📰 Alice’s Free Single – Cover: Feb. 1973
- Alice Cooper Group
- Feb 3, 1973
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 17
A full‑page NME cover announcing a world‑exclusive Alice Cooper single available only with the February 17 issue.
📰 Excerpt
A bold, all‑caps NME cover promoting a 4‑minute, 20‑second Alice Cooper track pressed exclusively for NME readers — a one‑time release unavailable anywhere else.
📰 Key Highlights
• Full‑page New Musical Express cover dated February 3, 1973
• Announces a world‑exclusive Alice Cooper single
• Track included only with the February 17 NME issue
• Promoted as unreleased, unavailable, and unique to NME
• Reflects Alice Cooper’s Poll Winners’ status as “The World’s Top Band”
📰 Overview
This NME cover represents one of the most ambitious promotional moves in early‑70s British music journalism: a free Alice Cooper single pressed solely for NME readers. The February 3 issue serves as the announcement, dedicating the entire cover to the offer and emphasising its exclusivity.
📰 Source Details
Publication / Venue: New Musical Express
Date: February 3, 1973
Issue / Format: Full‑page cover
Provenance Notes: Promotional cover announcing the exclusive single included with the February 17 issue.
📰 The Story
The February 3, 1973 NME cover is dominated by a single message: a free Alice Cooper single is coming — and only NME has it. The headline, “ALICE’S FREE SINGLE FOR BRITAIN,” sits above a photograph of Alice Cooper seated casually, drink in hand, staring directly at the reader with a mixture of theatricality and confidence.
The cover text repeats the phrase “This is a world exclusive” with hypnotic insistence. NME stresses that the 4‑minute, 20‑second track will not be released as a single, will not appear on any LP, will not be available in any other country, and will not be obtainable in any other publication. The exclusivity is absolute — a marketing tactic designed to drive unprecedented demand for the February 17 issue.
At the time, Alice Cooper had just been voted “The World’s Top Band” in the NME Poll Winners’ Top Ten, following the success of School’s Out and the rising anticipation for Billion Dollar Babies. The cover leverages this momentum, positioning the free single as both a reward for fans and a demonstration of NME’s cultural influence.
A reservation slip at the bottom of the cover — “TO MY NEWSAGENT” — underscores the expected rush. Readers were encouraged to clip the form, fill in their details, and secure a copy before the issue sold out. It is a rare example of a music paper using its cover as a full‑page advertisement, merging journalism with fan‑driven marketing.
In retrospect, the cover stands as a vivid snapshot of early‑70s rock culture: theatrical, competitive, and driven by exclusivity. Alice Cooper’s shock‑rock persona, NME’s editorial bravado, and the era’s appetite for spectacle converge in a single, unforgettable front page.
📰 Visual Archive
NME cover announcing exclusive Alice Cooper single, February 3, 1973.
📰 Related Material
Explore the tags below for connected posts and themes
📰 Closing Notes
This cover captures the height of Alice Cooper’s early‑70s dominance — a band powerful enough to anchor an entire issue and bold enough to offer fans a one‑of‑a‑kind single.
📰 Sources
• New Musical Express, February 3, 1973
• NME Poll Winners’ archives
• Contemporary Alice Cooper promotional materials
📝 Copyright Notice
All magazine scans, photographs, and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non‑commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.
ALICE'S FREE SINGLE NEWMUSICAL FOR EXPRESS BRITAIN
February 3, 1973,
World exclusive: 4 min. 20 sec.
track only with NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS February 17 issue
ALICE COOPER - voted The World's Top Band in the NME Poll - is giving a complete 4 min. 20 sec FREE SINGLE as a Thank You to British readers of NME.
The record is completely exclusive to Britain and in co-operation with WEA it will be distributed ONLY WITH NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS FOR THE WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 17.
Title of the track- a roaring belter described by Alice to NME's Roy Carr as "like a head-on collision between Elvis Presley and Sandy Nelson" is "Slick Black Limousine". THERE ARE NO PLANS TO ISSUE IT ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD AT ANY TIME.
Alice's gift to Britain is the first since the Rolling Stones exclusively previewed "Exile On Main Street through NME last year. The paper's switchboard was jammed with calls from readers and newsagents.
A special priority coupon is printed below and readers should present it to their local newsagent as soon as possible.
It is regretted that because of distribution difficulties it is not possible to include the Alice free record with overseas issues of NME, although it will be available in Eire.
Alice told NME this week: "We really wanted to do this for everybody in England, so one night we thought -O.K., let's do this for Roy Carr and everybody at NME. It's not only a Thank You for the Poll votes; I guess we'd like it to be compensation because we can't come over
to England just yet."
He added: "The whole record is another side of Alice. I always wanted to do one of those Elvis type numbers all grease and echo."
TO MY NEWSAGENT
PLEASE DELIVER/reserve NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS FOR ME UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE including the FREE ALICE COOPER issue of NME, week ending February 17.
Name:
Address:
(signed)
Did you have this NME cover in your archive? Were you ready for Alice's free single? Share in the comments!
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