Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (often shortened to Goes to Hell) is the second solo and overall ninth studio album by American rock musician Alice Cooper, released in 1976. A continuation of Welcome to My Nightmare as it continues the story of Steven, the concept album was written by Cooper with guitar player Dick Wagner and producer Bob Ezrin.
With the success of "Only Women Bleed" from his first solo effort, Alice continued with the rock ballads on this album. "I Never Cry" was written about his drinking problem, which would in one year send the performer into rehab and affect all his subsequent music up to and including 1983's DaDa. Cooper called the song "an alcoholic confession." Critical reception Rolling Stone wrote that "the soppy old standard, 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows', probably expresses [Cooper's] musical sympathies much better than this record’s dynamic, if derivative, rock & roll."
Classic Rock wrote that "Goes To Hell is the nadir of 70s AOR rock, a bloated mess of over-theatrical radio-goo, cheesy ballads and disco. Live performances The "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell" tour of 1976 was completely cancelled prior to commencement due to Cooper suffering from anemia at the time. However, a number of songs from the album ended up in Cooper's live show. "Go to Hell" proved the last song until the 1989 hit song "Poison" to become a consistent part of Cooper's live setlists, being performed on most tours to the present. "I Never Cry" was also regularly performed in the late 1970s and during the 2000s, while "Guilty" was performed regularly on the Flush the Fashion and Special Forces tours and occasionally during the 2000s, and "Wish You Were Here" was frequently played on the tours for the following two albums. In September 2025, Cooper would perform "Going Home" for the first time ever, doing so however as a partial performance with band vocals only.
Track listing
Personnel Alice Cooper – vocals Dick Wagner – acoustic and electric guitar, vocals Steve Hunter – guitar John Tropea – guitar Bob Ezrin – piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer, vocals Tony Levin – bass Allan Schwartzberg – drums Jimmy Maelen – percussion Additional personnel Bob Babbitt – bass on "Go to Hell" Jim Gordon – drums on "I'm the Coolest", "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Going Home" Dick Berg – French horn on "I Never Cry" Bill Misener, Colina Phillips, Denny Vosburgh, Laurel Ward, Michael Sherman, Sharon Lee Williams, Shawne Jackson, Shep Gordon, Joe Gannon – vocals Allan Macmillan, Bob Ezrin, Dick Wagner, John Tropea, The Hollywood Vampires – arrangements Technical Brian Christian, Corky Stasiak, Jim Frank, John Jansen, Ringo Hrycyna – recording Brian Hagiwara, Rod Dyer – design Bret Lopez – photography
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1976) Peakposition Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) 4
Year-end charts Chart (1976) Peakposition Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) 13
Certifications
Cover versions "Go to Hell" was covered by Dee Snider, Zakk Wylde, Bob Kulick, Rudy Sarzo, Frankie Banali and Paul Taylor on the 1999 tribute album Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper. Also, was included on the 2009 videogame Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on the fictitious station Liberty Rock Radio.
References