The Uncensored Alice Cooper The Aquarian – Aquarian Weekly

Rock legend talks cancel culture, an artists mission statement, bizarre pre-show rituals, becoming Alice, and all his favorite stuff.

Alice Cooper has been at this shock-rock thing for over half a century, and he has lost nothing off his fastball. I once described The Coops aura as the godfather of a spiteful, sloppy, defiant, obscene, deafening burlesque freak show that cared less for anything healthy and decent than anyone or anything imaginable, and that unhinged cocktail continues to serve as a glaring beacon for fringe kids from six to 60. At this point in his unlikely success story, Alice has become something of a reliable measuring device to see how much the majesty of performance art can challenge the vague parameters of popular music. Ok, maybe thats too much pressure to put on him, but he can take it, just ask him.

I did.

Below is my fifth (or is it sixth?) discussion with Alice, a fun exercise I first experienced in 2009. Unfortunately, due to circumstances hard to fathom now (did anyone say a once-in-a-century pandemic), we have not spoken since 2018. What? That is way too long. There is a nourishing quality to speaking with Cooper that is not available in most rock star chats. When he starts to muse on whatever subject I toss at him, it is still hard to believe that this person/character that first rocked my world at 11 years old, is speaking withme. But there is also comfort in knowing that there is no pretense in Alice Cooper; except, yknow, the character thing. He shoots from the hip about alcoholism, God, vaudeville, horror films, as well as regrets, family, love, and life as easy as he might offer insights into his golf game or the weather.

He is back on the road with a kick-ass band and his sword and hisguillotine and his snake and his songs aboutnecrophilia, spiders, madhouses, thumbing his nose at teachers, damning false preachers, and hammering those parts of our daily construct that need to be taken down a peg or two.

And thank goodness for all of that, and for another few minutes getting inside the mind of Alice Cooper, who does not disappoint again.

Happy belated birthday.

Oh, thank you. 74 never looked so good.

I have always seen you as a cultural barometer both on the fringe and in the mainstream. Considering the high tensions in our culture with political correctness and safe zones on college campuses and the general tone that no one anywhere should be offended,where does Alice come down on this?

You know, its very unusual right now. I think that weve kind of forgotten freedom of speech. I mean, if you dont agree with what is proper now, then you are absolutely blackballed. Youre not allowed to have an opinion anymore. I saw a movie the other day and it was called,No Safe Place, where they were talking to college students and some were saying, If he doesnt agree with what we believe, then he cant speak at our school. And thats missing the point! You have this freedom of speech to affectotherspeech. You can choose to not show up, or dont listen to him, and if you disagree, then you can let him know by booing. But hedoeshave that freedom, thats an American freedom. All of a sudden, we have this faction yelling No! Total intolerance to the point where if he doesnt believe what we believe, he doesnt get to speak, and Im going, What?

At this rate, there wont be any comedy after a while. In the seventies and Ive never had anybody disagree with this, by the way when Mel Brooks was making movies,everybodywas insulted. He didnt leave anybody out, and as a result,everybodywas laughing. We were less racial then than we are now, because now we pinpoint every single word that we say as possibly offensive. It doesnt matter what you say. You can say, Its a nice day, and its an issue. Oh yeah, its a nice day for you, maybe, but not for me! Im offended! What has happened to us? Weve become so politically correct that were almost robots. I believe in being politically correct, but at the same time, I think weve taken it to an extreme now, to the point where were bending so far over that you cant really say anything. Everybodys afraid to talk.

Now that you mentioned Mel Brooks films, there has been, for me, and you helped me get there in my youth, as did George Carlin, Richard Prior, orAll in the FamilyorLaugh-In, this idea that art never need apologize. Art is the way to puncture through social barriers, especially in music, because you do see, even now, in any kind of pop music, performers get away with pushing the envelope more than comedians or filmmakers. So, do you think what you do as a musical artist has more of an impact in this sense?

