Hear Black Keys’ Macabre Alice Cooper Collab ‘Stay in Your Grave’
· Ultimate Classic RockThe Black Keys have released a spooky new rocker titled "Stay in Your Grave" featuring the godfather of shock rock, Alice Cooper.
The song features the Black Keys' signature blues-rock strut and campy, macabre vocals from Cooper. You can watch the music video, which includes a live performance from Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney intercut with classic horror film footage, below.
"Stay in Your Grave" marks the second single from the upcoming, expanded Trophy Edition of the Black Keys' latest album, Ohio Players. It follows "Mi Tormenta," which features the regional Mexican singer-songwriter DannyLux and arrived earlier this month.
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You can see the full Ohio Players (Trophy Edition) track listing below and preorder the set ahead of its Nov. 15 release now.
The Black Keys will continue to promote Ohio Players with a trio of spring 2025 shows in Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Cooper, meanwhile, just completed the latest leg of his Too Close for Comfort headlining tour. Before that, he embarked on the second leg of the Freaks on Parade co-headlining trek alongside fellow shock rocker Rob Zombie.
The Black Keys, 'Ohio Players (Trophy Edition)' Track Listing
1. "This Is Nowhere"
2. "Don’t Let Me Go"
3. "Beautiful People (Stay High)"
4. "On the Game"
5. "Sin City" *
6. "Candy and Her Friends" (feat. Lil Noid)
7. "Read Em and Weep"
8. "I Forgot to Be Your Lover"
9. "Only Love Matters"
10. "Every Time You Leave"
11. "Mi Tormenta" (feat. DannyLux) *
12. "You’ll Pay"
13. "Paper Crown" (feat. Beck and Juicy J)
14. "Live Till I Die"
15. "Stay in Your Grave" (feat. Alice Cooper) *
16. "Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)"
17. "Fever Tree"
18. "I’m With the Band" (feat. Beck) *
* Previously unreleased
11. 'Magic Potion' (2006)
The Black Keys signed with Nonesuch Records – an imprint owned by Warner Bros. – before releasing their fourth album. Despite having that major-label backing, the duo stuck to its DIY ethos, opting to record Magic Potion in Patrick Carney's basement, the same place they'd recorded the first two LPs. Magic Potion was the band's first full-length release comprised entirely of original material. And though the LP retains all of the grit and sludge that runs through their earliest material, its crisper production gives it a more vaguely modern (and blander) feel. So, Magic Potion feels like a growing-pains album, with the band still searching for the right balance between its early style and a more commercially accessible sound.
10. 'Turn Blue' (2014)
The Keys were due for another one of their customary detours into psychedelia, but Auerbach's divorce during the album sessions helped make Turn Blue the most melancholy and pensive album of the band's career. Reteaming with Danger Mouse, Auerbach and Carney flex their songwriting on Turn Blue in ways that feel wholly original while still rooted in classicist soul and funk. Far from the sparse blues-rock foundation they built their sound on, they spread out their songs with plenty of room to build and breathe, leading to an album that feels like it's eternally simmering. The album also often evokes Pink Floyd – like on the trippy "Bullet in the Brain" – which should be proof enough that Turn Blue isn't your typical Black Keys album. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's too removed from their trademark sound to be considered among their quintessential work.
9. 'Let's Rock' (2019)
With their ninth album, the Black Keys delivered exactly what you’d expect of them: powerful blues-rock, scintillating riffs and radio-friendly choruses. So why does Let’s Rock rank so low? Simply put, the album is just more of the same, rather than delivering anything new from the band. Let’s Rock is still a worthy addition to the Black Keys’ catalog and features plenty of highlights - see the swaggering “Lo/Hi” and emphatic “Shine a Little Light." But overall the album is more solid than spectacular.
8. 'The Big Come Up' (2002)
Recorded entirely on 8-track tape in Patrick Carney's basement, the Black Keys' debut is a lo-fi but raw and visceral introduction to the duo and its classicist approach to blues-rock. While garage-rock duos were all the rage in 2002 thanks to the White Stripes, the Keys distinguished themselves by barely updating the sound that influenced them and by coming at the material without much self-referential irony. A mix of eight originals and five covers (including songs by Muddy Waters, R.L. Burnside and the Beatles), The Big Come Up is the Keys completely devoid of pretense – and a rare album from 2002 that sounds like it could've been made in 1962.
