My Pal Alice Cooper

I first became aware of Alice Cooper through the older kids in my neighborhood. It was 1969 and I was hanging out with a couple of friends when one put the recently released LP Pretties For You on the turntable. The first several tracks sounded interesting but not unique as the psychedelic sound was common in the late 60s. When the 5^th track, Living, played, it captured my attention and I asked the name of the artist. When he said, “Alice Cooper,” I replied, “never heard of her,” which got laughs from the room. I was then told that this was the debut album of a band named Alice Cooper. No one in the band was actually named Alice Cooper, and that there were no females in the band. OK, I thought, with odd-sounding band names such as Spooky Tooth, Vanilla Fudge and Strawberry Alarm Clock, why couldn’t there be an Alice Cooper? Besides, I was liking what I was hearing.

Their 2^nd album was released a year later. Easy Action didn’t fit any specific music style, and was very different from their debut album. I enjoyed all the tracks on the album, and was beginning to show a real interest in the band. Although the band was named Alice Cooper, the lead singer was never identified in the liner notes of the album, and he slowly began to take on the persona of Alice. By the time the 3^rd album was released, the breakthrough Love it To Death, there was already speculation as to who this guy named Alice Cooper was. It was starting to get a bit confusing to the untrained eye as while the lead singer was Alice Cooper, the band was also called Alice Cooper.

There were many silly rumors spread as to the actual identity of Alice Cooper. My favorite being Alice was a former child actor named Ken Osmond, famous for his portrayal of Eddie Haskell from the early TV hit, Leave it to Beaver. While it wasn’t a stretch that Osmond’s television persona as Eddie Haskell related somewhat to Cooper’s persona, those of us in Los Angeles knew it wasn’t true, as Osmond had become a Los Angeles police officer, and he received quite a bit of press surrounding the fact that Eddie Haskell had become a cop!

Two more LPs in succession, Killer and School’s Out, took the band to new heights as they had become one of Warner Brothers most successful acts. The band’s producer from Love it to Death - forward was Bob Ezrin, who saw through the raw music and theatrics to create an original sound. The band originally hailed from Phoenix, were all high school buddies, and Alice himself turned out to be one Vincent Furnier.  Vince, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, and bassist Dennis Dunaway had attended Cortez High School; drummer Neal Smith attended rival Camelback High; guitarist and keyboardist Michael Bruce attended North High. Cooper fans will know that a high school talent competition in 1964, whereby the guys, under the band name The Earwigs lip syncing to Beatles songs, was the very beginning of what would become Alice Cooper. They would struggle with little success as The Spiders and Nazz before relocating to Furnier's birthplace of Detroit, where the Rock n Roll vibe was more akin to their music and style than the reception they were receiving in Los Angeles. Their manager, Shep Gordon, was fond of saying that the band, try as they might for publicity purposes, couldn't get arrested in Los Angeles. 

The band’s metamorphosis from psychedelic to shock rock coincided with their popularity rising to new and glorified levels. Album by album they were increasing their name recognition, and with the on-stage antics (if you are reading this and are a real Cooper fan you know all the stories) bringing in more curious fans, the venues they would play live became more grandiose. Case in point their early tours when they’d hit Los Angeles. Early interest in the band was scant enough that they played The Whiskey A-Go-Go, an iconic yet small nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Beginning with Love it To Death they now could fill the Hollywood Palladium, with a capacity of roughly 4,000. On the School’s Out tour, they played the Hollywood Bowl, and for Billion Dollar Babies, they commanded multiple nights at the Forum.

By the time Billion Dollar Babies was released, I was a huge fan. I bought the LP on the day it was released, played it ad nauseum (not for me, but my parents claimed it made them nauseous), and made plans to attend one of the LA shows. I took my fair share of abuse for liking the band, and it occurred to me that although the band’s shtick was both humorous and ground-breaking, I could absolutely do without it. For me, it was all about the music. If the band removed the make-up, theatrics, and attitude and merely played their songs, I’d be completely happy. I believe that the band's music was so consistently good that there was no need for the theatrics, as some lesser groups use theatrics to compensate for the lack of quality in their music. But Alice Cooper wouldn’t be Alice Cooper without the snakes, gallows, guillotine, and straight jacket, so I accept it.

