Raise Your Fist and Yell, released in 1987, is Alice’s follow-up return after his hiatus from music in the mid-80s. It picks up where Constrictor left off.
During that time, the Parents’ Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization designed to oversee and promote parental control over music, worked hard to censor music deemed violent, drug-related, or sexually provocative.
Censorship was on the rise, and the self-righteous bureaucrats leading the charge were hell-bent on succeeding. Artists (from all genres) and fans were pushing back. The ruling class had gone too far.
In pure Alice Cooper fashion, he and many other artists forcibly upped the ante, pushing back and addressing the PMRC through tongue-in-cheek songs and lyrics.
Instead of backing down and succumbing to the double standards of the establishment, the music industry became more edgy, violent, sexual, and graphic. The PMRC set out to ‘clean up’ the music industry, but instead created a new form of vice and debauchery.
LPs and songs were stamped with “Parental Advisory” stickers and age restrictions. However, instead of suppressing sales, that little sticker only meant those records would sell more copies than others.
Instead of appearing or writing a letter to the PMRC, Alice used tracks from Raise Your Fist and Yell to fight back, including tracks like “Freedom,” “Lock Me Up,” and “Give the Radio Back.” In response, he pushed the sexual envelope as well.
“Not That Kind of Love” ends side one, and the song begins with pure Cooper lyricism in the spoken, self-knowing, and self-deprecating introduction: “Hello, my little pretty. My, don’t we look YUCK!” The topic is cheap, shallow, and nasty sex, and the lyrics evince that shallowness while acknowledging that another, presumably deeper, kind of love does exist. – Ian Chapman, Experiencing Alice Cooper: A Listener’s Companion.
“Not That Kind of Love” isn’t a love song. It’s not a boy meets girl, “let’s live happily ever after” sorta deal. It’s raw, shallow, carnal, and if nothing else, honest.
I don’t want to know your dad or mom
I won’t be calling you to go to the prom
If you want to go, some cheap motel
You can pick me up at eight, I’ll never tell
Don’t cry your heart out
Don’t tell your preacher
Don’t get ideas, this won’t last forever
Just wanna touch you
Just wanna feel you
Just wanna taste you
I never wanted, I never wanted love before
I never wanted, I never wanted love before
Not that kind of love
Not that kind of love
Not that kind of love
Not that kind of love
Let’s face it! As we’ve discussed many times in this blog, the world centers around “Sex, Death, and Money.” They are the top 3 vices and marketing ploys used to keep humanity wallowing in flesh, vice, and greed. We’re sold the lie that life will be fulfilling and meaningful if those things are attained.
A surface-based ‘relationship’ with no strings attached or lasting connection is what the subject of the song is offering. There’s no mask, no filter, no game, no romance, only an unapologetic invitation for lustful interaction. Again, it’s not ideal, but it’s honest.
The song’s subject is blunt and rude, but how many instead use false declarations of connection, romance, or love to attain the same thing deceptively? They are thinking the same shallow, lust-filled things the subject proclaims, but hide those thoughts, knowing that they won’t achieve their goals if they announce them.
How many of us have been there? How many of us have fallen for the lines and innuendos? Not necessarily about sex, but in general. Have we ever been tricked into thinking someone wanted friendship or maybe more? Has someone fraudulently misled us into thinking they actually cared?
Interestingly enough, humanity isn’t very good at hiding intent and ambition. Of course, one would prefer honest and open conversation about such things, but unfortunately, as we learn with time, actions speak louder than words. What do our actions say to others? Are we being open and honest with people about what we want?
Although the song’s subject isn’t interested, Alice alludes to a greater, deeper meaning of love. He discreetly reveals to the listener that there’s more out there. There’s “Not That (Another) Kind Of Love.”
The 4th chapter of 1 John addresses Love and its source – God. Although it’s a short chapter, it perfectly lays out who our Creator is. There’s so much to unpack and study in those verses about our Heavenly Father, His nature, and how His Love transforms us.
Knowing God Through Love
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Seeing God Through Love
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. – 1 John 4:7-16
Looking specifically at the verses above, the world has lied to us about what love is. We’ve been told that love is what makes us feel good and that we and others should be willing to give up principles and rights to obtain it. However, that’s the opposite of love. It’s selfishness.
Considering the premise mentioned above, it’s interesting how society often addresses love as a feeling or a mysterious connection between long-lost lovers or soulmates. In reality, love is a choice. It’s a deliberate action, and we can only attain it from Him.
Through God’s presence in our lives – the Holy Spirit – we are given the power and ability to love (Romans 5:5, 8:9; 2 Corinthians 1:22).
Wrapping up this week’s post, true Love comes from God. It’s not the nice things we do (often expecting something in return), the way we make others feel (or vice versa), nor is it a hookup. Love is a gift from the Holy Spirit. It’s genuine, authentic, and unconditional. It’s the only “Kind of Love” worth having.
So, how do we know what true Love is, apart from its counterpart? What does it mean, and what does it look like?
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13 defines Love (and God). These are His attributes and the things He has given us through the Holy Spirit. As we walk with others, we must ask ourselves if the “love” we give and show matches Him and His Love.
Are we patient? Kind? Trustful? Humble? Gracious? Gratifying? Respectful? Or in comparison, are we the opposite? Are we choosing to Love? Are we choosing ourselves over others? Are we choosing Him?
Our flesh and sinful nature are selfish. Humanity is prone to see 1 Corinthians 13 and proclaim, “I want to love and be loved, but ‘Not That Kind of Love.’ It is much easier to buy what the world sells – self-love and instant gratification.
Love requires submission. Submission to Christ (Ephesians 5:21-25). He renews us in the process (2 Corinthians 4:16, 5:17). However, we are required to deny our flesh (Galatians 5:24) and hold every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Submission to Christ leads us to the suppression of self. It’s not a journey for the faint-hearted. Attached to it is a daily choice to be faithful, hopeful, and choose to love (even our enemies).
If we find ourselves only interested in self-love and gratification, we should take a step back and reassess things. God’s Love – authentic Love – isn’t about us. It’s about Christ. It’s about others. If it’s only about us, there’s something wrong – His Love is “Not That Kind of Love.”
In conclusion, Alice often uses the extreme to prove a point. Raise Your Fist and Yell is an extreme LP. It starts with a protest and declaration for freedom, then slowly morphs into a horror-based record. The subject’s journey begins with selfishness and leads to murder(s).
“Well, before (accepting Christ), you are always self—you’re always self-centered. Everything is for you. Your self is God. And we make lousy gods. Humans make lousy gods, I think. We need to let God be God, and us be what we are. I think that’s what changes: the focus on who you’re serving. You’re not serving you. You’re serving Christ.” – Alice Cooper.
“Not That Kind Of Love” addresses exactly what Alice is talking about in the quote above, and isn’t it ironic that the follow-up track points to the greatest deceiver known to man?
“Prince of Darkness,” the 6th track on the album, reveals humanity’s greatest foe. However, he’s not formidable. He’s easily defeated. Obedience and submission to God require the ‘prince’ to flee.
The LP’s subject, a man led by desire and lust, falls into a selfish spiral which leads to murder; he becomes a psychotic, serial killer. Instead of seeking truth, purpose, and meaning, he succumbs to the darkness. His selfish desire and ambition affect both him and his victims. His loss is the enemy’s plan.
That’s it for this week. Be well, and catch you next Friday!
In the meantime, Keep Walkin’ in Faith and Rockin’ with Alice.