7. 'Blakroc' (2009)
Damon Dash, the cofounder of rap label Roc-A-Fella Records, became enamored with the Black Keys' music. The music mogul reached out to Auerbach and Carney and proposed working together. The result is Blakroc, a collaborative LP featuring the Black Keys alongside an array of hip-hop stars. Q-Tip, Ludacris, Pharoahe Monch, Jim Jones and Wu-Tang Clan members RZA and Raekwon were among the rap luminaries to appear on the album. It’s an uneven affair with a few forgettable tracks. But the highs are high - notably, “On the Vista” featuring Mos Def - and the Keys get bonus points for stretching their boundaries with this genre-bending collaboration. In 2011, there were rumors of a second Blakroc installment, with an unauthorized trailer for Blakroc 2 popping up online. The Black Keys admitted that more songs were recorded for the project, but they've yet to be released.
6. 'Delta Kream' (2021)
The Black Keys went back to their roots on Delta Kream, paying tribute to the hill country blues artists who inspired the band. The album is entirely made up of cover songs, with the Keys taking on material originally by John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and more. The LP was reportedly recorded in just 10 hours and finds the duo returning to the raw sound of its early years. Highlights include their takes on "Poor Boy a Long Way From Home" and "Crawling Kingsnake.” A labor of love, Delta Kream is an engaging LP that also earned the Black Keys their 11th Grammy nomination.
5. 'Attack & Release' (2008)
Attack & Release marks an important turning point in the Black Keys' career: their debut collaboration with Danger Mouse. As the story goes, the producer and Ike Turner were working on an album and asked the Black Keys to contribute a few songs. After Turner died in late 2007, Danger Mouse and the Keys decided to continue working together, with Attack & Release as the result. It marked the first time the Black Keys recorded in a professional studio and their first collaboration with an outside producer, and the result displayed unearthed layers within the band. The blues are still here, but so are psychedelia, folk and even a hint of R&B. In Danger Mouse, the Black Keys found a willing conspirator who'd go on to help guide the band toward stardom. That journey began on Attack & Release.
4. 'Thickfreakness' (2003)
Legend has it the Black Keys had to record their second album in Carney's basement just a few days after signing to label Fat Possum because they spent their advance on rent. That was no problem, though – it's where they recorded their debut anyway – and the duo laid down the entire album in one 14-hour session and self-produced it the same day. The result is an exercise in immediacy but one that feels uncannily timeless. Thickfreakness captures the Keys during a very specific era in their career, a time when they were brimming with potential and armed with a more muscular and assured sound than on The Big Come Up.
3. 'El Camino' (2011)
The third collaboration with Danger Mouse in the producer's chair, El Camino is like a jaunt through mid-20th century pop with raucous numbers that evoke everything from rockabilly and surf-rock to glam and soul. Hit songs "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling" are the LP's best-known tracks, but it's the simmering-to-explosive "Little Black Submarines" that really serves as the album's crown jewel. In direct opposition to their first collaboration with Danger Mouse (2008's sprawling Attack & Release), all of the songs on El Camino clock in at less than four minutes and are custom built for maximum impact. Still, it's one of the more diverse entries in the Keys' catalog, and while there's a laundry list of potential distractions (talk boxes, female backing singers), it never detracts from the duo's down-and-dirty drive.
2. 'Rubber Factory' (2004)
For their third album, the Keys were forced to find a new makeshift studio (the building they used for their first two albums was sold by its landlord), so they made their headquarters for four months in an old tire manufacturing plant in Akron – hence the album title. But the location wasn't the only change: Rubber Factory is much more like a cohesive, conceptual album from start to finish than anything they had done before, and the duo stretches its sound in surprising ways – most noticeably on the delicate, slide-guitar ballad "The Lengths." But the good ol' Keys rockers remain and feel heavier, harder and more intricately arranged than their earliest work. Rubber Factory was the band's first album to chart the Billboard 200 (it reached No. 143), but it features Auerbach at the top of his songwriting game as he and Carney reinvent traditional blues-rock structures for the 21st century. While other Keys albums have reached wider acclaim, few feel quite as resonant as this one.
1. 'Brothers' (2010)
For their sixth album, the Black Keys landed at the legendary Alabama studio Muscle Shoals and crafted their mainstream breakthrough, with elements of glam, garage-rock and the blues throughout the LP. “Tighten Up” was the most popular song, but Brothers boasts an abundance of quality tunes. From the pulsating drive of “Howlin’ for You” and the soulful lament of “Next Girl” to the down-home romance of “Everlasting Light” and sleazy swing of “Ten Cent Pistol,” Brothers creates an engrossing world. The album resonated with listeners and critics alike, becoming the Black Keys' first platinum-selling record and earning the duo three Grammy Awards.