My 2^nd Cooper show was the Welcome to My Nightmare tour. I was disappointed that Alice Cooper the band was no more. Supposedly a clean break, Cooper purportedly pays the original members of Alice Cooper an annual royalty for the use of the name. If this is in fact true, it reflects the character of the former Vincent Furnier. If it’s false, then par-for-the-course in the entertainment business. The fact that it appears the original living band members (Glen Buxton died in 1997) are still friendly to this day suggests the former is true.

Cooper was now on his own, but he had a lot going for him with the success of the Welcome properties which included the LP, a world tour, and a prime-time TV special. He also did extremely well replacing his pals in the band. Had he asked me (and he didn’t), I would’ve kept the band together, but if it had to be this way, then Alice hit it out of the park!

Another favorite artist, Lou Reed, had assembled a band for a tour that would yield the fabulous live album, Rock n Roll Animal. Cooper, suddenly in need of a full band, hired those players; Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, Prakash John, and Pentti Glan stepped in to fill the shoes of the original band without missing a beat. Guitarist Steve Hunter would have an association with Cooper through Paranormal, Cooper’s latest release in 2017.

It’s well documented that Cooper experienced alcohol and substance addiction around this time. The next nine LP’s produced very little interest for me, and I started listening less and less to the old favored recordings. Even Alice has said very publicly that there was a span of three LPs that he can't even recall recording, and he barely could remember their songs. The three, Flush The Fashion, Special Forces, and Zipper Catches Skin, speak for themselves. I recall telling friends when asked why I had so little interest in Cooper’s solo work that I was really more of an Alice Cooper Band fan than Alice Cooper the solo artist. Shows came and went without me considering attending. Then in 1989 he released Trash, followed two years later with Hey Stoopid, and it appeared the Alice Cooper that we knew and loved had returned.

Hey Stoopid, was a solid release, easily at that point his best album since Welcome in 1975. Tracks like Feed My Frankenstein, Snakebite, and the title cut gave Cooper fans the sense that he was back with a vengeance. Clean and sober for several years, the future for Alice Cooper appeared as bright as it had upon the release of Love it To Death, twenty years earlier. The track Wind Up Toy continued the Steven saga from Welcome. This was the vaudevillian Cooper we hadn’t seen for nearly two decades! Welcome back, Alice.

Alice took a 3-year break from recording and followed up Hey Stoopid with The Last Temptation, another strong release with such gems as Lost In America, Sideshow, and Nothing’s Free. It would be six years between The Last Temptation and Brutal Planet, which brings the Cooper story to the new millennium. He’d been performing now for 31 years, was 52 years old, had lots of irons in the fire (golf, charities, radio show, licensing deals), so it wasn’t a stretch to consider that Cooper may be slowing things down from a recording / performing standpoint. But the decade would witness four LP’s, highlighted by The Eyes of Alice Cooper (2003) and Dirty Diamonds (2005), once again proving that Alice Cooper was indeed satisfying his legions of fans.

 His keen sense of humor was as sharp as ever with three extremely clever and hilarious tunes – The Song That Didn’t Rhyme, Perfect, and The Ballad of Jessie Jane – from this period. The end of the decade put Alice in his early 60s. He had clearly reached the pinnacle of success by any measurement. If Alice produced nothing more and retired, the discography and the memories of the live shows would suffice for me with no complaint.

