Alice In Chains

“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids, household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Yeah they come to snuff the rooster” – Rooster

Alice In Chains was another Seattle band which early on Kurt Cobain co-founded and I wrote a few songs for them.  Including “Man in a Box” which I explained in an earlier post.

The idea for the song Rooster came from learning about the history of another Alabama native, Record Producer Sam Phillips famous for discovering Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Howlin’ Wolf .  In the 1960’s Howlin’ Wolf released a song by the name of The Red Rooster (sometimes called Little Red Rooster).

Inspiration for the beginning of the song Rooster and the music video came from Def Leppard’s “Die Hard the Hunter” from their 1983 album Pyromania.

Other influences on Alice in Chain were in music videos.  For “Man in a Box” there is a monk for the ones in Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages video, Joe Elliott told me was inspired by Jimmy Page’s dream sequence in Led Zeppelin’s film “The Song Remains The Same”.  When I was 15 my Halloween costume was inspired by the Rock of Ages monks and Kurt Cobain made a drawing of it for a Nirvana concert poster.

Kurt Cobain was also known to have a collection of toy monkeys and there is one in the music video for “Grind”.

Poker Face Origins

“I wanna hold em’ like they do in Texas please
Fold em’ let em’ hit me raise it baby stay with me (I love it)
Luck and intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he’s been hooked I’ll play the one that’s on his heart”

The headline under the picture says Poker Face which inspired me to write the song which would eventually be performed by Lady Gaga. 

The article to the right of the picture is another one about Lithium possibly being able to reduce the desire for alcohol which I was interested in for my dad and inspired the songs performed by Nirvana and Evanescence.  This particular article was printed the day I met Joe Elliott and Kurt Cobain.

The stage name for Lady Gaga was inspired by when Diana Spencer, the future Princess of Wales, title was Lady Diana and for Queen’s Radio Ga Ga released in 1984.  The inspiration for her style or persona was the lead singer for the ’80’s band Missing Persons.

I wrote other songs as well, including Paparazzi.

Man In The Mirror

I have written alot about knowing Michael Jackson, but not really about knowing Michael himself.  He was definitely an extraordinary man.  It was fun working on projects with him.  He was a kid at heart.  But, who isn’t or wouldn’t want to be a kid again?  One could only dream of the life he lived and being able to decide at the spur of a moment to want to build a fairytale park for kids or even create cartoons for kids and adults alike, including Pinky and The Brain and Sponge Bob.  We worked on ideas and dialogue for Pinky and The Brain together along with some other artists. 

Michael was a very influential artist, with a lot of powerful friends in the entertainment business, and other artists flocked to him.  We all are strange to outsiders, but only those willing to get close enough could truly understand us or our motives. 

Since I was still a kid myself when we met, while working on songs together he would make it a word game for me.   I remember laughing alot when he was around despite the main objective being to produce new songs.

I never got to spend as much time with Bubbles as I would have liked.  While still little, I would sing to him and make up new songs, one being Come Away With Me eventually to be performed by Norah Jones.  Bubbles would usually put his head on my shoulder and his hand over my mouth while I would sing.  It reminded me of when I read the biography of another Alabama native, Helen Keller.  I remembered her teacher, Anne Sullivan, would place Helen’s hand over her mouth while trying to teach her.  I suggested to MJ he should teach or have someone teach Bubbles’ sign language.  Bubbles’ trainer cringed when I started trying to teach him to give me a kiss. 

Kurt Cobain would call Bubbles his little buddy.  I know most people think that Kurt was weird, even I did at times, but he was a very talented and dedicated artist as well.  He started a collection of toy monkeys inspired by his little buddy which were used in the Sliver music video and a picture of MJ is on the wall.

 It took MJ five years to produce his next album after the success he had with his ’82 hit album Thriller.  Thriller was in direct competition with Def Leppard’s ’83 album Pyromania on the charts.  During those five years he was a very busy man.

Michael’s next album released in 1987 and titled “Bad”.  The songs I know what inspired them are as follows:

Dirty Diana – I know who it is about, but I’m not going to tell you.

