First, a clarification: the Who's 1969 double album Tommy was a watershed for rock music — one that introduced a plethora of possibilities for the young artform.

It features one of the band's quintessential singles, "Pinball Wizard" — that immortal paean to a "deaf, dumb and blind kid," where Pete Townshend's acoustic guitar is an ingot of white heat. It's not seamless. But it succeeds.

After the monumental triumph of 1971's Who's Next — itself whittled down from a prospective rock opera, Lifehouse — Roger Daltrey, Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon took another big swing. And it connected — arguably harder than similar swings before or since.

1973's Quadrophenia, which turned 50 on Oct. 26, develops on what they achieved with Tommy — as well as their earlier mini-opera "A Quick One, While He's Away," from 1966's A Quick One — in virtually every possible way.

The album tells the story of a disillusioned, working-class mod named Jimmy while plumbing Townshend's tortured psychology. The protagonist is emblematic of the youth culture that spawned the Who themselves. He "rides a GS scooter with his hair cut neat," pops amphetamines and spoils for fights.

But before too long, Townshend's character begins to unravel. Finding no relief from chemicals nor his shrink, feeling disoriented and unmoored, Jimmy sails away on a stolen boat, lies down on a rock by the seaside, contemplates the end, and — by the closer, "Love, Reign O'er Me" — finds spiritual redemption.

As you revisit this magisterial work of cerebral, emotional, narrative-driven rock, consider these five reasons that Quadrophenia might stand on top of the Who's rock-opera mountain — with zero shade on the inspired stabs they took prior.

Pete Townshend Wrote Every Song

Make no mistake: the Who were dynamite due to the contributions of all four members.

And after the deaths of Entwistle and Moon, despite the Who's successes in their wake, the Who are quite literally half a band. The essentiality of this quartet is demonstrated by the album title, which represents the four personalities of the Who, as well as the four sides of the album.

But while Entwistle and Moon's writing credits on Tommy are welcome and beneficial — the former for "Cousin Kevin" and "Fiddle About," the latter for "Tommy's Holiday Camp" — Quadrophenia benefits from Townshend being the sole writer of every song.

With one man holding the pen, Quadrophenia becomes a far more laser-focused, undiluted and personal statement — a clean transmission from a troubled, brilliant, ambitious brain to yours.

It's Light On Vignettes, And Heavy On Songs

As towering as Tommy is — as well as 1967's The Who Sell Out, their classic parody of pirate radio programming — the average listener might be waiting impatiently for the hits.

Chances are, you didn't pick up The Who Sell Out because you really wanted to hear faux advertisements for Heinz Baked Beans and Odorono; the prize is "I Can See For Miles." 

Similarly, Tommy is full of interstitial trifles like "Sparks" and "Underture" — which are very nice, thank you, but please give us "Pinball Wizard."

While it would be a stretch to call Quadrophenia an album of hits, highlights are lurking around each corner. Sure, there are instrumentals, like "Quadrophenia" and "The Rock," but they only help the story along to its crescendo.

By the time you're halfway through Quadrophenia, you've digested a number of stone classics: "The Real Me," "Cut My Hair," The Punk and the Godfather," and "I'm One" among them. And by the end, you've experienced jewels like "Sea and Sand" — as well as the epochal "Love, Reign o'er Me."

The Atmosphere Is Impeccable

Quadrophenia begins and ends out at sea; opener "I Am the Sea" is a foreshadowing agent, as vocal snippets of ensuing songs seep through mightily stormy sound effects. And, of course, "Love Reign O'er Me" is a hand outstretched in the darkness, for salvation from the briny deep.

Between these bookends is all manner of scene-setting, apart from lyrics and melodies themselves.

The whirling synths in "Quadrophenia" effectively illustrate a mind divided; the rough, street-ready sonics of "The Punk and the Godfather" are all pomade and motor oil; Townshend and Daltrey's piano-pounding rant "Helpless Dancer" sounds like they're twin Phantoms of the Opera.

In the gorgeous "Sea and Sand," you can practically feel the salt in your hair, as the story rushes to its epic conclusion.

The Narrative Is Legible

Granted, it's not like any of us listen to Sgt. Pepper's or Ziggy Stardust or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway for the story rather than the songs. In fact, without ancillary materials, most concept albums are, if not hazy, totally opaque.

But while the story of Quadrophenia is a bit of a blur, it has a consistent narrative rush, a graspable Campbellian arc. The arc of Jimmy the mod is much more linear and legible than that of Tommy; in fact, one critic thought a Townshend Rolling Stone interview told the Tommy story lightyears better than the music did.

Quadrophenia Is A Living Document

Like Tommy, Quadrophenia got a stoner-friendly cinematic treatment, and has hit the stage in various iterations over the years. But after a 1992 Broadway musical based on Tommy, the band hardly touched it in its full glory — save a solo tour by Daltrey performing it in full.

