Generation Landslide by Alice Cooper

Album: Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

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This satirical song attacks the corruption and hypocrisy of the older generation and predicts that youth culture will rise up, conquer the world and change the status quo. Cooper sings the caustic lyrics in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. Far from an anarchist, Cooper is a shrewd businessman who takes on a character for performances.
This is one of the rare recordings by Alice Cooper that features acoustic guitar and harmonica. Cooper plays the harmonica part on this track.
"Generation Landslide" was written by all the original members of the Alice Cooper group, which were Cooper, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Glen Buxton.
This track is from the band's sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies, which was helmed by producer Bob Ezrin,and became their most successful set, selling over a million copies and topping the album charts in both the US and UK. It also broke into the Top Five in Australia (#4), Canada (#2) and Austria (#4).

Ezrin, whose other clients have included Rod Stewart, Jane's Addiction and Taylor Swift, was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.
Michael Bruce played guitar, keyboards and contributed vocals as a member of the original Alice Cooper group. He was also the band's principal songwriter, co-writing many of their biggest hits. Bruce would often have the music and lyrics written out for a song, and Cooper would rework the lyrics. Some of the notable songs that Bruce helped write include "Billion Dollar Babies," "School's Out," "Elected" and "Halo of Flies."

Comments: 10

DbWhat key is the harmonica ?
Jere from Seattle/s.e. Oregon63 yrs old here and luved A.C. as a kid in H.S. Talk about things never changing. Gen. Landslide lyric line from '73 "Don't you know people are starving in Korea?" Still true thanks to Kim up North almost 50 yrs later.
Rob from Glasgow. ScotlandEven though at my grand old age of 59 I still look on Generation Landslide as an inspirational song just as I did in my teens. The words just seem so relevant yet obtuse, if that makes sense!
Christopher Perrien from MsColgate invisible shield

Although I had heard of that when I was a kid, they still had commercials about it, I always thought and still sing it as "Cocaine invisible shield" , which sense, adds another makes meaning and fits (if you had any experience of rich and cocaine, along with a Maserati) the to me as well.

This song grows on you the older you get IMO. Alot of Alice does, never listen to him much when I was ageateen rocker /metal head back 70-80's
Cormac Zoso from Hebron, InMy fave from this album as well though there are lots of strong songs and this is probably the last of the great Big 5 Alice peeled off right in a row with the pivotal help of Bob Ezrin (also a legend for his work on Floyd's "The Wall") ... Alice's (actually, the band's name was actually Alice Cooper and not Vincent's stage name as I'm sure people posting here already know)first two albums were produced by respectively, the band itself and the second album by David Briggs, best know for his work with Neil Young perhaps. I can never be stated enough how a producer must be the final member of the band in the control booth and a good producer can make an average album good and a great or the right producer can make any album a classic and neither of the first producers couldn bring out what the band truly was: an edgy, balls-to-the-wall but never lose your sense of humor band.

But when Ezrin arrived he make them a stripped down unit, cleaning up their confusing cacophony of half-assed psychedlia and making them a lean mean metal machine and more ... Ezrin did 6 of the next 7 albums, 5 of which must be considered all time classic templates for metal in the most creative sense ... 'love it to death' is still my all-time fave Coop album and the center-spread photo of he band in a Salvatin Army androgynous look was miles ahead of the whimpy glam metal sunset strip fem-look came into vogue with all those metal bands real metal heads wanted to pound into silly putty.

Oh and no one does 'LA DA DA DA DA''s better than Alice lol.
Charles from Bronxville, NyI agree that this is one of his best songs. On the lyric sheet from the vinyl album the words read "Alcohol and razor blades and straight pins and needles" as opposed to "poison and needles"

For those of you who are too young to remember the "Colgate invisible shield" it was a commercial for Colgate/Palmolive floor wax. The commercial showed each member of a family floating around their kitchen floors on heel shaped clear Plexiglas shields.

Kresge's and Woolworth's were five and dime stores.
Wayne from Salem, VaThis is my favorite song from the "Billion Dollar Babies" album. It is an underated track that deserves airplay. I think it is a better tune than "No More Mr. Nice Guy". ---"Militant mothers hiding in the basement. Using pots and pans as their shields and their helmets'. A great tune! Donovan Leitch is on this album. He was hanging out with the band at the time.
Roy from Granbania, MaThis song is one of Coop's best in my opinion. I wish more people knew about it.
Mikey from Ft Worth, TxAll of the songs on Billion Dollar Babies are lyrically interesting, from the dental care (or lack thereof) of Unfinished Sweet, the bizarre older woman taking advantage of younger man south of the border in Raped and Freezing. This song may be my favorite on the album, great pop culture reference to the Colgate Invisible Shield.
Mark from London, EnglandIt was the B-side of the hit "Hello Hurray" (spelled "Hooray" on the album).

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