I think it used to be that way, but, again, I think artists now are afraid to say anything. Honestly, were getting to a point now where everybodys terrified that if you say one thing that sounds a little bit wrong, it hits the papers, and you are blackballed or you are a pariah. So, I think that youre getting to a point now where its getting dangerously close to1984orTHX-1138orFahrenheit 451, where were terrified to say anything. I mean, thats just not America.

I think a lot of people forget what stuff was thrown at you in the seventies. Its great that these days youre performing year after year as a tribute to the fact that you survived all that. But there was a time, and I remember because I was there, where people were genuinely threatened, society at large, was threatened by you, as it was previously with Elvis. I specifically love the Alice character because you encapsulated all the great deviant art forms, rock music, horror, satire, the drag scene, surrealism, you made this vessel that was almost, I want to say, Teflon. You somehow were able to survive all that. How?

You know, I think its just because I dont think I ever meant to hurt anybody. I always kind of saw the absurdity in everything. The same way, I see the absurdity in whats going on now in our society theres an absurdity to it. Its funny. And most people I talk to are actually making fun of this whole thing. You know, again, I truly believe nobody should be bullied. I never did that in my songs or my shows. I just said, Wouldnt it be funny if or Wouldnt it be scary if or Wouldnt it be dramatic if As an artist, youre supposed to challenge the person looking at your art. If not, then its just Hallmark cards. I mean, what artist hasnt challenged the system? Warhol, Dali, even, at the time, Shakespeare challenged the system. He was getting banned all over the place. Artists are supposed to act as a weird balance in society. And yeah, when we do, the audience wants us to speak out and be off center, because were the only ones that will. The audience will tell you, I wish I would have said that! Were allowed to say it because were artists! Were no different than anybody else. Except that we are. We are artists. And I, in my case, if I think about it, as you say, everybody was very wary of Elvis Presley, and then The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, all the time society was going, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! I dont know if I could buy into this. Like you said,All in the Family, and then later,The Simpsons,Family Guy, all the stuff that challenges norms poke fun at it. And yet there was a lot of truths going on in there. This is what we tried to do.

Yeah, the one thing I always loved about the Alice Cooper group and your later work as a solo artist, is you were extremely self-aware of what you were doing. The revolution was built in. I recently read something you posted on Twitter on the anniversary ofBillion Dollar Babies(the Alice Cooper bands 1973 mega hit album) and how its title and theme came from everyone in the group looking at each other and saying, This is crazy. We somehow made it and now were the biggest band in America! This was the kind of irony that was always built into Alice Cooper. You understood the humor from the very beginning of what you were doing.

Well, yeah, if you can substitute that for ego [Laughs]. When we would go on stage, and I still do this with my band, I say, When you go on stage, I want you to be ridiculously egotistical and over the top! Because the audience wants you to be that for them. They want you to be from some other place. They want you to be an Avenger. Because youre on stage with a guitar and an amp and youre singing these songs out here and theyrenot. Theyre listening to it. But I also remind them that when you get off stage, leave all that on stage. So, when they meet you, and they talk to you, they understand the fact that Oh, yeah, well, this ishim. But on stage, Alice is this other thing, you know, he speaks for us, and he makes fun of us, and he brings up things that were afraid to say, but Alice said it. None of this makes the artists any smarter, it just makes us artists. We have a different kind of license.

That reminds me, do you have a pre-show ritual? Do you have something that youve done from the very beginning, when you were in the band, even as far back as the sixties, all the way through your solo career? Because I know youre a sports guy. I could see you having something thats, I dont want to say idiosyncratic, but is there something you always do before you go on stage?

Well, you know, its changed because a lot of situations have changed. The early days, there was no dressing room. [Laughs] You were back behind the stage, just getting ready, and you showed up in your costume and just went on stage! And then it got a little bit more progressive, where, all of a sudden, now that youve made it a little bit, you have a dressing room. So then, it was like, Well, theres actually food back here! And now theres this this whole thing with your rider, you know? Nowadays I have definite idiosyncrasies. When I first get to the venue, I watch nothing but Kung Fu movies.Reallybad ones, though. Im talking about ones made in 1973 and then theres other ones that are just total fantasy ones that are so insane. Ill sit and watch them until Im numb. Then, and only then, do I start getting ready at half an hour, exactly, one half hour before show time. Thats when I start putting the makeup on. Then I start getting dressed, the whole thing. And as soon as I get dressed, I throw knives.