Bad – One day we were joking around and I told MJ he was being bad and starting singing “You know I’m bad, I’m bad-
you know it”.

Smooth Criminal – The idea for this song came from lyrics in the song Joe Elliott and I worked on together titled Pour Some Sugar On Me.  “Easy operator come a knockin’ on my door” which the idea came from one of my favorite Disco era songs Knock on Wood performed by Amii Stewart.  Annie mentioned in the song is me, as in Little Orphan Annie.  My foster parents gave me the name due to my curly red hair since I was unnamed by my birthmother.  My adopted mother named me Amy.

Man In The Mirror – Michael got the idea to do this song from one of my favorite early Def Leppard songs titled Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes).  Kurt Cobain did a little home movie and in it he is staring into a mirror (pictured).

 

PINKY AND THE BRAIN

The Brain: I will accept nothing less than mahogany.

Pinky: There is no substitute for Diana Ross.

I actually came up with this line for Pinky.  The idea behind it was Amii Stewart’s Knock on Wood and MJ’s friend Diana Ross. 

I would always joke around that this was Joe Elliott and Kurt Cobain,  Joe thinking he was The Brain and Kurt being Pinky.  

Michael Hutchence of INXS would make reference to Pinky and The Brain in a “To Do List” in his journal supposedly written in ’84, but I believe he wrote it later than that. 

“4. Start my own stratdgy for WORLD DOMINATION!!” – Michael Hutchence

It was my idea for Brain to look and sound like Orson Welles, which The Alan Parsons Project used an Orson Welles radio spot and dialogue on their ’76 album Tales of Mystery and Imagination.  

Kurt Cobain would say he lived under a bridge for a while.  I think the actual bridge was the “bridge” of a song.  But, this inspired me in the development of Pinky & The Brain to want the Acme Lab to be located near a bridge.

Ke$ha Origins

In the early 80’s Def Leppard briefly toured with the Southern rock band Blackfoot.  Members of Blackfoot grew up in Jacksonville, Florida with members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who are honorary Alabamians for their ’74 hit song Sweet Home Alabama recorded as a response to Neil Young’s songs Alabama and Southern Man, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the South. 

Both Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blackfoot recorded albums at the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, as did many other famous artists.

I chose the name Ke$ha for the daughter of the legendary R&B singer Millie Jackson, of Georgia, who recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios.  She is R&B singer Keisha Jackson. 

In September of ’83 Def Leppard finished the U.S. and Canada portion of their Rock Till You Drop tour.  In October they set off on their European portion with the British all-girl band Rock Goddess.  During the school holidays, at the end of November, Def Leppard had quite a bit of free time from the tour and Joe Elliott flew in to take me to Madrid, Spain.  After checking in at the hotel, Kurt Cobain and I went to see Rock Goddess perform.  We arrived late and I only was able to get to see them perform a couple of songs.  I was really impressed by such young performers though.

Kurt took me onstage to meet the lead singer for the band.  It didn’t take long for her to realize I was from the South.  She mentioned that Mick Jagger’s girlfriend, Jerry Hall, was from the south.  I excused myself and pulled Kurt off to the side of the stage and told him to remember this line:

“The dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger, but we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger”

Inspired by the history of Lynyrd Skynyrd, when around 1972 guitarist Ed King of the band Strawberry Alarm Clock joined the band, I was able to finish the song that became Tik Tok.

At some point, Michael Jackson brought Sean Combs to meet me and I gave him the nickname P Diddy.  I liked him right off and over the years Sean continued to fly in when his career allowed.

Kurt Cobain The Shield Around the K

“The Shield Around the K” is the title of the 2000 book about the independent record label K Records in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned and operated by Kurt Cobain’s friend Calvin Johnson.

Sometime after Kurt’s band Nirvana took off he got a tatoo supposedly with the record labels logo.  In fact, it was Kurt Cobain who came up with and designed the logo one day while I was getting ready to have a portrait picture taken with my brother.  The logo is also the same color as my shirt.  I actually got upset with him because he wouldn’t let me straighten the pin and this is why the logo for K Records is askew.

