Flush the Fashion is the twelfth studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1980, and produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Musically, the album was a drastic change of style for Cooper, leaning towards a new wave influence. Though the lead single "Clones (We're All)" only touched the Billboard Top 40, the album was Cooper's most successful album in three years and is widely considered by fans as a hidden gem in his musical catalogue.
The album’s ten tracks touch on themes such as the loss of identity, taking on other roles, and the usual Alice Cooper-esque dementia. This is evident even in the lyrics of Flush the Fashion’s cover songs (for example the “Clones” single). Cooper also performs several “story” songs, presenting a series of intriguing vignettes in lieu of more traditional subject matter. By the time of Flush the Fashion, after a much-publicized stint in a sanitarium in 1977 for alcoholism and subsequent sobriety, Cooper had secretly developed a heavy addiction to cocaine, although, unlike his following three albums Cooper has some recollection – if not perfect – of making Flush the Fashion.[1]
Cooper did tour the album through the United States and Mexico City during 1980, playing “Clones”, “Pain”, “Model Citizen”, “Grim Facts”, “Talk Talk”, “Dance Yourself to Death” and “Nuclear Infected” on a regular basis. The first four songs remained part of the setlist for the Special Forces tour a year later. Apart from “Clones”,[2] of which there were a few irregular performances between 1996 and 2003 and which was a regular part of Cooper’s setlist during the 2011-2012 ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ tour, nothing from Flush the Fashion has been performed live since 1982.