In 2011 it was announced that Alice and Bob Ezrin would once again work together on a release titled Welcome 2 My Nightmare. Although I didn’t know what to expect, the original Welcome was a great album, included in my Cooper Top 5, and with Ezrin back producing, it had to be good. Would it continue the story from the 1975 concept album, or would the release be completely fresh?  Pre-release press indicated the living members of the original band would be featured on multiple songs; Steve Hunter continued his 40-year association with Cooper, playing lead guitar on nearly every track; and a duet was teased with a special guest female artist, which turned out to be Ke$ha.

To call Welcome 2 good is a serious understatement. It’s actually a great recording, returning Cooper to the glory of the band years. Every track is worthy of attention, and Cooper’s patented humor shows through on nearly every song. Alice has always been a student of Rock n Roll, and his ability to emulate style is strongly evident, not only on the covers he's performed, but also on this release as he channels Bob Dylan (A Runaway Train), The Beatles (The Congregation) and the Stones (I’ll Bite Your Face Off). Welcome 2 was Cooper’s highest charting release since 1989’s Trash. Bob Ezrin’s contribution is as obvious here as it was on the band’s mid-career recordings. He’s a genius, and if Shep Gordon, Cooper’s effervescent manager from day one was considered the sixth member of the Alice Cooper Band, then Ezrin holds claim to member number seven. I have nicknamed this album “Play it To Death,” a tongue-in-cheek salute to my favorite Cooper LP, Love it to Death, but also an indictment on how much I’ve listened to it since its release. It's number two on my list of favorite Cooper LPs.

L- R, Michael Bruce, Alice, Dennis Dunaway, Steve Hunter, Neal Smith
at the 2011 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies

Last summer, Cooper released the 27^th album of his career, titled Paranormal. Still vegging out on Welcome 2, I was looking forward to it, but held no expectation for this LP. I assumed I would enjoy it, but if it proved to be a less-than-stellar, so be it. No complaints from me at this point in Cooper’s career. He was months away from turning 70, and his legacy as one of my very favorite performers was etched in gold. As press came out on the upcoming release, it was revealed that Bruce, Dunaway, and Smith would once again participate, as would special guests Larry Mullen, Jr (U2), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), and Roger Glover (Deep Purple). Steve Hunter’s guitar would be prominent on several songs. As with Welcome 2, many songs were laugh-out-loud hilarious, especially Genuine American Girl and Private Public Breakdown. My favorite track on the album is Fireball.

My eldest child, sequestered for years in the backseat of my car, tied to a child's car seat and later a seat belt, was force-fed my music, including a lot of Alice Cooper, as we ran errands back in the day. For many years I wasn't concerned about inappropriate lyrics; she was that young when she started listening to Alice. She enjoyed the music and has, in her own right, become a pretty big fan. Having had seen Cooper live, I looked for an opportunity for us to see Alice together. Our plan to attend the Dirty Diamonds tour in Vancouver was semi-aborted, as after purchasing tickets a last-minute business obligation precluded me from being able to attend. I was happy she was able to see the show, but disappointed that we didn’t get the opportunity to see Cooper together. This would be rectified.

In early 2017 it was announced that Alice Cooper would be touring the World; the closest stop to the Bay Area would be a show in June at a large casino-resort in the Sacramento area. Since my daughter’s birthday is in June, I figured I’d get a pair of seats and invite her down for a weekend birthday celebration. We’d correct the Vancouver blunder of 12 years earlier and see Cooper together! I went to the Cooper website to confirm the date and ticket availability, and noticed a “meet & greet” element to the ticket offerings. For a ridiculous amount of money, we’d get a 2^nd row center seat to the concert, a few pieces of swag (tote bag, lanyard, poster, and set list), but most importantly, we’d get to meet Alice. With this opportunity presenting itself, and being a purveyor of a bucket list that included the line “Meet Alice Cooper,” there was no way I’d let the occasion pass.

