Album · 45 years old this year
Special Forces
Special Forces is Alice Cooper's thirteenth studio album overall and his sixth under his own name, released in 1981 on Warner Bros. Records. Richard Podolor, best known for his work with Three Dog Night, produced it at his American Recording Co. studio in Studio City, Los Angeles. The set includes a cover of Love's "Seven and Seven Is", and Cooper promoted it in full military-drag make-up, appearing gaunt on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, where he played that song and "Who Do You Think We Are".
It is also the first of the three records Cooper calls his "blackout" albums, followed by Zipper Catches Skin and DaDa, because he has no memory of making them. The tour took in the US, Canada, France, Spain and the UK, and the European leg, his first on the continent since 1975, was a major success. It also proved his last road run for more than four years, until The Nightmare Returns tour in October 1986.
Special Forces: tracklist, credits and charts
10 tracks · 34:51Tracklist
- 1Who Do You Think We AreAlice Cooper and Duane Hitchings4:20
- 2Seven & Seven IsArthur Lee2:41
- 3Prettiest Cop on the BlockCooper, Johnstone, Mandel3:13
- 4Don’t Talk Old to MeCooper, Johnstone, Mandel2:54
- 5Generation Landslide ’81 (live)Bruce, Buxton, Cooper, Dunaway, Smith3:53
- 6Skeletons in the ClosetAlice Cooper and Duane Hitchings3:43
- 7You Want It, You Got ItCooper, Kaz, Krampf, Scott, Steele3:14
- 8You Look Good in RagsAlice Cooper and Duane Hitchings3:34
- 9You’re a MovieAlice Cooper and Duane Hitchings3:36
- 10Vicious RumoursCooper, Hitchings, Pinera, Scott3:43
- Produced by
- Richard Podolor
- Executive producer
- Shep Gordon
- Recorded at
- American Recording Co., American Recording Co. (Studio City, California)
- Mixed by
- Bill Cooper, Richard Podolor
- Engineered by
- Bill Cooper
- Labels
- Warner Bros. Records, Warner Bros.
- Length
- 34:51
Line-up
- Duane Hitchings · keyboard
- Danny Johnson · guitar
- Craig Krampf · drums (drum set)
- Mike Pinera · guitar
- Erik Scott · bass guitar
- Alice Cooper · lead vocals
Singles
- “You Want It, You Got It” · July 1981
- “Seven and Seven Is” · October 1981
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1981 | 96 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1981 | 125 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1981 | 76 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
46.5
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
348
ListenBrainz listeners
29k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
2.0k
Deezer fans (all editions)
More from Alice Cooper
Full discography →
Welcome to My Nightmare
1975
Alice Cooper Goes to Hell
1976
Four Tracks From Alice Cooper
1977
I Never Cry / Didn’t We Meet / Wake Me Gently / You Gotta Dance
1977
Lace and Whiskey
1977
The Alice Cooper Show
1977
From the Inside
1978
Alice Cooper How You Gonna See Me Now 1979
How You Gonna See Me Now
1979
The Best of Alice Cooper
1980
Flush the Fashion
1980
Zipper Catches Skin
1982
DaDa
1983
Constrictor
1986
The Nightmare Returns
1987
Raise Your Fist and Yell
1987
Trash
1989
Prince of Darkness
1989
Video Trash
1990
Hey Stoopid
1991
The Last Temptation
1994
Alice Cooper Classicks
1995
A Fistful of Alice
1997
The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper
1999
Brutal Planet
2000
Brutally Live
2000
Mascara & Monsters: The Best of Alice Cooper
2001
The Definitive Alice Cooper
2001
Dragontown
2001
The Eyes of Alice Cooper
2003
Hell Is
2003
Dirty Diamonds
2005
Live at Montreux 2005
2006
Along Came a Spider
2008
Alice Does Alice
2010
Welcome 2 My Nightmare
2011
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Symphonic
2016
Paranormal
2017
The Sound of A
2018
The Breadcrumbs EP
2019
Detroit Stories
2021
Road
2023
Halloween Horror
2024
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date only month precision available
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | September 1981 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 1 September 1981 | |
| Wikidata | September 1981 | |
| US release | September 1981 | earliest US date |
8 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1981 | US | Warner Bros. Records | 075992358118 | original |
| 25 June 1990 | JP | Warner Bros. Records | 4988014734981 | deluxe |
| August 1990 | XE | Warner Bros. Records | 075992623025 | deluxe |
| 14 June 1999 | XE | Warner Bros. Records | 075992623025 | deluxe |
| 27 February 2007 | XW | Warner Bros. Records | 603497999811 | deluxe |
| 26 January 2010 | US | Collectors’ Choice Music | deluxe | |
| 6 October 2017 | US | Rhino | 081227933807 | deluxe |
| 28 May 2019 | XW | Rhino | 603497999811 | deluxe |
Cover art sources
deezer · native: native 1800x1800
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1800×1800 | native: native 1800x1800 |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 400×400 | upscaled |