It must have been very cold when David went after Goliath which would explain the shrinky-dink of the statue. Lorraine decided to “enhance” David long before spam email promised *me* a bigger Mr. Happy… My only question is how do the pills know which area of your body to “enhance” or would I end up with really big ears. Bummer, man…
Speaking of Mr. Happy… “Muscle of Love” by Alice Cooper was released late in 1973 and was the follow album up to “Billion Dollar Babies” which was a huge seller for Alice. It originally came in a cardboard sleeve with simple printing on it and stains on the bottom. Now, this is when album packaging was at it’s peak and superstar groups and artists were really trying to out-do each other with concepts for album covers and art. There are sooooo many examples, I could fill this website up with images and descriptions. But one good example is from Alice himself with his “School’s Out” release which when opened looked like an old style school desk that lifted up and let you store your books and pencils and candy inside. The record itself was wrapped in a pair of pink panties, and for some of us 14 year old boys, it was the first pair we’d ever actually seen or held. It was like a present from heaven.
Suffice to say, CD versions of these album covers just plain suck and should be banned. Speaking of being banned, today’s comic title was banned on more than one radio station as the lyrics refer to a young man who gets lucky at the matinee, then finds his Dad’s dirty magazines and ultimately locks himself in the bathroom with his muscle of love. Alice tried to shake off some of the controversy by adding in the line “my heart is a muscle of love…” but no one was buying it Vincent (Alice’s birth-name).
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As you may have noticed, a few things changed around here. Click on the new BLOG in the Menubar and read about what’s happening. I’ll be adding a lot more new stuff now that site’s been updated.
Lol, great strip today! I’m a big AC fan. I loved the ‘Nightmare’ special he did for TV that had Vincent Price in it. I believe it was a Hallowen special at the time. Alice had SO many good tunes and the thing that I think seperates him the most from wannabes like Marilyn Manson (apart from the songs) was that Alice was so tongue-in-cheek with his stuff. Classic. 🙂
Brogan — the Muppet Show version of Welcome to my Nightmare is as awesome now as it was then! I ganked it off my brother-in-law who collects Muppet Show DVDs and files. Much of the time I’ve no idea who the guest stars are, but EDVERYONE knows the Coop 😀
Also, I agree about the songwriting. He’s done some stuff that will never go stale!
Manson’s persona is tongue-in-cheek, too; he’s just playing to a different generation than Alice was. Alice was trying to piss off the grown-ups of the 1970s – and he succeeded. Marilyn was trying to piss off the grown-ups of the 1990s – and he succeeded. Sadly, neither one of them holds much relevance these days, although Marilyn keeps trying anyway…
Not putting Manson down, but I think Cooper is better known and is more widely accepted than Manson ever was. Cooper did some Top 40 stuff and still was able to maintain his stage persona and not piss off his fan base with ballads and stuff on the radio.
Just my 2-cents.
Alice was pretty cool (well, still is for an old fart who plays golf). I think Alice did it with a bit more class too then Manson, but admittedly I was one of those “old farts” Manson was trying to piss off and he did a good job of it. Not a fan of Manson.
I always told my kids that Cooper did it better long before Manson was born.
🙂
And it might be argued that Arthur Brown did “it’ well before Alice Cooper: the theatrics, the makeup, the outrageous stage performances, the strange songs. But Alice’s style is solidly his own, and he’s made surprisingly durable music over his career without ever really losing sight of his own strengths and appeal.
Ah, someone else who remembers Arthur Brown! And He, too, is still gigging. Will wonders never cease…
And Screamin’ Jay Hawkins did it all before Arthur Brown, Alice Cooper, KISS, Venom, Gwar, Manson, Cradle of Filth, Slipknot, etc. etc. etc… and he fathered over 70 kids in the bargain. 🙂
Once again, the black dude blazes the path and the white dudes get rich and famous following it. (At least Manson paid props to Hawkins by covering “I Put a Spell on You” – and doing a pretty decent job with it, too.)
Alice Cooper’s songs definitely have more mass appeal than Manson’s. Thing is, that’s exactly why Marilyn had more credibility with his audience than Alice Cooper did. Personally, I was like, “Did Trent Reznor produce an Alice Cooper album?” the first time I heard Marilyn Manson, which says volumes about MM’s material and approach. To be fair, though, I wasn’t 15 at the time, either – I was 30… in short, one of the people Marilyn’s audience disdained by default (even though MM and I are approximately the same age and have similar backgrounds).