The show, on a Friday night in Lincoln, California, would severely test the degree of our fanaticism for Alice Cooper. The plan was to pick up my daughter at San Jose International at 1:30 p.m. and immediately set out for the Sacramento area, arriving at the resort no later than 5:00 p.m, giving us ample time to park, eat, check-in, receive our swag, and get directions on when / where / how we’d meet Alice. The distance between the airport and the venue is roughly 150 miles, so planning a three-and-a-half-hour trip should’ve given us plenty of margin for traffic. No exaggeration whatsoever, we arrived at the venue right as the clock struck 7:00 p.m. It took us five-and-a-half hours to crawl the 150 miles to the show, through snarling Bay Area traffic in triple digit heat! As we arrived, we had our tickets, but only vague instructions to pick up our swag and directions at a specific box office window, which happened to be closed when we arrived.

Luckily for us Skid Row was the opening act that we had no interest in seeing. We had a half hour before they went on stage, but no clue who to speak with about the meet & greet logistics. After failing to get our questions answered at the gate, from various security personnel and at the Cooper merchandise tent, we went to the backstage entrance and told our woeful tale to the young security guard stationed there. He completely understood and was immediately empathetic to our situation, leaving his post to go backstage and find someone from Cooper’s staff that could help. Within moments he returned with Amber, not only Cooper’s jack-of-all-trade assistant, but also as it turned out, a bit player in the show. I figured I’d need to explain to her what we’ve now explained to about six different personnel, but she came to the stage door with our totes in-hand, filled with the promised swag, and she explained the logistics for meeting Alice, all over the loud, wretched tones of Skid Row. Disaster diverted!

Amber explained that directly after the show we would meet her at the stage door. Once all the meet & greet participants were accounted for, we would be lead to the backstage area to meet Alice. Possessing these details, we could now relax and enjoy the show. The show was outstanding, although given the opportunity to dictate the set list I’d have substituted easily half the songs, but it’s Alice’s world, we just get to live in it, so it was all good. Being on top of the stage presented opportunities to tussle over plastic canes that Alice threw into the crowd (lost one to the fan sitting to my right as my daughter and I were doused by a beer from the guy behind us attempting to make the same grab), and to observe the tight stage-management of the show and the various signals and prompts the band members gave one another. Cooper, as is always the case, never broke character on stage.

We assembled at the stage door and waited for Amber to lead us backstage. The Cooper tour is an impressive business enterprise; Amber snaked us (no pun intended) through the staging area which included three semi-trucks and three tour buses. Although the show had just finished within the last 30 minutes, the crew was hard at work, breaking down the elaborate stage and lighting while we waited patiently, single file in a line, to meet Alice. Amber then gave us the particulars: wait your turn, take as much time as you need within reason, no cellphone pictures as they employ their own photographer, and no calling your Mom on your cellphone to speak to Alice. This was all done in the spirit of efficiency as there were probably 40 people there to meet Alice, and the meet & greet didn't begin until about 10:45 p.m. My daughter and I were about 5^th in line.

As we entered the all-purpose room backstage, Alice was sitting behind a table with multiple color Sharpies stacked in front of him. The background was a banner advertising the venue. He had changed out of his stage garb and was simply wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He nursed a can of Sprite. I watched intently as the first few people approached the table. It appeared to me that if you had nothing to say to Alice, he would be silent in kind, but he autographed all requested items and posed for multiple pictures. I mentioned to my daughter that the fans in front of us appeared intimidated by his presence. One gentleman never uttered a word beyond thanking Alice for the time and signature.

