Billion Dollar Babies

Sessions began in a Greenwich, Connecticut, mansion called the Galesi Estate, where microphones were run through rooms of different sizes and a greenhouse to get the vocal echoes Ezrin wanted. Further sessions took place at Morgan Studios in London, where Donovan sang on the title track. Ezrin produced, with Gerry Lyon assisting. Glen Buxton was unwell during the sessions, so Mick Mashbir, Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter were brought in to cover for him. Drummer Neal Smith traces the album back to Caught in a Dream from Love It to Death.

The title came from the band's surprise at its own success. Cooper recalled that two years earlier they had been living in the Chambers Brothers' basement in Watts. He also described the idea behind the record as exploiting the fact that people have sick perversions. The songs cover necrophilia, dental fear, horror and sexual harassment. Hello Hooray was written by the Canadian Rolf Kempf and had been recorded by Judy Collins, and the band wanted it to sound like Alice Cooper meets Cabaret. Elected rewrites Reflected from Pretties for You, Unfinished Sweet is about a visit to the dentist, and I Love the Dead is a tongue-in-cheek song about necrophilia. A quadraphonic mix on 8-track, reel-to-reel and vinyl differs radically from the stereo one.

It reached 1 in the US and Britain, went gold in March 1973 and platinum in 1986. Four singles from it reached the Billboard Hot 100. The supporting tour was scheduled for 64 concerts in 59 cities in 90 days and broke US box office records held by the Rolling Stones, though it grossed about $4 million against an expected $20 million. Robert Christgau in Creem called it Cooper's most consistent album, even though it lacked a song as strong as School's Out. AllMusic's Greg Prato called it one of rock's all-time quintessential classics, and PopMatters' Jason Thompson thought it arguably the original group's best. The 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide gave it two and a half stars and found I Love the Dead predictable. It appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Chris Cornell remembered bringing it to school in junior high, where the teachers would not let him play it, and David Byrne has said it inspired Psycho Killer.