Working Up a Sweat

The Zoo Crew, those groovy hippie DJs at THE ZOO radio station, are spinning "Working Up a Sweat" by Alice Cooper for their devoted Zoo Freaks. This track, from the 1973 album Muscle of Love, is a high-energy rocker that captures the raw, theatrical essence of Cooper’s early sound. In a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, Cooper described the Muscle of Love era as a time when the band was "pushing the limits of how far we could take the shock rock vibe," aiming for gritty, street-level energy. "Working Up a Sweat" embodies that with its pulsating rhythm and cheeky lyrics, which Cooper once quipped in a 2005 radio interview on Nights with Alice Cooper were about "the kind of sweaty, chaotic fun you’d find in a dive bar at 2 a.m." The song was never a major single, but it’s a fan favorite, often praised on SickthingsUK for its raw production and unpolished edge, a contrast to the band’s more polished hits like "School’s Out."

Interestingly, "Working Up a Sweat" was recorded during a transitional period for the original Alice Cooper band. According to a 1996 documentary, Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts, the Muscle of Love sessions were marked by creative tensions, as the band tried to move away from their theatrical shock rock roots toward a harder, more straightforward sound. Cooper himself noted in a 2011 Facebook Q&A that the song’s driving beat was inspired by the band’s love for the Rolling Stones’ raw energy, a nod to their 1960s influences. Fans on the Alice Cooper Fans Facebook group often share stories of hearing the track live during the 1973 tour, where Cooper’s stage antics—like wielding a giant toothbrush during "Billion Dollar Babies"—added a surreal backdrop to the song’s sweaty intensity. A rare tidbit from SickthingsUK reveals that the song’s guitar riff was initially a jam session leftover from the Billion Dollar Babies recordings, repurposed to give Muscle of Love its distinctive grit.

Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan, kicked off his musical journey in Phoenix, Arizona, after moving there as a teen. The son of a pastor, Cooper developed a love for music early, idolizing bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Yardbirds, as he mentioned in a 1986 interview on Entertainment USA. At 16, he formed a band called the Earwigs with high school friends, including Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton, to perform Beatles parodies at a school talent show. As detailed on Biography.com, the group evolved into the Spiders, then the Nazz, before settling on the name Alice Cooper in 1968. The name, which Cooper later legally adopted, was chosen for its twisted innocence, complementing their bizarre stage antics, as noted in a 1976 autobiography, Me, Alice. Their big break came in 1969 when Frank Zappa signed them to his label after a chaotic performance at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, where their provocative style caught his attention.

The Alice Cooper band’s early albums, Pretties for You (1969) and Easy Action (1970), built a cult following, but it was their 1971 album Love It to Death, produced by Bob Ezrin, that launched them to fame with the hit "I’m Eighteen." Cooper’s theatrical performances, featuring guillotines, fake blood, and live snakes, earned him the title "Godfather of Shock Rock," as highlighted on Wikipedia. After the original band split in 1975, Cooper went solo with Welcome to My Nightmare, cementing his status as a rock icon. His career, spanning over 50 million records sold, includes acting roles in films like Wayne’s World (1992) and a radio show, Alice’s Attic, syndicated on over 70 stations. Fans can connect with him on Instagram, where he has over 1.5 million followers, and X, with nearly 930,000 followers, where he shares tour updates and quirky posts about golf and horror films.

For Zoo Freaks wanting to dive deeper, Alice Cooper’s official website offers tour dates, merch, and news about his latest projects, like his 2021 album Detroit Stories. His Facebook page, with 4.5 million followers, is a hub for fan interactions and throwback photos. The SickthingsUK fan site is a treasure trove of discography details, rare interviews, and tour archives. The Alice Cooper Fans Facebook group, with thousands of members, is a lively space where fans swap concert stories, trade memorabilia, and debate the best eras of Cooper’s career. Whether you’re sweating to the beat of "Working Up a Sweat" or exploring Cooper’s macabre legacy, the Zoo Crew and Zoo Freaks are in good company with this shock rock legend.