Alice Cooper happens to be one of my favourite artists of all time. Growing up, my dad was a huge fan, and I have fond memories of dancing around the living room to “Welcome to My Nightmare”. He’s one of the most important figures in rock music, and has shaped much of the imagery and attitude of the heavy metal music we love so much.
I’ve seen him perform twice, once at a two-day festival Rock2Wgtn, where he stole the show from the other performers with a realistic hanging. The last time was in my city, Auckland, when he was touring his Welcome 2 My Nightmare album, and I was right up the front, only a few feet from one of my idols.
Since we’re all going a little Alice-mad over at LippyHQ, and because you’ve only got a few days left to enter the competition to WIN FREE Alice Cooper tickets, I thought it would be fun to entertain you all with a few Alice Cooper quotes and trivia.
“From the moment I leave my house or my hotel room, the public owns me. The public made Alice Cooper and I can’t imagine ever turning my back on my fans.”
His album Love It To Death was recalled so designers could airbrush out Alice’s thumb from the cover, since the label received complaints that it resembled a penis.
Although he was born Vincent Damon Furnier, in 1974 he legally changed his name to Alice Cooper.
Alice’s first record deal came about after he discovered where Frank Zappa lived. Cooper took his band over to Zappa’s house at 7 in the morning, set up in Zappa’s yard and started playing. When Zappa came out and demanded to know what was going on, Alice said, “The band will continue playing until you do one of two things: give us a record deal or call the police.” Luckily for Alice, Zappa chose the former.
“He (Marilyn Manson) has a woman’s name and wears makeup. How original.”
Alice Cooper is an obsessive golfer, playing 6 days a week if he can. He’s played in a number of Pro-Am competitions and hosts his own annual celebrity golf tournament, with the proceeds going to his charity, the Solid Rock Foundation.
“I appreciate an audience that reacts to the music, even if they jump on stage and try to beat us up, I think that’s a fantastic reaction. I think that they’re really hearing something then.”
Starting in 2004 Alice Cooper hosted a radio show called “Nights with Alice Cooper” that was broadcast across in over 100 stations across the US and Canada.
The magician James Randi designed many of Alice Cooper’s stage props, including the famous guillotine, and the magician often appeared on stage in early performances as the executioner.
Alice Cooper co-founded the notorious drinking club, The Hollywood Vampires.
In 1978, Alice Cooper performed “Welcome to My Nightmare”, “You and Me”, and “School’s Out” on the Muppet Show, and played one of the devil’s henchmen attempting to dupe Kermit and Gonzo into selling their souls.
In 1994 Alice Cooper released an album called The Last Temptation, a concept album based on a three-part comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and released concurrently with the album.
At the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival show in 1969, a fan threw a live chicken on stage. Alice, who came from Detroit and wasn’t familiar with farm animals, generally didn’t realise that chickens can’t fly. He threw the bird in the air, assuming it would fly off to safety. Instead, it fell straight down into the mosh pit, where the fans tore it to pieces and threw the bits back on stage. Newspaper headlines later claimed Alice had bitten the head off the chicken and drank its blood. Frank Zappa advised Cooper not to correct them.
Readers, what other Alice Cooper trivia can you share (in the comments)?
Special thanks to AliceCooper.com (the official website of Alice Cooper) for article images.
Who am I?
I’m Steff. Born in New Zealand, raised on a steady diet of metal and out-of-print archaeology books, I’m now a freelance writer, accessible formats producer, and full-time iron maiden.
You can keep up to date with all the metal madness at my Steff Metal blog. I update 4 times a week with reviews, articles, advice and silliness about living the metal lifestyle. And, for alternative biz owners, I run a creative business community for the dark side at Grymm & Epic.