Alice Cooper is responsible for some of the greatest album covers of all time: The School’s Out sleeve opened like an elementary schooler’s desk; From The Inside featured asylum doors that swung open. Thanks to a strategically placed finger, the original Love it to Death sleeve made the Controversial Album Covers gallery.
And then there’s Raise Your Fist and Yell.
The eighties weren’t very good to Alice. He kicked them off with the new wave Flush the Fashion (full disclosure: I kind of liked that album) and didn’t really recover his traction until 1989’s Trash, which featured mega-single “Poison.”
1987’s Raise Your Fist… is pretty standard hair metal fare — lots of whammy bar dive bombs and meedly-meedly noodling from bodybuilder guitarist Kane Roberts, competent bass from Kip Winger (really? Kip Winger?), and typical Alice lyrics. It’s not a bad album, just forgettable.
But why we’re here is that awfully literal Jim Warren cover painting. “The name of the album is Raise Your Fist and Yell, Jim. Think you can do something with that?”
Alice has always worked in the realm of dreams, and I’d imagine having a mouth in one’s palm is a teenage boy’s dream. So yeah, there’s that benefit, but is it worth the nightmare of walking around with Alice’s screaming face on your hand?
Congratulations, Alice, you’re the newest addition to the Bad Album Cover Hall of Fame.
Why It Matters 
This is my least favorite Cooper album cover. It could have and should have been better, even keeping with the same theme. But it just isn’t anatomically correct. Try to duplicate the ‘fist’. Ain’t gonna happen, unless you have a really big thumb and really long palm.
But if you’re a fan of Alice, it is still worth getting if just for the song ‘Gail’. Deliciously spooky Alice. Yum.
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So this is your least favorite. What’s your favorite?
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Some favorites are ‘School’s Out’, ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ and ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. The ‘Greatest Hits’ has one of the best compilation album covers ever. My second favorite is probably ‘The Eyes of Alice Cooper’. Bela Lugosi would have loved it.
But then there’s ‘Killer’. That giant snake head. That giant snake tongue. Bathed in all that red. Just having the snake on the cover would have done it for me, but the font that is used makes you get that queasy, unsettling feeling like something bad might happen if you listen to this album… It has a giant snake head. It’s called ‘Killer’. The guy’s name is Alice and he can’t print worth a damn. Hmm.
Go ahead, kiddies. Turn off the lights and give it a listen.
“I’m a killer. I’m a clown. I’m a priest that’s gone to town.”
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There you have it — the best Alice album covers as ranked by a true Alice expert. Go get ’em.
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