Killer

Sure, now he's a hard rock cartoon, but back in the early '70s, preacher's son Vince Furnier and his underrated band were getting' glammy and shaking up the rock world. As this record proves, they definitely had more going on than just a theatrical stage show filled with snakes, guillotines, and fake gore. Cooper's time at the top was short, but of his four essential albums, all recorded and released in three years, 1972's Killer may be best. Like David Bowie from the same era, Cooper's albums were not nearly as loud or heavy as the band was live. Here the crispness in the production is still a shock. Part of the success comes from his classic band: Guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith gelled here in particularly gritty fashion. Thanks to producer Bob Ezrin who focused Cooper's run of hit albums, it contains the best album opening one-two punch of Cooper's career: the crashing cymbals and screaming guitars of "Under My Wheels" (whose opening line, "The telephone is ringing/You got me on the run" by the late Michael Bruce has become an unforgettable rock epigram) followed by the riff rock of "Be My Lover" which chronicles a band whose "singer's name was Alice."