I will be perfectly honest: I've never been to an Alice Cooper
concert, and I don't really want to go to one. I have the feeling it
could be quite a traumatic experience--though not because of the
theatrics that take place on stage. I can deal with Alice himself;
it's the audience that makes me nervous.
I've actually never been particularly intimidated by the whole
Alice Cooper image--it's difficult to be truly frightened of someone
you first saw surrounded by Muppets. That's right, my first-ever
exposure to him was when he guest-starred on an episode of the Muppet
Show, and he was obviously having such a good time doing it that I
think I decided right then and there that however much of a "freako"
he was (that bit with him and Sam the Eagle is utterly hysterical) he
couldn't be all bad.
I didn't give him much thought beyond that, however, until we
got--yep, you guessed it--VH-1 Classic. They kept playing the video
for "Welcome To My Nightmare," and then the one for "Poison," and
when my hubby admitted that he wanted a copy of at least the former
song, I decided it was time to go ahead and buy a few CD's. We ended
up with a greatest-hits collection (The
Definitive Alice Cooper) plus Trash
and Hey Stoopid, and all
three were quite worthwhile purchases. (Though I suppose that
selection may mark me as a "lightweight" fan...) Anyway, despite
seeing him on the Muppet Show, I don't think I had quite grasped
before I actually listened to these albums just what a sense of humor
this man really has. I was only starting to get an idea of the
division between "Alice the man" and "Alice the rock star" at that
point, and I guess I had sort of assumed that the humor belonged
mainly to the former, and anything he did while performing was going
to be heavy and creepy and all that. So I was surprised but pleased to
find that this was not at all the case--sure, there are serious songs
on his records, and creepy ones, but there are also a lot with moments
that are just laugh-out-loud funny.
I was intrigued enough after that to start doing a bit of research on
him and his career, and it's really pretty interesting stuff. Probably
no other single individual has had so much influence on the look of
rock as Alice Cooper, or on the way it's presented to an audience; he
was doing theatrical rock before Bowie and makeup before Kiss, and the
number of bands who count him among their influences is literally
mind-boggling. Before Alice, rock and theater were two completely
separate arenas, and never the twain shall meet--but these days, it's
more difficult to find a group who doesn't
include some kind of theatrics in their stage act, even if it's
only a projection screen or a light show. I'm also particularly
intrigued by the split personality he's cultivated over the years:
Ghoulish villain onstage, and husband, father, restauranteur, and avid
golfer in everyday life. (That kind of person-VS-performer duality is
a phenomenon which I suspect is really quite widespread in the entire
entertainment industry, but it's easier to study in him because the
differentiation between his personas is so sharp.) And he definitely
deserves credit for beating alcoholism the way he's done--there are so
many stars who fall into that trap and never manage to get back out.
And, well, he's hot. No, really! I do tend to prefer him sans his
signature eye makeup, not to mention the fake blood and live snakes,
but if you can catch him without all that (and when he's not making
bizarre grimaces at the camera) he has a sort of Jareth-like bad-boy
quality that I'd bet sets more hearts than just mine aflutter. And
you've got to admit, there's not many men his age who can still wear
black leather that well...
[on his
alter-ego] "I make Alice my own favorite rock star. I want my
favorite rock star to have a sword. I want him to look kind of gothic.
But I want him to be kind of arrogant, I want him to be kind of funny,
I want him to be kind of gaunt, you know, I want him to be
unpredictable. Lots of energy. Sort of a villain, but a likeable
villain. If I watch TV and I think I like that guy better than Alice,
I'm in real trouble, so I keep changing Alice. You know, I put a little
Basil Rathbone in him, a little Errol Flynn. Every now and then someone
new will come along: there's a little Clockwork Orange in Alice. I keep
developing him all the time."
[on the
change in his stage persona over the years] "The early Alice
was much more of a victim. He was psychotic in a different way. A lot
of it has to do with your mental posture, how you feel
about yourself, and I wasn't exactly feeling great about myself a lot
of the time. I think now I feel really good about myself, so you find
Alice with his shoulders back and much more in command."
[on his
alcoholic period] "I was the Dean Martin of rock 'n' roll. I
was a really nice, happy drunk. Always on a little buzz. Never mean,
never missed a show or interview. Very professional. But it stopped
being fun and it became medicine... I used to have a very large whiskey
and Coke just to wake up and a bottle to get into costume and go on
stage. It was stupid. It just sneaks up on you. I realised I had a
problem when I started going into the bathroom to throw up blood. It's
OK to throw up fake blood on stage, but when the Holiday Inn maid is
the only one seeing it, it is very tough."