Amusingly enough, I got to lecture my then-teenage nephew about underground musical history and the proper use of occult symbols back when he was going through his Marilyn Manson/ Eminem phase. When said nephew proudly displayed a sketchy pentacle he’d drawn on his bedroom wall, I asked him what it meant. “SATAN!” he replied. “Nope,” I corrected. “Actually, it represents the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit, surrounded by the Circle of Life.” I then launched into a discussion about the difference between the pentacle and the inverted “goat of Mendes” version, told him about Eliphas Levi and Anton LaVey, and wound up giving him a six-CD mix set I made to educate him about the roots of Heavy Metal. Covering the history of Metal chronologically from Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to Tenacious D, the set featured Blues, Punk, Industrial and Rap tracks to show the interplay of influences involved in artists like the Sex Pistols, KMFDM, Linkin Park, Public Enemy and – of course – Eminem and Marylin Manson. (Yes, I featured Alice Cooper in the set – “Billion Dollar Babies,” if I recall correctly.) Soon afterward, he “outgrew” Metal and moved on to Electronica instead. Kids – Go figure! 🙂
Poor old Vince, he was always a bit confused…nice guy, but between the golf and the godbothering, definitely not the man we used to know…
So…which one of the two ladies can write her name in the snow? Or is it both? My money’s on Lorraine…for the obvious reason…
(And yes, there are women who can. Trust me on this. It’s all about pelvic floor muscle control…muhahahahaha…)
I don’t know, I wouldn’t count Robyn out… the quiet types rock your world too you know.
🙂
Hmm…never heard a drummer referred to as a ‘quiet type’…
😛 😛 😛
As long as the birds don’t peck on his pecker.
Pecked a peck of peckers. Where’s Peter Piper now, hmmm?
I like the new design, Byron. This strip just keeps getting better! Thanks! 🙂
Thanks man! I keep trying!
🙂
Hahaha! And damn, Bearman took my joke 😀
Yes, amazingly my readers seem to have “dirty minds” beyond even what horrors are stored inside my head.
🙂
Man, this site is lookin’ gooooood! I love the new design. 🙂
I got a huge laugh out of that. I had a friend back in the day who used to add love muscles to all the snow men on the block. I sorta feel sorry for the kids who made them though. LOL. 🙂
And the conversation went something like this:
“Mommy! Mommy! Come see the snowman I made!”
…. they step outside…
“AAUUUGGGGHHHH!!! What the hell is that??!!” Kid gets grounded for a week…
Nicely done.
Yeah, he’s pretty big, but you didn’t get the whole story from Mrs. Snowman. Apparently he’s got a problem with….melting…
You been reading ahead again on my scripts? Shame on you…
🙂
LOL! totally reminds me of a comedy sketch by Pablo Francisco. He was making fun of the old greek sculptures and the size of their.. um… “fig leaf”… and then posed the question: “what if these were black guys?”
This was followed by the visual of a whole flock of seagulls lined up on a much longer “fig leaf”. And the dude needing a little plastic owl to keep more away.
That’s it. You bring your Gallagher DVD’s to C2E2, I’ll bring some Pablo.
Black men have access to large fig leaves? News to me…
🙂
Been reading for a while. And I’d like to say thank you for finally including a ‘latest’ update button. Makes my comic browsing so much easier. Not to mention the comic is really good 🙂 Keep it up! (no pun intended)
Hmmm… I thought it was always there, but then I’m old…
Anyway, you’re welcome! I did add it under the comic now which is also easier to find. I’m trying to get actual buttons there but I keep missing how to do that.
🙂
There is a theory that the size of David’s equipment is actually something Michaelangelo did on purpose – see, one of the things that plays “Shrinky Dinks” with man’s best friend is fear, and David, at the moment of depiction, is about to walk out to face Goliath. Hence, his grapes have turned into raisins.
Yeah, in my research of the David statue, that was the popular conclusion that he was getting ready to go to battle. Now, if it were me, I’d have more than a sling on my if I was going up against a giant.
Man, imagine the size of the wiener on Goliath… How do we come up with these thoughts?
🙂