December 15, 2025 • 4 mins
Curious about the inspiration behind Alice Cooper's hit song 'I'm Eighteen'? Bassist Dennis Dunaway reveals all in this episode highlight!
Listen to Episode 338 - Alice Cooper Bassist Dennis Dunaway
15% OFF Any Purchase At Old Glory For Booked On Rock Listeners! — Over 300,000 officially licensed items. Featuring legendary music artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles,
Grateful Dead, and more. Use the code "BOOKEDONROCK" or hit this link:
https://oldglory.com/discount/BOOKEDONROCK
----------
Booked On Rock is part of The Boneless Podcasting Network
BookedOnRock.com
The Booked On Rock Store
The Booked On Rock YouTube Channel
Follow The Booked On Rock with Eric Senich:
BLUESKY
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
TIKTOK
X
Find Your Nearest Independent Bookstore
Contact The Booked On Rock Podcast: thebookedonrockpodcast@gmail.com
The Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” by Crowander / “Last Train North” & “No Mercy” by TrackTribe
Listen to Episode 338 - Alice Cooper Bassist Dennis Dunaway
15% OFF Any Purchase At Old Glory For Booked On Rock Listeners! — Over 300,000 officially licensed items. Featuring legendary music artists like Bob Marley, The Beatles,
Grateful Dead, and more. Use the code "BOOKEDONROCK" or hit this link:
https://oldglory.com/discount/BOOKEDONROCK
----------
Booked On Rock is part of The Boneless Podcasting Network
BookedOnRock.com
The Booked On Rock Store
The Booked On Rock YouTube Channel
Follow The Booked On Rock with Eric Senich:
BLUESKY
TIKTOK
X
Find Your Nearest Independent Bookstore
Contact The Booked On Rock Podcast: thebookedonrockpodcast@gmail.com
The Booked On Rock Music: “Whoosh” by Crowander / “Last Train North” & “No Mercy” by TrackTribe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of Booked on Rock.
Our guest is rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dennis Dunaway,
bassist for the legendary Alice Cooper group, who just recently
released their first studio album together in over fifty years.
I believe it's fifty two years exactly the revenge of
Alice Cooper, the showmanship, the shock value, and then you
(00:21):
combine that with these songs that are just bonifide now classics,
like I'm eighteen. That's a song and you write about
how that becomes the most requested song in the history
of CKLW, which is in Windsor, Ontario, and that station
helped to establish the band in the Detroit Windsor market.
Was released in I think on this month in nineteen
(00:43):
seventy and you say they played it every fifth song.
It was the heaviest rotation outside of the Beatles. And
it's a song that really stood out to Bob Ezrin
when he saw you guys play live. He thought it
was I'm Edgy. But talk about how that song came together.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, I'm Edgie isn't bad, yeah, But the reason
it was I'm eighteen is because this song came from
a jam that Michael had, like, you know, the chords,
and when we would do a sound check at a
you know, tiny club or whatever, we would just jam
(01:20):
on that and then we would each of us would
come up to the microphone and do a funny verse.
We'd just make stuff up, but it was just to
warm up. And then at one point the band was
at Warner Brothers and we were talking to one of
the A and R guys and we saw this chart
on the wall, and we're saying, so, wait a minute,
(01:41):
who's the what age is the biggest record buying age?
And he said, hands down, eighteen years old because most
of them are still living at home, they don't have
to pay rent, and they've got money in their pockets.
So so we said, okay, well we can relate to
that because we all met when we were in high school,
(02:05):
and so the idea of making it about an eighteen
year old started coming together, you know. So now when
we would do a sound check, we would come up
with lyrics that we thought would fit that concept. Now.
Of course, Alice polished it and really brought it home
(02:26):
and Rosalie Trombley worked at c KLW. They called her
the Girl with the Golden Ear. I think I think
there was even songs written about her. Yeah, Bob Seger
I believe wrote it. But anyway, so Rosalie Trombley is
(02:48):
the one that started playing it. Now. I hadn't seen
her for years, decades after the whole thing happened because
Klew was right across the river from Detroit. But since
they were in Canada, they didn't have the restrictions on
the power of their transmitter, so they could blast the
(03:11):
entire Midwest of America and Canada like Wolfman Jack did
out of Mexico when he started. But so now years later,
I'm in a bar in a hotel, late at night
in Phoenix, Arizona. It was an event the town of
(03:31):
Phoenix was giving an award to Alice and his wife
for community service. But now it's late at night and
everything's closed and I'm hungry and I'm in the bar
trying to figure out what I can get to eat,
and this guy comes over and says, are you Dennis
don Away and said yeah, I said, my mom is
Rosalie Trombley. I said what, and he said, she's over here.