Wait what?

I am an expert knife thrower. In fact, I am in the Knife Throwing Hall of Fame.

Thats fantastic. I did not know this tidbit.

Oh, yeah. The guys that run the Knife Throwing Hall of Fame watched me throw and they put me in there right away. Because I could put 20 knives within a twelve-inch area, easily, with no problem and thats kind of fun. Heres the great thing I put different photos of people in magazines up on the throwing board especially if its a full picture ofanybody, it doesnt matter who it is, they get up on the throwing board. People walk in they go, Wow, why do you hate this person so much? And I have to tell them, Oh, no, no, no, its an honor to be on my throwing board. So, there might be Tom Cruise one night, and then the next night, it might be Betty White, you know, it doesnt really matter. Its just whos ever got the best full-legs picture in a magazine is gonna get up there.

That should be its own Instagram post: The Alice Cooper Knife Board.

Im telling you, its now become like a total pre-show idiosyncrasy, and when Im done with the knives, then I can get ready to go on. I wait for about ten minutes before I finally go on, go into the bathroom, and pray. Thats very essential for me. And at that point, I walk on stage, but Im still not Alice yet. As soon as I hit the stage and I make the appearance, then IbecomeAlice.

You can feel that change?

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Its visceral.

Its this absolute difference in my posture. Theres a difference in my attitude. Theres a difference in justeverything. I take on the Alice Cooper character the same way if I were playing in any Broadway play, you know, youre this guy off stage, but the people want to see Alice Cooper. So, okay, Im the only one that knows how to play that guy, so I will assume all of the Alice Cooper characters, and he will be Alice for two hours and then as soon as I walk off stage, I leave him on stage.

I know you have to get going, so I have a couple of more for you.

Okay. Shoot.

Favorite TV show of all time? I know youre a TV buff, if I had to press you, your favorite TV show is

I loveDexterif youre talking about, you know, Netflix or anything like that. Regular network TV? Wow, I havent really been watching a lot of network TV at all, but probablyGhost Adventures. I watch it because I always believeknow your enemy, so I watch it and kind of take notes [Laughs]. But at the same time I know all those guys, and I tell them, Guys, be careful, I dont think youre dealing with ghosts at all, I think youre dealing with demons. At the same time then if I want to watch something really entertaining, I loveKilling Eve. Also, I started watchingReacher, which is really good, actually, because I read all the books and theyre keeping it accurate to the book. They even finally got a guy that actually looks like Reacher. In the book hes 260 pounds and 67. Tom Cruise didnt quite fit that bill.

Last one, I know youre a car guy. Is there a favorite car youre driving right now? What is Alice Coopers car of choice to tool around on a Sunday afternoon?

Right now, I am driving a DB11 Aston Martin that when you open the door theres a little plaque on the bottom, that says, Built in England for Mr. James Bond.

No shit.

Its the same kind of deal that they were using in the movieSpectre, remember the moveSpectre?

Sure.

I think this is one of the cars that they were using inSpectre. So, the license plate is Spectre 3.

That is the perfect ending to our latest chat. I could talk all night, but instead I thank you, as always, for a little time.

Always great to talk to you because youre creative with this whole thing. Its always fun. Its certainly a lot more fun than answering thenormalquestions [Laughs].

I really appreciate that. Youre my hero. You keep it up.

All right, man. I will.

ALICE COOPER TAKES THE NJPAC STAGE ON TUESDAY, MARCH 22! FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION ON THE SHOW AND THIS TOUR, VISIT HIS WEBSITE!

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The Uncensored Alice Cooper The Aquarian - Aquarian Weekly