Hello Hurray Single US: 1973

Cooper's Generation Landslide B-Side

Alice Cooper Group’s Hello Hurray, backed with Generation Landslide, was released through Warner Bros. Records in the US on January 3, 1973, as a 7” vinyl single (catalog number WB 7673). A cover of a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Rolf Kempf and first recorded by Judy Collins on her 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes, it reached No. 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 6 on the Netherlands’ MegaCharts, No. 13 on Germany’s Media Control Chart, No. 14 on Ireland’s chart, No. 6 on Austria’s chart, and No. 95 on Australia’s ARIA Chart. Noted in a 1973 NME review for its theatrical “Alice Cooper meets Cabaret” style, the single from the Billion Dollar Babies album underscored the band’s glam-rock prominence.

Tracklist (7” Vinyl):

A1. Hello Hurray – 3:02

B1. Generation Landslide – 4:31

Note: The tracklist reflects the standard US 7” vinyl release

Songwriter Rolf Kempf had moved from Toronto to Los Angeles to aid his burgeoning music career, but his band soon decamped, and to make matters worse, someone had stolen his guitar. Reflecting on these events, jamming on a borrowed guitar beside a swimming pool, he composed Hello, Hooray, a song about reinventing oneself after hard times. A few days later, Judy Collins stopped by, looking for new songs to extend her folk-singer boundaries. Kempf offered his newest creation. “I fell in love with it the moment I heard it,” Collins declared in her memoirs.

Alice Cooper recorded his arena-rock interpretation of Hello, Hooray as the opening song on his 1973 “Billion Dollar Babies” album, produced by Bob Ezrin (later a Canadian Music Hall of Famer and Juno-winner), with Steve Hunter providing a slide-guitar solo. Warner Brothers Records released the 45-rpm single (Warner 7673) with Generation Landslide on the B side. Cooper’s single took an early start at No. 2 on “Billboard” magazine’s Pop Picks column for 20 January 1973, and in March peaked at No. 35 on Billboard’s Top 40 chart.

Hello, Hooray was even more popular in the United Kingdom, where the single peaked at No. 6 in February 1973, and was No. 66 overall for that year. The single was also competitive in Canada, featuring for over 10 weeks on RPM’s Top 100 Singles chart through spring 1973, peaking March 24 at No. 18 for two weeks.

The next year, Cooper re-released the single as part of a Back-to-Back Hits series. Singer Meg Christian also recorded it with yet another set of lyrics, this time with a feminist bent.The song has had a varied and successful run, from Judy Collins singing it at the Lincoln Center in 1969, to its appearance in the 2014 futuristic film “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” It has been a regular in Alice Cooper’s playlist, opening their shows for over 40 years starting in 1973. Hello, Hooray has also been featured on the albums “Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits” (1974), “The Beast of Alice Cooper” (1989), “The Definitive Alice Cooper” (2001), and “Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper” (2005). Other acts who have recorded the song include Pig (Raymond Watts), and The Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13.