(03:52):
She wants to know if you want to have a drink. Sure,
you know so Rosalie as he's giant Martine. So I
have one of those. And I said, okay, I finally
get to talk to you. And I said, so, how
did this come about. What made you think that I'm
eighteen was a hit? She said, the lyrics, She said,
(04:14):
before it even got to the chorus, I knew it
was a hit. And then she said, she started playing
it and about day three, all of the other disc
jockeys came into her booth while she was on the
air and said, wait, you know, we don't think you
(04:35):
should be playing this because this band is the Chicken
Killers and all of that. And she said, the timing
could not have been more perfect. Every phone was ringing
off the hook with requests for I'm eighteen, and when
they saw that, they said, oh, okay, go ahead and
play it.
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of Booked on Rock.
Our guest is rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dennis Dunaway,
bassist for the legendary Alice Cooper group, who just recently
released their first studio album together in over fifty years.
I believe it's fifty two years exactly the revenge of
Alice Cooper, the showmanship, the shock value, and then you
(00:21):
combine that with these songs that are just bonifide now classics,
like I'm eighteen. That's a song and you write about
how that becomes the most requested song in the history
of CKLW, which is in Windsor, Ontario, and that station
helped to establish the band in the Detroit Windsor market.
Was released in I think on this month in nineteen
(00:43):
seventy and you say they played it every fifth song.
It was the heaviest rotation outside of the Beatles. And
it's a song that really stood out to Bob Ezrin
when he saw you guys play live. He thought it
was I'm Edgy. But talk about how that song came together.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
You know, I'm Edgie isn't bad, yeah, But the reason
it was I'm eighteen is because this song came from
a jam that Michael had, like, you know, the chords,
and when we would do a sound check at a
you know, tiny club or whatever, we would just jam
(01:20):
on that and then we would each of us would
come up to the microphone and do a funny verse.
We'd just make stuff up, but it was just to
warm up. And then at one point the band was
at Warner Brothers and we were talking to one of
the A and R guys and we saw this chart
on the wall, and we're saying, so, wait a minute,
(01:41):
who's the what age is the biggest record buying age?
And he said, hands down, eighteen years old because most
of them are still living at home, they don't have
to pay rent, and they've got money in their pockets.
So so we said, okay, well we can relate to
that because we all met when we were in high school,
(02:05):
and so the idea of making it about an eighteen
year old started coming together, you know. So now when
we would do a sound check, we would come up
with lyrics that we thought would fit that concept. Now.
Of course, Alice polished it and really brought it home
(02:26):
and Rosalie Trombley worked at c KLW. They called her
the Girl with the Golden Ear. I think I think
there was even songs written about her. Yeah, Bob Seger
I believe wrote it. But anyway, so Rosalie Trombley is
(02:48):
the one that started playing it. Now. I hadn't seen
her for years, decades after the whole thing happened because
Klew was right across the river from Detroit. But since
they were in Canada, they didn't have the restrictions on
the power of their transmitter, so they could blast the
(03:11):
entire Midwest of America and Canada like Wolfman Jack did
out of Mexico when he started. But so now years later,
I'm in a bar in a hotel, late at night
in Phoenix, Arizona. It was an event the town of
(03:31):
Phoenix was giving an award to Alice and his wife
for community service. But now it's late at night and
everything's closed and I'm hungry and I'm in the bar
trying to figure out what I can get to eat,
and this guy comes over and says, are you Dennis
don Away and said yeah, I said, my mom is
Rosalie Trombley. I said what, and he said, she's over here.
(03:52):
She wants to know if you want to have a drink. Sure,
you know so Rosalie as he's giant Martine. So I
have one of those. And I said, okay, I finally
get to talk to you. And I said, so, how
did this come about. What made you think that I'm
eighteen was a hit? She said, the lyrics, She said,
(04:14):
before it even got to the chorus, I knew it
was a hit. And then she said, she started playing
it and about day three, all of the other disc
jockeys came into her booth while she was on the
air and said, wait, you know, we don't think you
(04:35):
should be playing this because this band is the Chicken
Killers and all of that. And she said, the timing
could not have been more perfect. Every phone was ringing
off the hook with requests for I'm eighteen, and when
they saw that, they said, oh, okay, go ahead and
play it.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.