Jim White “Smart-Ass Reply” – Listen

Jim White is one cool guy, the kind of guy who’ll rip a song in the style of an early-70’s Alice Cooper and then lay it down just perfectly.  This song sounds so much like something from that ‘Schools Out‘ / ‘Welcome to my Nightmare‘ era.  In other words it rocks with all the power of a manipulative rock and roll cynic who’s one redeeming feature is that he knows we’re both in on the joke.  God loves Alice Cooper these days, which interestingly reflects on Jim White’s explanation of the roots of ‘Smart-Ass Reply‘.

As Jim slyly expounds the tale you’ll see what we mean: “Circa 1973 I was what they called a Jesus Freak. I prayed a lot and went to church three times a week and abstained from dope and sex and sin and what have you. I drove this crappy old Ford sedan that I bought from a cop. It came with an 8 track tape player and a few weeks after I got it, tucked under the bench seat I found an Alice Cooper tape. That devil music felt liberating and empowering and was my covert rebellion against piety and the immense gravitational pull of all things Southern and religious. I guess that seminal experience must have imprinted down deep in my psyche because forty years later this song came popping out of nowhere.”