[on being
one of rock's "elder statesmen"] "I'm 49 and I have more energy now on
stage than I did 20 years ago. And I think, well, that's not right. I
should be too tired and old to do this. But when I'm on stage I feel
great."
"...As
long as I'm sleek with long, black hair and can still do an hour and a half of
high-energy rock 'n' roll, I'll keep doing it."
"Love can
certainly be trashy, but sex definitely is. There's no such
thing as clean sex if you're doing it right."
[on his current crop of imitators]
Interviewer: You're regarded as
the father of shock-rock, and the man
upon whose shoulders the likes of Marilyn Manson stand. But most of
those people seem to not be having any fun.
Alice: Boy, did you hit it on the head. The only person out there who's
having any fun with this is Rob Zombie. And it's clear when you listen
to his albums, and when you see his show, that he's having a great
time. And the other people look like they're just tortured souls up
there, and you go, you know, "Guys! Lighten up! The image is heavy and
everything, but you don't have to really be that." These guys are
trying to live their lives the way their image is, and I'm going... The
idea behind rock 'n' roll is joy. It's joyful music. It's not a
depressing thing. You know, the big difference between an Alice Cooper
show and a lot of the shows you're talking about--I won't specifically
say anyone--is that I always left the audience on an upper. I left them
inspired rather than... They walk away going, "Wow, I've got confetti
in my hair and Alice has got a white tuxedo on, and he just did
'School's Out,' and balloons are popping." And then they remember back,
and they go, "Wow, he did a thing with a baby carriage, and he did
this, and then he got his head cut off. What a great night!" [laughs]
They always walked out with big smiles on their faces. Whereas I know a
lot of people walk out [of shows now], and they go, "Wow, my life is
over."
"Let's
face it, politics and religion are boring. They're dead
subjects. Most people don't really care about them. The only things
that matter to people are death, sex and money. So we write songs
mostly concerning those subjects."
"Malevolence with majesty, yeah, that's our Alice these days."
--Steffan Chirazi on the Trash-era Alice Cooper, Kerrang! magazine
[on his
appearance on the Muppet Show] "You know, at the time, I felt
that the Muppets were... The reason they
got away with everything was because it wasn't a black against a white;
it was a green against a purple, you know? So nobody could really be
insulted by the ambiguousness of what they were doing. It was these
furry little things, and they were very hip. And I thought, you know,
Vincent Price had done the show, and I looked around at everybody who
had done the show, and they wanted me to do this Halloween episode. And
I said, 'Well, that's perfect. I watch the show all the time and I
think it's probably the hippest show on television. Absolutely. I'd
love to do that.'"
"I think rock needs more characters."
[on the
song "Hey Stoopid," the proceeds from the single of which went
to a suicide prevention charity] "Alice has avoided saving the trees or
the whales, because there are a lot of competent people who have dedicated
themselves to that. Nobody would believe us because Alice has not got
the image of Mr. Charity. I am very sympathetic to all those causes but
you'd have kids saying: 'Come on, what's Alice doing, saving the
frogs?' I started hearing about the statistics of teenage suicide, so
'Hey Stoopid' is a real message. If I was talking to you, and you said,
'I'm gonna kill myself,' I'd say, 'Hey stupid, what are you doing?' I'm
not going to wag my finger and say 'Now now now!' because I would be
acting like a parent then. I'd sooner talk to them on their terms, on a
rock, street level. The songs says 'Hey, stoopid, what are you trying
to do?' Their way is so damn permanent, there must be a better way...
If Alice is gonna take a stand, instead of saving the trees he'd sooner
save the rockers!"
"After
working with Jason from the Friday
The 13th movies, I saw a
little bit of myself in him. He can be cool, a nice guy, but when he
becomes Jason, he's gone. You can't even kid with him between takes.
He's a real psycho, he's so real. Believe me, if more people had the
outlet that Jason and I have in our fantasies, this world would be a
whole lot better off."
[on his
stage show] "It's not supposed to change your life. It's rock and roll."
[on his
relationship with his children] "It is a very interesting
juxtaposition between Alice and me as a father. I'm a very good dad.
They sometimes come to me and say, 'Dad, you don't understand.' I just
turn to them and say, 'I designed your generation. Black lipstick,
that's me you know.' I am not an embarrassing dad, they think I'm
pretty cool."
