Last night I saw iconic rock star Alice Cooper in concert. Of course, this was the third time I’ve seen him live, but it still contains a certain amount of wonder each time. He puts on a wonderful live show, full of theatrics, which culminate in him cutting off his own head in a guillotine. It rules. And the crazy part of it all is, that at the time of this writing, he’s 75 years old. Almost 80 and he’s still on stage singing for an hour and a half. I’m only 30 and sometimes it’s game over when I stand up too fast. But not Alice.
I can’t remember what it was that attracted me to Alice Cooper, I was a college kid when I got into his music. Maybe it was his presentation, the eye make up does look kind of familiar, hm…but I think it was his lyrics. He’s got songs that shock and awe and capture the darker sides of humanity, but not in a cliche or overdone kind of way. Plus he just rocks. I think he captured my imagination when I was younger, singing about things that no other rock star was singing about.
Being born as Vincent Furnier, probably nobody could have imagined that he would grow up to be the king of shock rock. I guess it goes to show you that you can’t judge someone by their name. Even though I’m totally judging his name as a square. But his legal name is now Alice Cooper so it’s all good. He started rocking in 1964 and never stopped. Of course he wasn’t always Alice Cooper. At first, Alice Cooper was just the band name. Eventually he assumed the name Alice Cooper as a personality to lead the band. Now he IS the band!
I just counted, and it looks like this man has, with his band or as a solo artist, 27 albums under the name Alice Cooper. That blows my mind. I don’t have 27 anything. I’m 30 and I don’t even have 27 years to show! But you most likely know some of his work. “School’s Out,” “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” “Poison,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” “Feed My Frankenstein,” I could literally go on and on about his work, because not only did I see it live in concert last night, I’ve been streaming it directly into my brain for a good week and a half now. I get into moods.
He is, as I call him, the Master of Macabre Music. And, though technically he doesn’t have much to do with the screen, although he has appeared in some projects (most famously probably being Wayne’s World, he did also work with Vincent Price once. That was cool.
Anyway, I know this post isn’t anything about an old horror movie, but sometimes that can’t be helped. When there’s swords and decapitation and snakes and leather and eye make up, well, The Count is there! Alice Cooper has been an influence on me in the music and outside of it, so I had to sit and write a quick little ode to one of my heroes of horror.
So, welcome to his nightmare. I think you’re gonna like it.
It Came from the Screen 