What do you think?
Rate this book
Billion dollar baby: A provocative young journalist chronicles his adventures on tour as a performing member of The Alice Cooper Rock-and-Roll Band
Book by Greene, Bob
- GenresMusicNonfictionBiography
364 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
4 people are currently reading
159 people want to read
About the author
Bob Greene
41 books52 followersRobert Bernard Greene, Jr., who writes as Bob Greene, is a journalist.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 19, 2009
Usually, these celebrity bios are one of 2 things: A whitewash to sanitize a debauched reality, or a "tell all" expose to reveal the creep/pervert beneath the PR image. Here is the exception. It's a funny, breezy eavesdrop on tour w/ AC. What's revealed is that Alice IS the "nice guy" he purports not to be. Jaw droppingly normal, almost dull. You either get to like Alice more, if you were previously afraid of him, or become disappointed that he is not actually a serial killer. Just fun.
May 9, 2013
A minor classic of the backstage genre. Chicago columnist Bob Greene was given the chance to travel with the original Alice Cooper band during its mid-Seventies Christmas tour, during which he would come out on stage in a Santa Claus getup and get beaten up by the band members. This was the decadent Seventies and the Cooper group was at the peak of its notoriety, but the strain of a decade of hard musical labor had strained the band to the breaking point. Greene doesn't let anything get past him: nobody who read this book when it was released in 1975 could have been surprised by the group's collapse and Cooper's solo career. Along with Cooper himself, who was tired of the ghoulish image he'd cultivated, Greene gives portraits of the other players, who turn out to be appealing guys in their own right. (The sole exception is the drug addled guitarist Glen Buxton, who had grown so unreliable that backup musicians were kept just out of sight to fill in his guitar parts.) Greene enjoys the music but he also shows the seaminess, petty behavior, and childish self-indulgence of a big-ticket rock band on the road. There are some genuinely scary passages (a lot of Cooper's fans didn't seem to get the idea that it was all an act) but the most shocking chapter involves not kinky sex or drugs, but the plight of an unsightly would-be groupie who comes backstage in hopes of finding some validation and ends up getting crushed by the road crew. There's also a lacerating portrait of James Randi, who toured with the group as Alice's onstage "executioner." Randi has found himself a career as a professional skeptic, but I've found it impossible to take him seriously because of this book. And there's a hilarious scene in which Greene tries to record some backup vocals with the other band members and quickly learns the limits of his personal rock and roll fantasy.
February 7, 2008
Another look at life on the road, this time with Alice Cooper. It's interesting in the fact that Cooper himself (like most musicians) is nothing like his vicious onstage character. A must read for musicians who wanna know what to expect in the life of a true rock star.
August 17, 2023
As a musician and as a fan of the Alice Cooper band of the 70s, this is an exceptional book that sets out in depth what its like to be the group of the moment, how success can be a double edged sword and what it's like to be on the road. Fabulous stuff.
May 16, 2020
Should be re-released. Seminal tome on the touring industry.
September 19, 2025
I remember really enjoying it when I read it almost 50 years ago. Read other people's reviews to get more inside scoop.
September 30, 2022
This is an edited version of the review I wrote in 2016..
In 1973, former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bob Greene toured with the Alice Cooper band and wrote about the group's Christmas season tour. Bob even portrayed Santa Claus on stage during the shows, coming out at the end each night and waving to the crowd before band members pummeled him to death and then carried him off.
It's a look at the glitz and glamour and the shock-value of Cooper's act. But, as Bob does in all his writing, he doesn't take sides and instead just reports what he sees with the depth of observation that he is known for. It's early Bob Greene, but it is brilliant stuff. In one section, he examines the feeling the performers have on stage compared to the sense of loss when the show is over.; he even reflects on his own feelings about performing. He also delves into Vincent Furnier's (the band leader's real name) depression at times and how his act wears on him.
Bob also looks at the other members of the group, and even inspects the roadies, fans, promoters and parents who are involved with the show. Compared to today's shows, the Alice Cooper band may seem tame, but it was ground-breaking stuff four decades ago and was a pioneer into rock and roll shows becoming more acts than just music. I mean, a guillotine scene? Chopping a baby doll up? Caressing mannequin legs and arms and crooning about loving the dead?
New Stuff: I read it again as I recuperated from a torn medial meniscus and like with all Bob Greene books I've read repeatedly, I found new things to think about. I think the key this time was the persona Alice Cooper created, but his realization that he didn't want to be that way off stage. He was interested in acting and writing more. The other band members felt some of that and some ventured ideas of going off on their own-- especially Glenn Buxton, who, because of alcohol addiction, was becoming totally unfunctional.
Bob really gets the feel of being on the road and having no other responsibilities than performing for 80 minutes a day. He looks ahead and wonders if the musicians can function away from a world of rock and roll. Cooper even admits that at age 27, he can't write checks.