Perhaps due to its concision, focus and memorable-song quotient, Quadrophenia still has meat on its bones; after a one-off performance of Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010, the Who took it on the road for a fiery U.S. tour, billed Quadrophenia and More. And its onstage afterlife has stretched on from there.

"Can you see the real me?" Townshend pleaded as Jimmy, in "The Real Me." "Can ya? Can ya?" The album it belonged to was the clearest-ever window into his soul — and a half century on, the view remains extraordinary.

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Fifty years ago, a record-breaking 600,000 people gathered to see the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and the Band play Summer Jam at Watkins Glen. This is just one of many significant historical events that happened in 1973 — a year that changed the way music was seen, heard and experienced.

Ongoing advancements in music-making tech expanded the sound of popular and underground music. New multi-track technology was now standard in recording studios from Los Angeles to London. Artists from a variety of genres experimented with new synthesizers, gadgets like the Mu-Tron III pedal and the Heil Talk Box, and techniques like the use of found sounds.  

1973 was also a year of new notables, where now-household names made their debuts. Among these auspicious entries: a blue-collar songwriter from the Jersey Shore, hard-working southern rockers from Jacksonville, Fla. and a sister group from California oozing soul. 

Along a well-established format, '73 saw the release of several revolutionary concept records. The Eagles’ Desperado, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Lou Reed’s Berlin and the Who’s Quadrophenia are just a few examples that illustrate how artists used narrative techniques to explore broader themes and make bigger statements on social, political and economic issues — of which there were many.

On the domestic front, 1973 began with the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade. Internationally, the Paris Peace Accords were signed — starting the long process to end the Vietnam War. An Oil crisis caused fuel prices to skyrocket in North America. Richard Nixon started his short-lived second term as president, which was marked by the Watergate scandal. 

Politics aside, the third year of the '70s had it all: from classic- and southern-rock to reggae; punk to jazz; soul and R&B to country. Read on for 20 masterful albums with something to say that celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2023. 

Band On The Run - Paul McCartney & Wings

Laid down at EMI’s studio in Lagos, Nigeria and released in December 1973, the third studio record by Paul Mcartney & Wings is McCartney’s most successful post-Beatles album. Its hit singles "Jet" and the title cut "Band on the Run" helped make the record the biggest-selling in 1974 in both Australia and Canada.

Band on the Run won a pair of GRAMMYS the following year: Best Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus and Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical. McCartney added a third golden gramophone for this record at the 54th awards celebration when it won Best Historical Album for the 2010 reissue. In 2013, Band on the Run was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. 

Head Hunters - Herbie Hancock

Released Oct. 13, Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters was recorded in just one week; its

four songs clock in at just over 40 minutes. That the album was not nominated in the jazz category, but instead Best Pop Instrumental Performance, demonstrates how Hancock was shifting gears.

Head Hunters showed Hancock moving away from traditional instrumentation and playing around with new synthesizer technology — especially the clavinet — and putting together a new band: the Headhunters. Improvisation marks this as a jazz record, but the phrasing, rhythms and dynamics of Hancock’s new quintet makes it equal parts soul and R&B with sprinkles of rock 'n' roll. 

The album represented a commercial and artistic breakthrough for Hancock, going gold within months of its release. "Watermelon Man" and "Chameleon," which was nominated for a Best Instrumental GRAMMY Award in 1974, were later both frequently sampled by hip-hop artists in the 1990s.

Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. - Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen, 22, was the new kid in town in 1973. This debut was met with tepid reviews. Still, Greetings introduced Springsteen’s talent to craft stories in song and includes many characters The Boss would return to repeatedly in his career. The album kicks off with the singalong "Blinded by the Light," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 100 four years later via a cover done by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. This was the first of two records Springsteen released in 1973; The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle arrived before the end of the year — officially introducing the E Street Band.

Innervisions - Stevie Wonder 

This Stevie Wonder masterpiece shows an artist, in his early 20s, experimenting with new instrumentation such as TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) — the world’s largest synth — and playing all instruments on the now-anthemic "Higher Ground."

The song reached No.1 on the U.S. Hot R&B Singles Chart, and Innervisions peaked at No. 4. The album won three GRAMMYS the following year, including Album Of The Year. Wonder was the first Black artist to win this coveted golden gramophone. In 1989, Red Hot Chili Peppers kept the original funk, but injected the song with a lot of rock on their cover — the lead single from Mother’s Milk.

The Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

Critics perennially place this Pink Floyd album, the band's eighth studio record, as one of the greatest of all-time. The Dark Side of the Moon hit No.1 and stayed on the Billboard charts for 63 weeks.

A sonic masterpiece marked by loops, synths, found sounds, and David Gilmour’s guitar bends, Dark Side of the Moon is also a concept record that explores themes of excessive greed on tracks like "Money." Ironically, an album lambasting consumerism was the top-selling record of the year and has eclipsed 45 million sales worldwide since its release. The album’s cover has also become one of the most recognized in the history of popular music.

Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd - Lynyrd Skynyrd

This debut release features several of the northern Florida rockers' most beloved songs: "Gimme Three Steps," "Tuesday’s Gone" and "Simple Man." The record, which has since reached two-times platinum status with sales of more than two million, also includes the anthemic "Free Bird," which catapulted them to stardom. The song with its slow-build and definitive guitar solo and jam in the middle became Lynyrd Skynyrd's signature song that ended all their shows; it also became a piece of pop culture with people screaming for this song during concerts by other artists.

Houses Of The Holy - Led Zeppelin

The first Led Zeppelin record of all originals — and the first without a Roman numeral for a title — Houses of the Holy shows a new side of these British hardrockers. Straying from the blues and hard rock of previous records, Houses of the Holy features funk (“The Ocean” and “The Crunge”) and even hints of reggae (“D’Yer Mak’er”). This fifth studio offering from Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham also includes one of this writer’s personal Zeppelin favorites — "Over the Hills and Far Away.” The song was released as the album’s first U.S. single and reached No. 51 on the Billboard charts. Despite mixed reviews from critics, Houses of the Holy eventually achieved Diamond status for sales of more than 10 million. Interesting fact: the song “Houses of the Holy” actually appears on the band’s next record (Physical Graffiti).

Quadrophenia - The Who

The double-album rock opera followed the critical success of Tommy and Who’s Next. Pete Townshend composed all songs on this opus, which was later adapted into a movie. And, in 2015, classically-scored by Townshend’s partner Rachel Fuller for a new generation via a symphonic version (“Classic Quadrophenia”). The story chronicles the life of a young mod named Jimmy who lives in the seaside town of Brighton, England. Jimmy searches for meaning in a life devoid of significance — taking uppers, downers and guzzling gin only to discover nothing fixes his malaise. With sharp-witted songs, Townshend also tackles classicism. His band of musical brothers: Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Keith Moon provide some of their finest recorded performances. The album reached second spot on the U.S. Billboard chart.

Berlin - Lou Reed

Produced by Bob Ezrin, Berlin is a metaphor. The divided walled city represents the divisive relationships and the two sides of Reed — on stage and off. The 10 track concept record chronicles a couple’s struggles with drug addiction, meditating on themes of domestic abuse and neglect. As a parent, try to listen to "The Kids" without shedding a tear. While the couple on the record are named Caroline and Jim, those who knew Reed’s volatile nature and drug dependency saw the parallels between this fictionalized narrative and the songwriter’s life.

Catch A Fire - Bob Marley & the Wailers

The original cover was enclosed in a sleeve resembling a Zippo lighter. Only 20,000 of this version were pressed. Even though it was creative and cool, cost-effective it was not — each individual cover had to be hand-riveted. The replacement, which most people know today, introduces reggae poet and prophet Robert Nesta Marley to the world. With a pensive stare and a large spliff in hand, Marley tells you to mellow out and listen to the tough sounds of his island home.

While Bob and his Wailers had been making music for nearly a decade and released several records in Jamaica, Catch a Fire was their coming out party outside the Caribbean. Released in April on Island Records, the feel-good reggae rhythms and Marley’s messages of emancipation resonated with a global audience. A mix of songs of protest ("Slave Driver," "400 years") and love ("Kinky Reggae"), Catch A Fire is also notable for "Stir it Up," a song American singer-songwriter Johnny Nash had made a Top 15 hit the previous year. 

The New York Dolls - The New York Dolls

The New York Dolls burst on the club scene in the Big Apple, building a cult following with their frenetic and unpredictable live shows. The Dolls' hard rock sound and f-you attitude waved the punk banner before the genre was coined, and influenced the sound of punk rock for generations. (Bands like the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and KISS, cite the New York Dolls as mentors.) Singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren — who found time to release A Wizard, A True Star this same year — produced this tour de force. From the opening "Personality Crisis," this five-piece beckons you to join this out-of-control train.

Aladdin Sane - David Bowie

This David Bowie record followed the commercial success of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars. Many critics unfairly compare the two. A career chameleon, with Aladdin Sane, Bowie shed the Ziggy persona and adopted another alter-ego. The title is a pun that means: "A Lad Insane." For the songwriter, this record represented an attempt to break free from the crazed fandom Ziggy Stardust had created.

A majority of the songs were written the previous year while Bowie toured the United States in support of Ziggy. Journal in hand, the artist traveled from city to city in America and the songs materialized. Most paid homage to what this “insane lad” observed and heard: from debauchery and societal decay ("Cracked Actor") to politics ("Panic in Detroit") to punk music ("Watch That Man"). Top singles on Aladdin Sane were: "The Jean Genie" and "Drive-In Saturday." Both topped the U.K. charts.

Faust IV -Faust

This fourth studio album — and the final release in this incarnation by this experimental avant-garde German ambient band — remains a cult classic. Recorded at the Manor House in Oxfordshire, England (Richard Branson’s new Virgin Records studio and the locale where Mike Oldfield crafted his famous debut Tubular Bells, also released in 1973), Faust IV opens with the epic 11-minute instrumental "Krautrock" — a song that features drones, clusters of tones and sustained notes to create a trance-like vibe. Drums do not appear in the song until after the seven minute mark.

