Brutal Planet is the 21st studio album by
Alice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, released in 2000. Lyrically, it's a
Concept AlbumIn music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
that deals with themes of dark "social fiction", including
domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
("Take it Like a Woman"),
PrejudicePrejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
("Blow Me a Kiss"),
WarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
("Pick Up the Bones") and school shootings ("Wicked Young Man"). The album has been erroneously reported as being the second in a trilogy (beginning with
The Last Temptation and ending with
DragontownDragontown is the 22nd studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 2001. Like Brutal Planet, the album displays a heavier style than many of his previous releases...
); however, Cooper has stated that this is in fact not the case.
Doug Van Pelt, editor of the alternative Christian music-oriented
HM MagazineHM: The Hard Music Magazine is an American bimonthly publication focusing on both Christianity and hard rock. Articles include news, album and festival reviews, posters, artists to watch, indie artist reviews, devotionals and interviews with Christian artists...
, found that the lyrics communicated biblical morals "in a very powerful way". Van Pelt stated further that the final argument is provided in the title track, which condemns the systems of judgment that the world uses. Moreover, "Blow Me a Kiss" urges the listener to think deeper about spiritual matters.
Track listing
All songs written by Alice Cooper and
Bob MarletteBob Marlette is an American record producer, recording engineer, mixer, keyboarder and songwriter.-Musician:Bob Marlette started out as a session musician and the first album he appeared on was Al Stewart's 24 Carrots...
except where noted.
- "Brutal Planet
"Brutal Planet" is the first song from the album of the same name by heavy metal singer Alice Cooper. A "Promotional Sampler" of it with 2 other tracks was released to radio stations prior to the album release - the song was never commercially released as a single.Unlike most other Alice Cooper...
" – 4:40
- "Wicked Young Man" – 3:50
- "Sanctuary" – 4:00
- "Blow Me a Kiss" (Cooper, Marlette, Bob Ezrin
Robert Alan "Bob" Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.-Biography:...
) – 3:18
- "Eat Some More" – 4:36
- "Pick Up the Bones" – 5:14
- "Pessi-Mystic" (Cooper, Marlette, Brian Nelson) – 4:56
- "Gimme
"Gimme" is a single by rock singer Alice Cooper, released in 2000.The song appeared on Cooper's album Brutal Planet, and was its first and only single. While its highest chart position was only 103 in the UK the music video was aired several times. The song was written by Cooper and Bob...
" – 4:46
- "It's the Little Things" – 4:11
- "Take It Like a Woman" – 4:12
- "Cold Machines" – 4:14
2001 Tour Edition Bonus Tracks
- "It's the Little Things" (Live) – 5:19
- "Wicked Young Man" (Live) – 3:32
- "Poison" (Live) - 4:52
- "My Generation" (Live) – 1:32
- "Total Rock Rockumentary" – 35:48
Personnel
- Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
- Vocals
- Ryan Roxie
Ryan Roxie Ryan Roxie Ryan Roxie (born in Sacramento, California, December 1, 1965 is an American guitarist/singer-songwriter currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the founding member of Roxie 77 and probably most well known for his guitar work with Alice Cooper, Slash, Casablanca, Dad's...
- Guitar
- China - Guitar
- Phil X
Philip Xenidis, better known as Phil X , is a Greek-born guitarist and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based turbo pop band Powder. He also has a second band, the Drills. He is best known as the guitarist who replaced Rik Emmett in the Canadian rock band Triumph, for the Edge of Excess album and tour...
- Guitar
- Eric Singer
Eric Doyle Mensinger , better known as Eric Singer, is a hard rock and heavy metal drummer for the rock band Kiss and formerly for singer Alice Cooper...
- Drums
- Bob Marlette
Bob Marlette is an American record producer, recording engineer, mixer, keyboarder and songwriter.-Musician:Bob Marlette started out as a session musician and the first album he appeared on was Al Stewart's 24 Carrots...
- Rhythm Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Trivia
- The songs "Gimme" and "It's the Little Things" had official music videos.
- Six years passed between The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet, making it the longest break Cooper has taken to produce a new album.
- A song titled "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me" was going to be on this album but Cooper thought it didn't fit with the other songs so it was removed. It first appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese and Australian releases of the album, then appeared worldwide on the Special Edition version of Dragontown
Dragontown is the 22nd studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 2001. Like Brutal Planet, the album displays a heavier style than many of his previous releases...
in 2002.