  

Kurt Cobain and Charles Barkley

“The Orange and Blue” also known as Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama

In 1983, basketball player Charles Barkley from Leeds, Alabama was on the Auburn University basketball team before going pro. 

After we met in ’83, Kurt Cobain wanting to make a public connection to me, made a connection to Barkley.  This is not only because Barkley grew up in a small town near where I grew up in Trussville, but also because there is a city near where Kurt grew up in Washington also named Auburn.

I’ve mentioned that Courtney Love showed up in our lives in late ’84 looking for a part in the movie (Love Kills) Sid & Nancy.  Kurt asked her to have a picture taken which she claims was taken while still a teenager at Hillcrest juvenile hall and I do believe that is Kurt in the picture with her.  Her hair is dyed red, almost the color of mine.

In 1993 Barkley was asked to appear on SNL with Nirvana.

 Kurt also made mention of me is in his journal “At peace ami. You’re a good one.”  Kurt was a self proclaimed bad speller.

There is one more connection to Auburn and that is to Michael Hutchence.  Hutch was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.  Auburn is a suburb in western Sydney and named after Oliver Goldsmith’s poem The Desserted Village, which describes ‘Auburn’ in England as the loveliest village of the plain.

Man in a Box

I’m the man in the box
Buried in my ****
Won’t you come and save me, save me
Fear in my eyes, can you sew them shut?
Jesus Christ, deny your maker
He who tries, will be wasted
Fear in my eyes now you’ve sewn them shut

I’ve mentioned how Alan Parsons’ song Turn It Up inspired the ’98 movie City of Angels in my previous post.  Michael Jackson’s ’88 hit song Man in the Mirror and the music video for Turn It Up inspired me to write the ’91 hit song Man in a Box performed by  Seattle band Alice In Chains.  Again, the Def Leppard song Wasted is mentioned in the lyrics. 

Come Mr. DJ song pon de replay
Come Mr. DJ won’t you turn the music up
All the gyal pon the dancefloor wantin some more what
Come Mr. DJ won’t you turn the music up 

The title “Turn It Up” inspired the lyrics when I wrote Pon de Replay, the debut song for Rihanna. 

Ricky Martin and Robi “Draco” Rosa of the Puerto Rico boy group Menudo showed up in my life about 1984.  The music video for Turn It Up  inspired the music video for Ricky Martin’s 2000 song She Bang.

Uninvited

Like anyone would be
I am flattered by your fascination with me
Like any hot-blooded woman
I have simply wanted an object to crave
But you, you’re not allowed
You’re uninvited
An unfortunate slight

The 1944 movie starring Ray Milland was inspiration for the title and the idea for the song Uninvited, eventually performed by Alanis Morissette.  This is one of my favorite movies.  

In the movie they perform a séance to speak to the ghost haunting their home.  It reminded me of when I had a sleep over with friends, we were about 13 years old, and for some reason there was a Ouija board in the house.  My friends and I decided to see if we could talk to Elvis Presley who died in Aug. of ’77.   Michael Jackson knew I was a fan of Elvis and eventually brought Lisa Marie Presley to meet me after I told him we were the same age, born about a month apart.

All the artists were surprised to find that I was a fan of The Alan Parsons Project.  Parsons who worked on the Beatles’ Abby Road and Let It Be, and engineered Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  From the ’76 album “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” I learned to appreciate and recite Edgar Allen Poe’s dark Gothic poem “The Raven”.

The ’77 album titled “I Robot” inspired the 2004 movie starring Will Smith of the same name.   The song Day after Day (The Show Must Go On) from the “I Robot” album inspired me to write The Show Must Go On for Queen’s 1991 album Innuendo and Def Leppard’s song Day after Day released in 2000 on the Euphoria album.   Other albums and songs by The Alan Parson’s Project and Parsons solo albums inspired other songs and much more.

In 1993 Alan Parsons released a solo album titled “Try Anything Once”.  The one song which I loved to use as inspiration from this album was “Turn It Up”.  The surrealistic music video for the song was inspiration for the ’98 film City of Angels starring Tom Cruise’s Top Gun co-star Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage (who would be briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley).   The song “Uninvited” performed by Alanis Morissette was featured in the movie. 