The song is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the genre British journalists coined to describe bands like Faust, which musicians largely did not embrace. The rest of Faust IV is a sonic exploration worthy of repeated listens and a great place to start if you’ve ever wondered what the heck Krautrock is.

Brothers & Sisters - the Allman Brothers Band

Great art is often born from grief, and Brothers & Sisters is exemplary in this way. Founding member Duanne Allman died in 1971 and bassist Berry Oakley followed his bandmate to the grave a year later; he was killed in a motorcycle accident in November 1972. Following this pair of tragedies, the band carried on the only way they knew how: by making music.

With new members hired, Brothers & Sisters was recorded with guitarist Dicky Betts as the new de facto band leader. The Allman Brothers Band’s most commercially successful record leans into country territory from the southern rock of previous releases and features two of the band’s most popular songs: "Ramblin’ Man" and "Jessica." The album went gold within 48 hours of shipping and since has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.  

Call Me -  Al Green

Call Me is considered one of the greatest soul records of the 20th century and Green’s pièce de résistance. The fact this Al Green album features three Top 10 Billboard singles — "You Ought to Be With Me," "Here I Am" and the title track — helps explain why it remains a masterpiece. Beyond the trio of hits, the soul king shows his versatility by reworking a pair of country songs: Hank Williams’ "I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry," and Willie Nelson’s "Funny How Time Slips Away."

Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack

This Roberta Flack album was nominated for three GRAMMY Awards and won two: Record Of The Year and Best Female Vocal Pop Performance at the 1974 GRAMMYs (it lost in the Album of the Year category to Innervisions). With equal parts soul and passion, Flack interprets beloved ballads that showcase her talent of taking others’ songs and reinventing them. Producer Joel Dorn assembled the right mix of players to back up Flack — adding to the album’s polished sound. Killing Me Softly has sold more than two million copies and, in 2020, Roberta Flack received the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

The album's title cut became a No.1 hit in three countries and, in 1996, the Fugees prominently featured Lauryn Hill on a version that surpassed the original: landing the No.1 spot in 21 countries. The album also includes a pair of well-loved covers: Leonard Cohen’s "Suzanne" and Janis Ian’s wistful "Jesse," which reached No. 30.

Bette Midler - Bette Middler

Co-produced by Arif Mardin and Barry Manilow, the self-titled second studio album by Bette Midler was an easy- listening experience featuring interpretations of both standards and popular songs. Whispers of gospel are mixed with R&B and some boogie-woogie piano, though Midler’s voice is always the star. The record opens with a nod to the Great American Songbook with a reworking of Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael’s "Skylark." The 10-song collection also features a take on Glenn Miller’s "In the Mood," and a divine cover of Bob Dylan’s "I Shall be Released." The record peaked at No. 6 on the U.S. charts.

Imagination - Gladys Knight & the Pips

Released in October, Imagination was Gladys Knight & the Pips' first album with Buddha Records after leaving Motown, and features the group’s only No. 1 Billboard hit:  "Midnight Train to Georgia." The oft-covered tune, which won a GRAMMY the following year, and became the band’s signature, helped the record eclipse a million in sales, but it was not the only single to resonate. Other timeless, chart-topping songs from Imagination include "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," and "I’ve Got to Use My Imagination."

The Pointer Sisters - The Pointer Sisters

The three-time GRAMMY-winning Pointer Sisters arrived on the scene in 1973 with this critically-acclaimed self-titled debut. Then a quartet, the group of sisters from Oakland, California made listeners want to shake a tail feather with 10 songs that ranged from boogie-woogie to bebop. Their sisterly harmonies are backed up by the San Francisco blues-funk band the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils. The record opens with "Yes We Can," a hypnotic groove of a song written by Allen Toussaint which was a Top 15 hit alongside another cover, Willie Dixon’s "Wang Dang Doodle."

Behind Closed Doors - Charlie Rich

This pop-leaning country record of orchestral ballads, produced by Billy Sherrill, made Rich rich. The album has surpassed four million in sales and remains one of the genre’s best-loved classics. The album won Charlie Rich a GRAMMY the following year for Best Country Vocal Performance Male and added four Country Music Awards. Behind Closed Doors had several hits, but the title track made the most impact. The song written by Kenny O’Dell, and whose title was inspired by the Watergate scandal, was the first No.1 hit for Rich. It topped the country charts where it spent 20 weeks in 1973. It was also a Billboard crossover hit — reaching No. 15 on the Top 100 and No. 8 on the Adult Contemporary charts.

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Next time you watch an artist's press cycle roll out, know this: In many instances, they're sick of the record before it's time to promote it. "I certainly have gone through periods of 'I hate this. I don't even want to put it out,'" Gary Louris tells GRAMMY.com over the phone from Hamilton, Ontario. "Or, 'I absolutely love this.'" Back in 2020, with his band the Jayhawks' album XOXO taking priority, Louris waited—and waited—to put out his solo record, Jump for Joy, as well.

While this may seem like a recipe for hating your own creation, the 66-year-old kept Jump for Joy at something of a distance, not overthinking or smothering it. As a result, Louris is elated to put out a record that feels refreshingly weird and untouched yet with his fingerprints all over it. "In this case, it's worked because of COVID and I'm excited to have something I like coming out," he adds. "And I've also made the decision that I'm not going to wait for the record company anymore."

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Jump for Joy, which arrived June 4 on Sham/Thirty Tigers, is Louris' first solo album in 13 years. (He last released Vagabonds in 2008.) But while enjoying the intimate, homespun pop songs within, like "New Normal," "Mr. Updike" and "Follow," know that you're not going to have to wait two-and-a-half presidential terms for the next one. A newlywed hitting a new seam of creativity, Louris plans to keep self-producing songs and putting out the results on his website and Bandcamp.

The new album isn't the only thing on Louris' docket: He's been covering the Beatles' White Album in full on his Patreon page; goofing off with his son, Henry, on his music-filled YouTube show, "The S**t Show"; and jamming wild prog records like Yes' Tales from Topographic Oceans. The interior feeling of Jump for Joy sums him up right now: Touring and hitting the studio may not be big priorities, but he's got a wellspring of ideas percolating inside.

GRAMMY.com gave Gary Louris a ring to discuss the long gestation of Jump for Joy, why the next one won't take so long, and which song on the album stemmed from a rejected AT&T jingle.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Gary Louris | Photo: Tim Geaney

While listening to this album, I didn't have a single thought of, "That song sounds like Hollywood Town Hall" or "That part sounds like Tomorrow the Green Grass." I just thought, "That sounds like the Kinks. That sounds like Yes." Is there a faction of your fan base that just wants you to make those two records over and over?

There's definitely a schism we created when we did Smile, even Sound of Lies a little bit. Some people abandoned ship. They didn't like it. Bob Ezrin produced Smile, and I remember that he kept telling me, "Gary, you don't have to be reverential to your audience. Lead, don't follow them." 

I grew up listening to pop music and prog rock. Everything English was what I listened to. I didn't grow up in South Carolina listening to Appalachian music. I didn't have brothers or parents who played Crosby, Stills and Nash records. I fell in love with British music. I wanted to be British. I wanted to be in the Who or the Kinks or the Beatles. And then prog rock, hard rock, English punk rock, everything.

I didn't really discover Americana until the '80s. I was like, "This is new, this is cool. I'm not British, and I can take certain things—the soulfulness of that." But underlying everything is always a big, heady dose of British music. English, Anglophile prog and pop, for me. That's what I listen to more than [anything]. I don't listen to roots rock much.

While watching your cover songs on "The S**t Show" and checking out your White Album project, I was thinking that you have a versatile voice, one that can handle all those different songbooks and canons. Where do you want to go with the canon in the future?

Well, it's funny. As you called, I was uploading my latest White Album song I did today to my Patreon page. I did "I'm So Tired." 

Originally, I thought, "I want to do something where [it's not] my own music." So I picked the White Album because it's one of my favorites. I recently thought, "Why didn't I do something like Yes' Tales from Topographic Oceans or something really bizarre?" I'll tell you why: Because people would think it's a pompous and difficult prog-rock album to play. But I love that kind of stuff.

My focus is always on writing my own music. However, during the pandemic, I just kind of embraced learning cover songs, which I never really did that much. It teaches you something. It inspires you. And if you're asking what I want to explore as far as covering?

I meant more along the lines of what might infect your own work. Like if you'll make your own super-prog album or British folk album someday.

This is kind of where I ended up, which is kind of prog with a sort of classic pop structure. It still has a sense of American folkiness, which I can't help because I'm American, I guess. 

There's always some kind of weird mixture that makes me happy, that seems to balance what I do. And I can do things that I don't do with the Jayhawks, because not everybody likes exactly what I like in the band. I can't force people to play some synthesizers they don't feel like playing. So, I get to explore a little bit more on my own.

I know "New Normal" is an older recording, and the Jump for Joy press release says the songs span decades. I'm curious, though; do the recordings span decades as well?

That's the only one, although I have other recordings I'm finding. Honestly, I'm ashamed of how long it took me between solo records. Life happened and s**t happened and I still have a band going. I want to put out more, much more often if I'm able. But I'm finding other things I like from the old days. "New Normal" is the only one from 2009 or something like that.

All the rest were recorded in the last two and a half years, but they have been around and finished since 2003. The business being what it was, with the Jayhawks putting out a record, it felt it was better to just wait. And now, I'm kind of glad I did. I grumbled, going like, "I want my record out. It's been sitting here."

But now it's kind of new to me ... Because the Jayhawks aren't really getting together to write in the near future, it's like, "Wow, I have something coming out." I'm learning how to play them again. So, it turned out to be good timing. Almost all the songs were just recorded in a little room.

It's kind of stripped down with a lot of buzzy, fuzzy things going on. Were you inspired by the arrangement palette of any particular record from the past?

No, I just love electronica. If I listen to music, I prefer to listen to something electronic. I listen to a lot of things that are not as song-based as you would think because I'm not thinking about how somebody wrote a song. It's just repetitive, electronic stuff.

I knew I wanted to include that because it's very satisfying for me to program things and get them to be in sync with each other, because most of the music I've made with the band has a soulful sloppiness to it that's fun. But, sometimes, I want to go in the other direction.

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Something about "Almost Home" makes me feel like it was plucked from your memories. What's going on in that song?

It started as a commercial and then evolved into another commercial. I'm not very good at this commercial work because I write too much of a song, where they really want [something smaller]. And I don't do it very often; it's not something I wholly seek out so much as it comes up once in a while. I think, "Well, nobody's buying records anymore anyway." If I have to write something for a commercial, I'm not going to apologize for it.

I did a song, I think, for AT&T. It was "Almost Home." It's about calling and being far away from home and hearing somebody's voice. I just had that little chorus, and they didn't use it. Years later, it sat around, and a friend of mine who worked for an agency said, "This other company's looking for something." I played him different things and he said, "I love that." I worked on it, and of course, too many people got involved and it got diluted and they didn't use it. 

But it always stuck in my head: "This is a really catchy song. I should make it into a real song." Because it didn't have a verse; it was just a little riff-y thing. I decided to write something unusual for me, which is more of a story song—less imagery and muddled. It's an ode to my wife.

How about "Living in Between"?

I like songs that are really simple. I like both—I like songs with 20 parts, too—but writing a song with two or three chords with a verse and chorus that share the same progression, I always find that something to aspire to. There [are] a lot of songs I write that I notice are questioning—the meaning of life or what we're doing here or being in the moment.

That song is certainly a question of why I am the age I am and when somebody asks me what I believe, I'm not sure what I would say. I've been seeking and looking and I still don't know.

What can you tell me about "White Squirrel"?

"White Squirrel" is another song that's three chords, I think. Thematically, it's about people who don't fit in. I think it started when I read about a young trans person feeling trapped inside a body that wasn't their own—getting to know more about trans people and expanding to people who always feel out of place, out of sorts, out of sync, not really comfortable in this world.

I guess it's just saying, "You're not alone," and hoping that might help somebody.

In your public school days, did you feel like the odd man out?

Well, it was a private school. It was an all-male, Jesuit, coat-and-tie thing. I think I certainly had some of that in me, yeah. I think that's why people pick on musicians.

We already touched on "New Normal," and I feel like you've talked about that one a lot, so let's skip over to "Mr. Updike."

I'm just a fan [of John Updike]. He wrote about rich, quotidian events. Everyday, kind of small things. I just fell in love with his writing. I'm currently in touch with the family as I might make a video, which is my favorite thing to do now. I discovered iMovie, and my wife and I are making videos for all these songs.

It's just an ode to the writer's life. The thought that creating an idea from nothing and making it artistically happen makes a lot of things in life pale. It's like a high you chase because it gives you purpose and power and it's something unique you can keep going to.

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What about the song "Follow"?

It's just a straight-up love song. It's become a song for my wife, but I originally wrote it for my niece and her husband as a kind of wedding gift. I played it at their wedding. Then, I rewrote it and it's kind of for my wife and I.

And how about "Too Late the Key"?

That one's a little older. Now, that one's a slightly older recording also. It's another questioning, longing song. "Have I made too many mistakes? Have I made too many wrong turns? Am I broken? Will I be able to walk through that door if it opens again? Or am I just too jaded and broken to be open anymore if there's something going on?" 

You play a lot of guitar on "One Way Conversation"!

Yeah, I got a little Steely Dan thing in the little break in the middle. I don't remember the thematic [content]. That became more about production than, "I know what that song's about." I write things a lot where I don't know exactly what they mean.

What can you share about the title track, "Jump for Joy"?

Um … dark. It's got a weird, suicidal kind of [feel]. I like the play on words. Not that I was feeling suicidal, but it's got this juxtaposition of words and delivery, or multiple meanings. It's sung in a dark way, but I'm thinking of something ecstatic. 

When you think of jumping for joy, you're all excited, but it's also a phrase, to me, that could allude to suicide. Jumping off a ledge to alleviate the pain and the resulting freedom. I certainly don't encourage that, but it's the hypnotic, underwater, dark beauty.

Then, finally, we have "Dead Man's Burden." 

[Proudly, brightly] "Dead Man's Burden" is one of my favorite things I've ever written, and I don't know if anybody else will ever like it. My wife loves it. Not too many people have heard it yet. It's stream of consciousness. I could never write anything like it again. It's the bookend. It's the opposite of what I was talking about earlier—two or three chords. The song has about eight parts and maybe one repeats.

And yet, when I tried to edit it and make it more concise, it didn't work at all. It was like a house of cards. You take one card out and the whole thing falls apart. So, I embraced it, and [it's] just an epic—for me—production with strings. It's got multiple movements. I love it. I have no idea if anyone else will, but it's like, "How did I write that?"

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At 73, Alice Cooper is in the middle of his first extended break from touring. Time away from his black-caped, blood-soaked alter-ego has given him plenty of opportunities to continue working (for instance, before our call, he was demoing ideas for the next album by Hollywood Vampires, a project he shares with Aerosmith’s Joe Perry). But mainly, he’s looking forward to performing tracks from his newest release Detroit Stories, which was released on February 26—even if his signature outlandish live visuals are still TBD.

When it does come time to add to his collection of concert props, there’s plenty of inspiration to choose from. Cooper’s twenty-eighth album is stomp through the Midwestern city where he was born and later readopted as his own in 1970. Populated by fictional colorful characters and performed by local musicians, it’s both a hard-driving look at the spirit of the city and—in the case of "$1000 High Heel Shoes"—a cheeky departure from his signature sound with the help of Motor City Horns. (Motown, as it turns out, plays well with shock rock.)

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Even Lou Reed doesn't escape Cooper’s clutches. The musician sincerely calls his cover of the Velvet Underground frontman’s "Rock 'n' Roll" a "V8 engine," a blending of sounds that received the blessing of Reed’s widow, Laurie Anderson, who declared that her late partner would have loved the song’s transition from heroin chic to a full-fledged rock anthem.

Alice Cooper spoke with GRAMMY.com about spiritually dragging Lou Reed to Detroit, giving in to fate, and why he’s refusing to let COVID get him down.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How has it been, taking a break from your onstage persona and all the theatrics that come with it for the first time in years?

It's sort of like I have to remind myself, "What do we do on stage now?" Because it's a complicated show. Just to keep yourself in the game, you have to remember, "I did this on that song." I always surround myself with the best players. We've been around for 28 or 29 albums. There are maybe 15 songs on the show that fans have to hear. If you don't play those songs, they would revolt. 

I remember talking to Bowie one time and he said, "I'm gonna do a whole show without doing any hits," and in the back of my mind I went, "That's the worst idea I've ever heard!"

Has putting out so many albums changed your definition of what can be a hit?

I used to be able to listen to an album and say, "Okay, that's the single." And it was pretty obvious what the three-minute single was going to be on the radio. It was pretty easy to pick "School's Out" or "Poison" or one of those songs. It just jumped off the album. I could listen to somebody else's album and go, "Oh, that's the single right there." Because there were sort of boundaries. 

Now, I don't even know what a single is. I honestly don't, because it's such a different venue out there. It's such a different technology. I don't know if there is such a thing as a single.

Interesting. So how does a concept like Detroit Stories come together? Is it all just one high point?

It's one of those things where the single will emerge. You do 12 or 13or 15 songs, and certain songs just emerge, and they just go, "Okay, that's, that's one, it's so obvious that one's gonna get airplay." I think we knew when we did Lou Reed's "Rock ‘n’ Roll," that that was going to get airplay because it just had everything. It had all the elements in it: Joe Bonamassa on guitar, Steven Hunter on guitar, and everything about the song was relentless—it never stops. 

Then you have a quirky song like "Our Love Will Change the World," and that song is getting played to death in London. That's weird. Why would that song get played?

How did Lou Reed, who's emblematic of New York, get folded into the Detroit theme? 

Well, we played [the track] for Laurie Anderson. And she says, "He would have absolutely loved this." I knew Lou back in Chelsea Hotel, in New York back before all this, when The Velvet Underground was living there and we were living there. We knew each other pretty well. 

But when I thought of the song, their version was so New York heroin chic. Yeah, that's cool for that. But when I heard that, I said, "Well, what if we took this and put a V8 engine in it?" Turn it into a song that you can't miss. It's just a rock and roll jam. It was one of those songs, it felt like Detroit. And I'm sure he would not mind if I switched Detroit station from New York station. 

Rock and roll is Detroit! If you think of Los Angeles, they had The Doors, and all these kind of hip, sexy bands. San Francisco has the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, sort of the psychedelic country. New York City has The Rascals and Billy Joel, and that very sophisticated stuff. 

Detroit, though, has Alice Cooper, Iggy and the Stooges, MC5, Bob Seger, Suzi Quatro, Ted Nugent—every band that came out of the Midwest in Detroit was a hard rock, guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll band with a lot of attitude. And that's what Detroit wanted. You couldn't be a soft rock band in Detroit; they would kill you.

Alice Cooper with his python, Rachina, in 1971. Photo: Victor Crawshaw/Mirrorpix/Getty Images​

Was there a moment in Detroit you wanted to freeze or immortalize in this album?

I kind of invented characters that would have been from Detroit that I would have known. Like Hamtramck Hammer, and his girlfriend Painkiller Jane. They were just the absolute hell-raisers of all time. There are three guys sitting in an alley and they can't wait for Hail Mary to come by, because she's a great-looking girl and that's the high point of their day. They just sat there and drank wine, and couldn't wait for her to walk by and they would just go, "Hail Mary, full of grace, what are you doing in this place?" 

When you've got Wayne Kramer from MC5 on guitar, these guys live in Detroit. Johnny Bee on drums, who is the premier drummer in Detroit. They have a certain amount of R&B that's in the DNA. They'll play hard rock, but there's a certain taste of R&B in there. And normally I would go, "No no no, I don't want that." In this case, I said, "I want all of that!" Because that is Detroit. 

And even a song like "$1,000 High Heel Shoes," I said, let's just do a Motown song. Let's give Motown a nod, because we would do the Grand Ballroom, let's say, in 1970, and it would be us in the Stooges and the MC5, and The Who, and 1,500 sweaty rock ‘n’ roll kids. I would look down and see, Oh, there's Smokey Robinson. There's a couple of guys from The Temptations. Rock ‘n’ roll and Motown, we're all in bed together. 

I mean, nobody saw color. It was just music. They came because they loved hard rock and they loved the energy behind it. We would go to their shows because they were just so well done. The Motown bands were classy.

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I think it's still there; I really do! When we went back, we didn't have a theme when we decided to do this album. And normally, we go into the thematic kind of thing; almost every album we've ever done has been thematic. 

And I said, let's do 12 really good hard rock songs. We'll just get the best players, and really put out a real classic Alice Cooper rock ‘n’ roll album. And we went, OK, that's from Detroit. Let's write the songs in Detroit. Let's record it in Detroit venues, all Detroit players. And then it became a theme.

Do you believe in the idea of fate, that you were meant to be in this place this time?

It was just something that fell into place. And a lot of people have mentioned, "Well did you realize Love It to Death is having its 50th anniversary, and you're going back to Detroit where all that happened?" That's a total coincidence. 

I don't live in the past. I'm not one of those guys that lives in nostalgia. I talk about it. And I certainly don't deny any of it. But I'm always thinking about the next album. And if I can incorporate that Detroit sound into a new Alice Cooper album that sounds fresh and like a lot of fun, that's what we're gonna do.

Do you see COVID changing the nature of those places in Detroit that you love? 

I'm a total optimist. I believe that I think that this vaccine is going to really make a big difference. By the end of summer, I'm expecting everybody to be back on the road because now you've got 70-80% of the country protected. Why wouldn't you go back on the road? Why wouldn't there be concerts like there used to be? What are you afraid of at that point? 

COVID had its day. That's how I look at it. I don't look at it as COVID is going to be here forever, and we're never going to do concerts again. It's not going to last forever. COVID has got a departure date coming up.

And you know, the thing about it is, there's going to be such a glut of albums coming out. You have to figure every single guy in every band has got his own studio. And if you have a year off, what are they going to do? They're going to write and demo songs. So, there could be like 400 albums coming out in the next two years. Everybody is going to. 

I'm already working on the album after Detroit Stories and the next Vampires album. So, that's really the most creative thing you can do—to sit and write and do demos.

What would your advice be to a musician who is just starting out their career and might be worried about falling through the cracks in the middle of this surge of music?

Well, that's that will be a problem with young bands. They’d better show up with something pretty interesting because you're up against everybody now. I would say if you're a young band, if you have something that's just going to knock everybody out, great. 

I always believe that nothing's going to stop a great song. No matter who it's coming from, a great song is a great song, and it doesn't matter if it's a brand-new band or if it's a band that's 60 years old. That song will live. So, my advice to young bands is to write the best songs you can write. Not riffs, songs. 

I tell young bands all the time, want you to listen to three albums. I want you to listen to Meet the Beatles, any Beach Boys album, and Burt Bacharach. They sit there and they go, "We don't want to sound like that!" You don't have to, but look at the way the songs are constructed. It's okay to be angry and write an angry song, but put a melody to it. 

With Wayne's World being revived recently for an Uber Eats ad, do you still have fans declaring "We're not worthy" when they meet you? 

This is not exaggerating: I would say if I'm in an airport, I get it at least two to three times per airport. And everybody thinks it's the first time I've ever heard it! It'll be three businessmen chanting, "We're not worthy!" And I try to pretend like it's the first time I've ever heard it. "Oh, that's clever!"

I'm not exaggerating—probably 1,000 times it's happened. And then Mike Myers says, "I could have stuck you with something much worse than that!" 

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New Orleans Jazz Fest has announced it is bringing the Foo Fighters, Lizzo and The Who to the same stage as their 2020 headliners.

But it gets even better. The Big Easy's music fest will also feature Erykah Badu, Stevie Nicks, H.E.R., the Beach Boys, Dead & Company, Nicky Jam, PJ Morton, Maggie Rogers, Tank and the Bangas, Big Freedia, and the list goes on.

The fest celebrating New Orlean's eclectic music culture will take place at the Fair Grounds Race Course on April 23–May 3. Tickets on sale now.  

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