In the TV special, Alice Cooper stars as "Steven" who is trapped in a nightmare he can't wake up from and tries to escape. Vincent Price also appears throughout the special, starring as the "Spirit of the Nightmare". The special features the Welcome To My Nightmare album in its entirety, with the addition of the song "Ballad of Dwight Fry" from the album Love It to Death by the original Alice Cooper band.
In 1983 the TV special was released on VHS and Betamax home video in the US.
The TV special was released on a DVD titled Welcome to My Nightmare: Special Edition on September 8, 2017, which also serves as a re-release of the 1976 concert film Welcome to My Nightmare.[2]
Concept
In 2020, while being interviewed on the Bob Lefsetz podcast, Ezrin recalls that; Alice Cooper's manager Shep Gordon, had a clause that allowed the Alice Cooper band members to make a soundtrack album for another label. As a result, the Welcome To My Nightmare album that the television special was based on, needed have a storyline to become a soundtrack. Ezrin and Cooper came up with a story concept for the album, with Cooper telling the story of the nightmares of the character Steven.[citation needed]
During the Bob Lefsetz podcast, Ezrin recounts that he and Alice Cooper initially created the storyline whereby; a rock star name Steven and his mistress are on a private jet, flying over the rocky mountains. The jet goes down and crashes, and both Steven and his mistress disappear. However, 28 days later, Steven emerges alone unharmed. During those 28 days, Steven became a vampire and he now lives out his days as a rock star by day and killer at night.
Trivia
This special won an Emmy in 1976 for Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing for a Special.[3]
When it was originally broadcast on television in 1975, the lyrics to "Only Women Bleed" were slightly changed.[5] A portion of this version is featured on the Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts video, which was initially released in 1991.
^Sherman, Dale (2009). The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Alice Cooper, 10th Anniversary Edition. Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc. p. 172. ISBN978-1-894959-93-3.
^Sherman, Dale (2009). The Illustrated Collector's Guide to Alice Cooper, 10th Anniversary Edition. Collector's Guide Publishing, Inc. p. 171. ISBN978-1-894959-93-3.
