and if you get past his stylistic flaws as a writer you'll be surprised at how well he keeps the bitterness down to a dull roar and still has a stubborn pride (as he should) in what he did accomplish.

The Alice Cooper you see today is not the same Alice Cooper that roamed the earth from 1971-1973. The Alice Cooper of the early 70's was a fearsome T-Rex which ravaged the souls of their young fans like myself. I was 12 years old when I saw them perform on ABC's In Concert in 1972. The sound of this band live was truly mind bending and permanently damaging. Alice Cooper was Mike Bruce-guitar-song writer, Neal Smith-drums, Dennis Dunaway-bass, Glen Buxton-guitar, Shep Gordon-manager, Bob Ezrin-producer and Alice Cooper aka Vincent Furnier-lead vocals. This book, written by one of the founding members of the group shows another point of view not commonly heard about those early years and how the original group finally broke apart. This book is probably just for fans of Alice Cooper past and present. I don't imagine the general public has much interest in this but for fans I think it might be interesting to know what Alice Cooper really was back then. They were a force to be reckoned with and I believe it was the overall synergy, the whole being greater than the parts that makes something happen but the parts begin to think they're greater than the whole and they lose it. To me, Alice Cooper was over for me when the original band split. I moved on to other bands like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Aerosmith. This is a refreshing perspective on what was and what is now. I liked it, although it seems too short. I read it in 2 days, would've read it in one if I had more time but I still enjoyed it. If your an AC fan I think you'll like it too.

A great book that goes right to the heart of The Alice cooper band. I only wish that it was longer. Good content indeed!
Lovely photos and info throughout! If you are a fan of the early AC, READ THIS BOOK! It is essential!

Michael has written a brave and adult book that will strike a chord with millions of Alice Cooper fans dismayed at the bands breakup.
Michael's opinion will not be shared by everyone but it is really about time we got a perspective from outside of the Alice Camp who rarely see beyond stary eyed hero worship at best.
The facts do not particularly favour either side. Alice Cooper split up with just one album to make. This deprived the band of some richly deserved royalties but it hardly pointed to Alice jumping ship at the first hint of commercial success. Alice himself points to a band that wanted to ditch theatrics and go more mainstream. True of Michaels solo album, but the Billion Dollar Babies BattleAxe album? and tour with its stageshow designed to rival anything Alice had done? Somehow it seemed hollow.
Michael possibly minimizes the strained relations between the band members at the height of their success. But band members Neal & Dennis were prepared to go on record as saying that current writing was overstating them# (#Bob Greene/Billion Dollar Baby).
Muscle Of Love had resulted in lawsuits which must have put pressure on the bands management. But Warners suing as it was the wrong type of product seems a gas in retrospect given the course Alice's solo career was to take.
Michael's suggestion that it was Shep Gordon who persuaded Alice to leave the band for a 50/50 split will always have some resonance just as long as rock n roll is rock n roll. All major bands have argued over this issue at some point.
Dont know for a fact, will never know for a fact and three decades later dont really want to. My judgement is just a musical one. Alice is for me rock's greatest performer he can make the most ordinary session musicians look great. But without his band he lasted for just one album before thirteen years obscurity set in. Something too many devoted Yes Men! were never concerned about.
Alice for me should have realised that it wasn't working without the band and at least offered the possibility of a reunion even if this meant splitting with his managment. Alice had every right to grow older, get married change priorities. I always had every sympathy for the pressure the original Alice caricature put on him. But what no one can expect is for rock n roll to change with them. It never changes and once the personal stuff came into Alice's music things were going to get tricky.
Michael has written a book for the grown ups and not one for those more comfy with the no drugs just booze all nice guys legend. Michael has rightly or wrongly said what most of us secretly believed. The music industry was wrong. The men in suits were wrong, unforgivably wrong. They all took their piece of Alice and weve all paid our price.
Michael Bruce I hope you live forever in Rock n Roll heaven.(Clarissa Jones)

An excellent book. A must for every fan of the original ALICE COOPER GROUP. Michael not only talks about himself, but all the members of the greatest band of the 70's. Reminds us that Alice Cooper was not a man, but a group. Pictures were fabulous. A MUST READ!!

This is an excellent book by Michael Bruce (Alice Cooper Band Original Guitarists) and Billy James (Ant Bee) which follows the Bands History from Arizona to Los Angeles To Michigan to Superstardom. It is well written and tells the story in an engaging way with much humor and candor. This is a MUST HAVE for any Alice Cooper fan and really any Rock Fan.

An excellent presentation on the history of the Alice Cooper Group, as well as one of the principle performers of that band. A new chapter is added to this "second printing" edition, as well as photos not included in the first edition. A great read for fans, and also for those interested in what it was like to be in one of the best rock and roll bands of the 70's.

Gary Brown Coordinator / Webkeeper of The Offcial Michael Bruce Mailing List / Website

No More Mr.Nice Guy is a Great book!It is written by Alice Cooper's First Guitarest Mike Bruce! The book tells the story on alot of the albums and tours that Mike was in with Alice! Also the book talks abot some of Mikes other bands! Worth the Money totley! This book is for Any Alice or Mike Bruce fan!

Sigh...unprofessional and redundant. Mr. Bruce talks smack about everyone while incessantly blowing his own horn and shamelessly promoting his own current "efforts". I am so disappointed as I have followed AC from the beginning and would have preferred to maintain my image of them all as nice guys. This book is nothing more than a poorly written article in disguise and was of little interest to me.