Trash is the eleventh studio album released by Alice Cooper in 1989. The album features the single "Poison", Cooper's first top ten hit since his single "You And Me" in 1977 and marked a great success in Cooper's musical career, reaching the Top 20 of various album charts and selling more than two million copies. Trash featured John McCurry on guitar, Hugh McDonald of Bon Jovi on bass as well as Bobby Chouinard and Alan St. Jon, both from Billy Squier's solo band on drums and keyboards, respectively.
Overview
After Alice's return to the music industry with the successful "The Nightmare Returns" tour, Cooper had sought assistance from Desmond Child to create a comeback album. Trash became one of Cooper's biggest albums, accompanied by music videos for "Poison", "Bed of Nails", "House of Fire", and "Only My Heart Talkin'". A successful year-long worldwide concert tour in support of the album was documented in the home video release Alice Cooper Trashes The World. The album features many guest performances including Jon Bon Jovi, Stiv Bators, Steven Tyler, as well as singer/guitarist Kane Roberts, who left Cooper's band in 1988. Songwriting contributions were also made by Joan Jett, Diane Warren, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and John McCurry.
The following additional songs were written and recorded for the album but remain unreleased: "Low Class Reunion", "The Ballad of Alice Cooper", "Bad Angel", "Good Girl Gone Bad" as well as "Aggrolat". Cooper himself did not want to release these tracks because he thought at the time that these tunes "weren't that good to start with". Later, Cooper also noted that the songs that remained unreleased have been written in a Rock'n'Roll vein, but can be defined different to the individual listener.
Live performances
Trash is the most represented album outside the 1971 to 1975 era in Alice Cooper’s concert setlists; however this is wholly due to lead single “Poison”, which has been performed consistently on all tours since the album’s release and has become the sixth-most-performed song in his catalogue and the most-performed from after Welcome to My Nightmare. The only other songs from Trash that have ever been performed since the close of the album’s tour are “House of Fire”, which was a regular on the 2012 to 2015 Raise the Dead Tour, “Trash” which was a regular part of setlists on the Descent into Dragontown Tour, and “Bed of Nails” in 1996, 2004, and 2019. “Why Trust You” and “Hell Is Living Without You” have never been played live.
