After several self-indulgent albums in the late '70s (Lace and Whiskey, From the Inside), Alice Cooper decided to reinvent himself as a new waver for 1980's Flush the Fashion.

As a result of a hooking up with Cars producer Roy Thomas Baker, the sound is glossier; Baker also replaced the gritty guitar riffs that served as the basis for past Cooper rock compositions with icy synthesizers.

The best-known song ended up being the cover "Clones (We're All)," which was in turn covered by the Smashing Pumpkins for their 1995 box set The Aeroplane Flies High.

Other highlights include the stately sounds of "Pain," the brief album-opening "Talk Talk," and one of the album's few riff rockers, "Grim Facts" (although the lyrics from the latter aren't quite up to snuff with those from "Talk Talk").

It was around this time that Cooper relapsed into alcoholism, and his subsequent early-'80s releases (Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin, Dada) became more unpredictable and more uncharacteristic of the expected Alice Cooper direction and sound.