Only Women Bleed

Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew is spinning the haunting ballad "Only Women Bleed" from Alice Cooper's 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare, and we've got some wild trivia to share! This track, co-written with guitarist Dick Wagner, was originally crafted years earlier for Wagner's band The Frost, but he wasn't satisfied with the lyrics until he and Cooper reworked it into this powerful piece about a woman trapped in an abusive marriage. The song's title sparked controversy, with many mistakenly assuming it referenced menstruation, leading Atlantic Records to shorten it to "Only Women" for the single release due to feminist group protests. Cooper clarified in a Fridays With Alice post, noting the title came from a misheard TV phrase and was always about domestic violence, not menstruation, though the press often missed the point. The song became one of Cooper's biggest hits, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Canada's RPM chart in 1975, as noted in a 2022 X post by Cooper himself.

Here's a cool story from the Welcome To My Nightmare Era fan site: during a DVD-Audio release interview, Cooper shared a tale about a clown-related stunt for "Only Women Bleed" on the Welcome to My Nightmare tour, highlighting the theatrical flair of the live show. The song's emotional depth has led to covers by artists like Etta James, Lita Ford, and Tori Amos, many of whom connected with its domestic abuse theme, as mentioned on Fridays With Alice. Fun fact: Guns N' Roses, who collaborated with Cooper on their 1991 track "The Garden," used an excerpt of "Only Women Bleed" as an intro to their live cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," according to Lyrics.com. Comic writer Gail Simone praised the song's empathetic take on battered women in a 2021 X post, calling it brilliantly ahead of its time.

Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, kicked off his career in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964 with a band initially called The Earwigs, later The Spiders, and then The Nazz. By 1968, they adopted the name Alice Cooper, inspired by a Ouija board session, as Furnier recounted in his 1976 autobiography, Me, Alice. The band, including guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith, blended horror, vaudeville, and garage rock, pioneering shock rock. Their early albums, like Pretties for You (1969) and Easy Action (1970), were experimental, but they hit stardom with Love It to Death (1971) and the single "I'm Eighteen." From 1971 to 1974, the Alice Cooper band scored hits like "School's Out" and four platinum albums, as detailed on Wikipedia. After the band split in 1975, Furnier legally became Alice Cooper and launched his solo career with Welcome to My Nightmare, cementing his legacy as "The Godfather of Shock Rock."

Zoo Freaks can connect with Alice Cooper online via his official website, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Fans also gather at sites like Welcome To My Nightmare Era and Fridays With Alice, the latter run with Cooper and his wife Sheryl's blessing, where Sheryl occasionally engages in the Facebook group. These platforms are perfect for diving deeper into Cooper's theatrical world, from guillotines to fake blood, and joining the global Zoo Freak vibe!