I was next in the queue. Never being star struck, I approached Alice in the same fashion I would approach a friend. I would not let the limited time pass without a significant chat. I told Alice that it was a pleasure - a bucket list item really - to meet him. I introduced myself as Steve, but informed him that only three people had permission to call me Steven; my parents and him! This produced laughter and a wide smile! He said to me, "so you're Steven?" I then told him that I felt he’d been a presence in my life since childhood. I specifically mentioned hearing Pretties for You for the first time, telling him that "you guys had me at Living." Another positive reaction; smiles and the comment that it was a long time ago. I told him that my daughter, who now joined us, and I took a trip to Phoenix and were hoping to catch him the night we dined at Cooperstown, his sports-themed restaurant downtown. He laughed when I told him that he didn't show. Also told him that we, purely by chance, had driven right by Cortez High School. Trying to be funny, I quietly sang him a line from the School Out song, Alma Mater, slightly changing the lyrics to indicate that Miss Axelrod WAS impressed, because we found Cortez High; “Now I don't think Miss Axelrod was much impressed,” knowing that Miss Axelrod was indeed a real teacher back in his day at Cortez High. Alice lit up like a Christmas tree! He said to me, “can you believe that Axelrod is still alive? She’s gotta be like 200 years old!”

With that I thanked Alice, moved away from the table giving my daughter her time to monopolize him. Her experience was as rewarding as mine. As we left the backstage area and walked to our car we were enthralled at what a truly nice man he is. Our interaction with him was casual, engaging, and he and his staff gave no impression that we’d be rushed through the process. I had read several accounts on the web of previous meet & greet encounters with Alice, and each one gave the indication that Alice not only has real respect for his fans, but is a genuinely friendly and an easy-going guy. This is exactly what we experienced. Far from what he'd want you to believe about the on-stage Alice Cooper. If you would treasure an opportunity to meet Alice, then seriously look into his meet & greet ticket packages. It's pricey, but worth it!

Cooper now goes to fairly great lengths to distance Alice Cooper on-stage from Alice Cooper offstage. He’s gone as far as to call the on-stage persona a “character” or a “role;” an analogy that a  Clown doesn’t wear a funny red nose when the Circus isn’t in session. In other words, he’s an entertainer with a unique niche, period. For my parent’s generation to fear Alice Cooper, really believing him to be a danger to the youth of America was as ridiculous then as it is now.

Alice is 70 years old, a grandfather, a card-carrying member of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and an addicted golfer who literally can play every day. He has nothing more to prove to anyone. Have I seen the last tour? Apparently not, because my youngest daughter, who also loves Alice Cooper, and I attended a show this week in San Jose. Nearly identical to the 2017 tour, two songs from Paranormal were substituted from last year’s set list. Still, a great show!  I’m realistic enough to think that it's possible this may be the last time I see Alice live, as neither of us are getting any younger. And at nearly 62, I’m far from the oldest person at his shows as I was only 12 when I discovered the band. I saw fans easily in their mid-late 70s.

Alice Cooper Concert, August 14, 2018, City National Civic, San Jose, CA

Alice Cooper has been a constant in my life since 1969, which isn’t exactly yesterday. I was in the 7^th grade, the same grade my youngest is entering next week. Alice is my pal whether he knows it or not, but based upon his genuinely affable personality, all who have met him probably feel the same way. Friends have come and gone, band mates have come and gone, but Alice remains, and I remain loyal. With the proverbial gun to my head (or more appropriate, with my head in the guillotine) I give you my Alice Cooper Top 5 LPs and Top 15 songs:

Albums

1.       Love it To Death (1971)

2.       Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011)

3.       School’s Out (1972)

4.       Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

5.       Welcome To My Nightmare (1975)

Songs

1.       Desperado (Killer)

2.       Caught in a Dream (Love it To Death)

3.       Luney Tune (School’s Out)

4.       I’ll Bite Your Face Off (Welcome 2 My Nightmare)

5.       No More Mr. Nice Guy (Billion Dollar Babies)

6.       Black Widow (Welcome To My Nightmare)

7.       Ballad of Dwight Fry (Love it To Death)

8.       Steven (Welcome To My Nightmare)

9.       I’m 18 (Love it To Death)

10.   Nothing’s Free (The Last Temptation)

11.   Living (Pretties For You)

12.   Caffeine (Welcome 2 My Nightmare)

13.   Halo of Flies (Killer)

14.   Shoe Salesman (Easy Action)

15.  Snakebite (Hey Stoopid)