Theory of a Deadman

In ’78 my family up and moved to Mesquite, Texas where I attended J.C. Rugel Elementary and my older brother attended  North Mesquite High School, where model Jerry Hall went to high school.   I was put into advanced classes and Spanish was a required course.  My best friend was a little Mexican boy named Jose.  We would sit on the curb after school and I would try to speak Spanish. 

The Mexican culture affected me greatly.  Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a celebration on November 1st and 2nd where family and friends gather to remember loved ones who have died.  Tradition includes building alters honoring the deceased placing sugar skulls, marigolds (inspiring Dave Grohl of Nirvana to write the song Marigold), and the favorite food and beverages of the departed, as well as, visiting graves with these as gifts.

While sitting between Michael Hutchence and Adam Ant I made up the song Deadman’s Party and No One Lives Forever which I mentioned in an earlier post.  Both bands  had a very distinctive sound, INXS being more Ska New Wave with Adam & The Ants being Punk Rock and New Wave.  Once I had an idea, a song most of the time would just spill out.  It was my way of conveying what I really couldn’t vocalize and veil it in song.  They would record me singing it and I would go over the rest (the instrumental part) with the other artists like Kurt or members of Def Leppard.

We talked about my brother coming home one day loaded with test tubes, I always figured he stole them from school.  My dad and brother set off to buy a bushel of grain to try their hand at making grain alcohol.  What they produced was a clear almost tasteless liquid.  From this conversation I made up the song Weird Science.  

Weird science!

Plastic tubes and pots and pans

Bits and pieces and

Magic from the hand

We’re makin’

Weird science!

Things I’ve never seen before

Behind bolted doors

Talent and imagination

Since Joe Elliott was standing in the doorway of a dressing room behind me as I made up songs, there was a reference to Def Leppard’s song Bringin’ On The Heartbreak and Photograph  as pictures.

 Weird science!

Pictures from a magazine

Diagrams and charts

Mending broken hearts (and makin’)

Weird science!

Something like a recipe

Bits and pieces . . . .

Bits and pieces . . . .

Bits and Pieces is a 1960’s song originally written and performed by members of  The Dave Clark Five.  The Supremes recorded a cover in 1964 (Diana Ross being a member who was a longtime friend of Michael Jackson), and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts recorded a cover for their 1981 album.  I am a huge Joan Jett & The Blackhearts fan.

Later I learned from a girlfriend about Alabama’s history in NASCAR racing starting with bootleggers.  Her family had a long line of bootleggers back in the day and most of my friends were known to go to Talladega Superspeedway for the races.   NASCAR racers Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett, and Red Farmer were known as the Alabama Gang.  I told Tom Cruise about my friend which inspired Days of Thunder.

The idea for the band Theory of a Deadman came years later while I was writing songs which the band performs, including Low Life.  The band name came from talking to Michael Jackson about the Big Bang Theory and from the song Deadman’s Party.

Low Life performed by Theory of a Deadman even mentions Joe Elliott with me referring to him as Joe Dirt which inspired the 2001 movie.

My Immortal Origin

The title for the song My Immortal was inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s  unsent letter to the mysterious person he referred to as  Immortal Beloved written 6-7 July, 1812 at the Bohemian Spa in Teplitz.

Amy means Beloved and my Bohemian great great grandfather was named Ludwig.

(The document is part of my great grandmother’s death certificate showing her father’s name as Ludwig and her mother’s as Mary Maresh)

I have also found my great great grandfather on the 1800’s Texas Census showing his origins as Prussia.

Kurt Cobain knew the story of me meeting my Bohemian side of the family as a little girl.  I remembered when they spoke German it scared me.  Though having been in America for a while, they still wore a very traditional wardrobe.  This is why he would make the claim of being a Bohemian artist.

The lyrics were again inspired by someone I cared very deeply about, but it was an impossible relationship.

In 1994 Gary Oldman, who had starred in Kurt Cobain’s ’86 brain-child (Love Kills) Sid & Nancy and with Tom Cruise in the ’88 film The Firm, starred as Ludwig Van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.