For his new concept album, "Along Came a Spider," Alice Cooper wanted to create a serial killer people could, well, like.

"It's very easy to pull for a fictitious serial killer, a Hannibal Lecter or a Jason Voorhees," he said. The album, released this week, introduces us to Spider, who wraps his victims in silk that matches their eye colors and cuts off one of their legs to create his own arachnoid appendage. "I don't think anyone was ever cheering for Ted Bundy or Richard Speck or anything like that, but when it's a fictitious serial killer, you can get behind him.

"I think he's (Spider's) got a romantic sense. He's got a sense of humor. I think in the end, you kind of like him. You have somebody you could actually listen to and go, I like this guy.' "

Cooper co-produced "Along Came a Spider" with Danny Saber and Greg Hampton, with the 11 tracks played by his touring band. Slash contributes guitar on "Vengeance is Mine," while "Wake the Dead" is co-written with Ozzy Osbourne. Listeners should brace for a plot twist that the singer called "very Alice Cooper."

Cooper, whose previous conceptual epics include "Welcome to my Nightmare," "From the Inside" and "The Last Temptation," is planning a full-fledged stage show to support "Along Came a Spider" but won't have it on the road until 2009. "Right now I've got people that are drawing things up," said Cooper, who'd also like to offer a visual treatment of the album with different horror directors creating videos for each song. "We've started thinking about, What can we do to make this really interesting and what new things can we do with the stage?' I'm going to definitely create a new way for Alice to die, something nobody's seen."

Gym Class Heroes Come Clean' on CD

On 2006's "As Cruel as School Children," Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy's vice of choice was cocaine (hence "Viva la White Girl"). This time around on "The Quilt," due Sept. 9, it's women.

The metaphorical lead single, "Cookie Jar," produced by and featuring The-Dream, and the Estelle-assisted "Innocent" ("I'm guilty till proven innocent," he raps about being unfaithful) are both about McCoy's cheating ways. On "Come Clean," he continues on about infidelity: "Been cheating and this isn't easy for me because you've been so good to me."

But it's not all about disloyalty. On "Kissing Ears" and the Cool and Dre-produced "Live Forever," featuring Daryl Hall, McCoy leaves his playboy ways behind and opts for lust and love. On the Patrick Stump-produced "Catch Me If You Can" and the piano-laden "Like Father Like Son" ("Papa was a rolling stone/but I want to be on the cover of a Rolling Stone"), McCoy rhymes about his music success, while addressing the skeptics on the drum-heavy "Don't Tell Me It's Over."

Additionally, there are tinges of reggae on "Drunk txt Romeo" and "Blinded by the Sun," both produced by Fall Out Boy's Stump. "Peace Sign/Index Now," featuring Busta Rhymes, is a viral promotional track whose video went online July 18.

"As Cruel as School Children" reached No. 8 on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart. The set has sold 519,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan. The single "Cupid's Chokehold" climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

— Billboard