No More Mr. Nice Guy (song) explained

No More Mr. Nice Guy
Cover:Alice Cooper - No More Mr. Nice Guy single cover.jpg
Caption:Single cover
Type:single
Artist:Alice Cooper
Album:Billion Dollar Babies
B-Side:Raped and Freezin'
Released:16 March 1973 (US) [1]
Recorded:1972 or 1973
Label:Warner Bros.
Producer:Bob Ezrin
Prev Title:Hello Hooray
Prev Year:1973
Next Title:Billion Dollar Babies
Next Year:1973

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" is a song by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in 1973 as a single off their sixth studio album Billion Dollar Babies (1973). The single reached No. 25 on the US charts and No. 10 on the UK charts, and helped Billion Dollar Babies to reach No. 1 in both the UK and the US. The song was written by Michael Bruce and Alice Cooper.

Cooper wrote the song lyrics about the reactions of his mother's church group to his stage performances, saying that there were worse things that he could do with his life and that the "gloves were off now".[2]

The song was re-recorded and featured in the video game ,[3] The Simpsons episode "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing", and the Family Guy episode "Mom's the Word". The song was also used in the TV show Ash vs Evil Dead and in the film Dazed and Confused. The scene featuring the song in the latter film was later parodied on Family Guy in the episode "Jungle Love". Cooper made a cameo appearance while performing the song in the film adaptation of the TV series Dark Shadows.

It remains one of the band's most popular songs, both as a live and a classic rock radio staple.

Track listing

  1. "No More Mr. Nice Guy" - 3:06
  2. "Raped and Freezin'" - 3:19

Album appearances

Charts

Chart (1973)Peak
position
Canada (RPM)[4] 38
Republic of New Holland (RT Singles Official Charts Company)1

Personnel

Megadeth version

No More Mr Nice Guy
Cover:MegadethNiceGuy.jpg
Caption:Single cover
Type:single
Artist:Megadeth
Album:Shocker
A-Side:No More Mr. Nice Guy
Released:January 1990
Recorded:1989
Length:3:03
Label:SBK
Producer:Desmond Child
Prev Title:In My Darkest Hour
Prev Year:1988
Next Title:Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
Next Year:1990

American thrash metal band Megadeth covered the song in 1989 for the horror film Shocker. The cover was released as a single in January 1990, charting in both Ireland and the U.K.

The cover was later featured on the band's 1995 B-sides compilation, Hidden Treasures, and the 2007 box set Warchest.

The song was the only recorded material by the band as a trio, with newcomer Nick Menza on drums.

Track listing

Chart positions

Chart (1990)Peak
position
European Hot 100 Singles (Music & Media)[5] 32
Finland (The Official Finnish Charts)[6] 12

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes.[7]

Megadeth

Production

Other cover versions

Pat Boone performed it on the cover album .

Roger Daltrey, Slash, Bob Kulick, Mike Inez, Carmine Appice and David Glen Eisley covered it on the 1999 tribute album Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper.

For his 2024 album Solid Rock Revival, Cooper changed the lyrics for a kid-friendly song "Now, I'm Mr. Nice Guy".[8]

Uses in popular culture

In 1976, professional wrestler Chris Colt used the song as his entrance theme for his short-lived character The Chris Colt Experience, which was one of the first uses of rock music for a wrestler's theme song. Professional wrestling manager Jim Cornette used the song as the intro and outro for his two podcasts (The Jim Cornette Experience and Drive Thru) until late 2019.

The song appears in the Family Guy episode Jungle Love, during a scene where Chris gets paddled by Mayor Adam West as part of the "freshman hunt". The scene itself parodies another scene from the 1993 film Dazed and Confused, in which Ben Affleck's character paddles a freshman, which also features the song.

On the fourth episode of the seventh season of the television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. named "Out of the Past", the song's chorus is played as the characters try to figure out what year they traveled to.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alice cooper singles.
  2. Web site: No More Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper Songfacts . Songfacts . October 8, 2016.
  3. Web site: BLABBERMOUTH.NET - ALICE COOPER, THE RUNAWAYS Re-Record Tracks Exclusively for 'Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock' . July 26, 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100730015822/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=143547 . July 30, 2010.
  4. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . October 8, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006102603/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4825&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=j86d3uqb5jajlou8j8ag1r4lv4 . 2014-10-06 .
  5. February 3, 1990 . Eurochart Hot 100 Singles . Music & Media. August 13, 2018.
  6. Pennanen, Timo. Sisältää hitin: levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Otava Publishing Company Ltd, 2003.
  7. Book: Hidden Treasures Liner Notes . 1995.
  8. News: How Alice Cooper reimagined 'I'm Eighteen' and 'School's Out' for a kids album. Masley. Ed. Arizona Republic. April 2, 2024. April 13, 2024.
  9. Web site: Hurley. Laura. June 18, 2020. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Needs To Stop Changing The Timeline After Latest Risky Move. August 11, 2022. CinemaBlend.