An interesting side note: Bob writes about how he thinks he may feel 50 years later about dressing as a Santa and getting on stage as part of the tour. The band beats him up at the end of the show each night. He said he first felt ridiculous doing but became enamored with the showbiz feel like the others did. He said he wondered what he would think years later. Now, it's almost 50 years since the publication of the book.
This was, in a sense, the precursor for the super brilliant book "Hang Time" he wrote about Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan and how he dealt with being a star. Bob is patient and can find the true heart of whatever he is searching for; there are some similarities between Jordan and Cooper... the waiting in hotel rooms, the loneliness although both are easily recognized, the attempts at a normal life.
It doesn't matter what Bob writes. I own most of his books and every time I re-read them, I learn something else.
In 1973, former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bob Greene toured with the Alice Cooper band and wrote about the group's Christmas season tour. Bob even portrayed Santa Claus on stage during the shows, coming out at the end each night and waving to the crowd before band members pummeled him to death and then carried him off.
It's a look at the glitz and glamour and the shock-value of Cooper's act. But, as Bob does in all his writing, he doesn't take sides and instead just reports what he sees with the depth of observation that he is known for. It's early Bob Greene, but it is brilliant stuff. In one section, he examines the feeling the performers have on stage compared to the sense of loss when the show is over.; he even reflects on his own feelings about performing. He also delves into Vincent Furnier's (the band leader's real name) depression at times and how his act wears on him.
Bob also looks at the other members of the group, and even inspects the roadies, fans, promoters and parents who are involved with the show. Compared to today's shows, the Alice Cooper band may seem tame, but it was ground-breaking stuff four decades ago and was a pioneer into rock and roll shows becoming more acts than just music. I mean, a guillotine scene? Chopping a baby doll up? Caressing mannequin legs and arms and crooning about loving the dead?
New Stuff: I read it again as I recuperated from a torn medial meniscus and like with all Bob Greene books I've read repeatedly, I found new things to think about. I think the key this time was the persona Alice Cooper created, but his realization that he didn't want to be that way off stage. He was interested in acting and writing more. The other band members felt some of that and some ventured ideas of going off on their own-- especially Glenn Buxton, who, because of alcohol addiction, was becoming totally unfunctional.
Bob really gets the feel of being on the road and having no other responsibilities than performing for 80 minutes a day. He looks ahead and wonders if the musicians can function away from a world of rock and roll. Cooper even admits that at age 27, he can't write checks.
An interesting side note: Bob writes about how he thinks he may feel 50 years later about dressing as a Santa and getting on stage as part of the tour. The band beats him up at the end of the show each night. He said he first felt ridiculous doing but became enamored with the showbiz feel like the others did. He said he wondered what he would think years later. Now, it's almost 50 years since the publication of the book.
This was, in a sense, the precursor for the super brilliant book "Hang Time" he wrote about Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan and how he dealt with being a star. Bob is patient and can find the true heart of whatever he is searching for; there are some similarities between Jordan and Cooper... the waiting in hotel rooms, the loneliness although both are easily recognized, the attempts at a normal life.
It doesn't matter what Bob writes. I own most of his books and every time I re-read them, I learn something else.
March 19, 2016
When I was a kid and teenager there was nothing more that I wanted to be than a rock star and not just any rock star...I wanted to be Alice Cooper.
With Bob Greene's fabulous tale of life in the studio and on the road I got to experience the highs and lows of being the world's most notorious band. This is the story of being a musician you don't really see. Sure, it has the antics, glamour and glitz, but it also has the boredom and the physical and mental toll that the profession requires.
I have read this book multiple times and every time I get immense pleasure from its story. It is easily my favorite non-fiction book and the scene towards the beginning where Mr. Greene witnesses the Alice Cooper spectacle first-hand always tickles my fancy.
With Bob Greene's fabulous tale of life in the studio and on the road I got to experience the highs and lows of being the world's most notorious band. This is the story of being a musician you don't really see. Sure, it has the antics, glamour and glitz, but it also has the boredom and the physical and mental toll that the profession requires.
I have read this book multiple times and every time I get immense pleasure from its story. It is easily my favorite non-fiction book and the scene towards the beginning where Mr. Greene witnesses the Alice Cooper spectacle first-hand always tickles my fancy.
July 23, 2013
Bob Greene thought he was joining Alice Cooper for the follow up to the most successful concert tour in the history popular music---the Billion Dollar Babies tour---what he got was a front-row seat for the unraveling of the "most dangerous band in the world". Full of shock-value punch, irony, and oxymoron.
February 3, 2014
A fantastic read. Put you right there in the studio and on the stage with one of the world's biggest bands at the time. Even if the band now swear they put on an act for Bob Greene, the whole book just oozes Rock 'n' Roll.
December 28, 2009
My first Bob Greene book. Excellent!
May 17, 2013
A classic behind-the-scenes rock and roll page-turner. This is the book that inspired me to become a writer!
July 8, 2014
A great book about life on the road with Alice Cooper in the 70s. A great little gem. Not sure if its still in print.
May 18, 2024
#99 of 120 books pledged to read in 2017
2024
2024
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews