Alice Cooper: Flush The Fashion ’80 (Limited Green Black Swirl Vinyl)

SKU / Catalogue Number

• Catalogue Number / SKU: RCV1 3436
  
• UPC / Barcode: 603497860753

Alice Cooper’s Flush The Fashion is one of the great oddballs in his catalogue. Originally released in 1980, it is the album where he swerved hard into new wave, skinny-tie nervousness, and brittle early-80s cool instead of leaning on the theatrical hard rock he was already famous for. The limited green/black swirl vinyl reissue was released by Rhino on 17 July 2018 as part of the Back To The 80s campaign, on 140g mixed-colour vinyl. Rhino lists the UPC as 603497860753, while Discogs identifies the 2018 US green swirl pressing.

As a review, Flush The Fashion works because it is such a weird move. This is not Alice Cooper giving fans what they expected. It is Alice Cooper sounding wiry, sarcastic, modernised, and a little emotionally detached. That could have been a disaster, but the record has a real bite to it. Instead of big gothic theatre, you get clipped riffs, synth edges, and songs that feel anxious and plastic in a very deliberate way. Rhino’s own description notes the album reflects his venture into the new wave genre, and that really is the key to hearing it right.

What makes the album interesting now is that it does not sound like a lazy trend-chase. It sounds like Cooper genuinely trying on a colder, more stylised skin. “Clones (We’re All)” is the obvious centrepiece and still the best argument for the whole record. It is stiff, catchy, and alien in exactly the right way. “Talk Talk” and “Model Citizen” keep that synthetic, twitchy energy going, while the whole album carries this strange sense that Cooper is half inside the joke and half swallowed by it. That tension gives the record more staying power than some of his more straightforward releases from the era. Rhino specifically highlights “Clones (We’re All)” and “Talk Talk” as the key singles, which tracks with how the album still lands.

This is not top-tier Alice Cooper if you want sleaze, menace, or full shock-rock spectacle. It is too mannered for that. The production is very much of its time, and some listeners will always hear that as a flaw. But that dated quality is also part of the charm. Flush The Fashion sounds like 1980 in a very specific, brittle, urban way. It is one of those records that becomes more appealing once you stop measuring it against Killer or Welcome To My Nightmare and hear it as its own strange little mutation.

The best thing about it is personality. Even when a track does not fully hit, the album never feels anonymous. Cooper sounds amused, sharp, and slightly poisoned by the whole aesthetic, which is exactly what you want. This is a cult record more than a classic, but it earns that cult status honestly. It took a risk, and the risk left a mark.

For collectors, this 2018 reissue is the standout modern variant. Rhino confirms the 140g mixed-colour vinyl format and release date, while fan discography sources note it was marketed as a green swirl Back To The 80s release and list a limited run.