"Halo of Flies" is a 1973 single by rock band

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

taken from their 1971 album '' Killer''. The single was only released in the Netherlands, two years after the song appeared on the album. The song was, according to Cooper's liner notes in the compilation ''The Definitive Alice Cooper'', an attempt by the band to prove that they could perform

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

-like

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

suites, and was supposedly about a spy organization. Upon its 1973 single release, the song became a top 10 hit in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and also charted in neighboring

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

because of imports. The single release featured the B-side " Under My Wheels", also a song of the '' Killer'' album, which had already been released as a single two years prior. The

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...

band Halo of Flies named themselves after this song.

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Initially ac ...

and

The Melvins ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

covered the song on their release '' Sieg Howdy!'', while Haunted Garage covered it for the 1993 Cooper tribute ''Welcome to Our Nightmare''. The song was also used in the VR experience Dreams of Dali. This song was performed live by Tripping Daisy Aug 27, 2022 at the Kessler Theatre as part of a Homage Nation tribute to the Alice Cooper band.

Track listing

# "Halo of Flies" (

, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce,

Dennis Dunaway Dennis Dunaway (born December 9, 1946, in Cottage Grove, Oregon) is an American musician, best known as the original bass guitarist for the rock band Alice Cooper (1962–1975, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021). He co-wrote some of the ...

, Neal Smith) - 8:21 # " Under My Wheels" ( Michael Bruce,

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

) - 2:51

Personnel

- vocals * Glen Buxton - lead guitar * Michael Bruce - rhythm guitar, keyboards *

- bass guitar * Neal Smith - drums

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halo of Flies (song) 1971 songs Alice Cooper songs Songs written by Dennis Dunaway Songs written by Alice Cooper Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Warner Records singles American progressive rock songs