Alice Cooper - Wikipedia

Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that February 4 is the anniversary of the birth of American singer, songwriter, and actor Alice Cooper who was born with the much less radical name Vincent Damon Furnier.
I well remember "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out"
Happy 72nd Birthday Alice Cooper.

Images
1. Sheryl Goddard (L) wife of Alice Cooper 2019
2. 1986 Alice Cooper Constrictor album
3. Shock rock king Alice Cooper playing Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall
4. Alice Cooper – Black Stone Cherry

Alice Cooper Bio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIP7pOTPO_0


Biographies:
1. allmusic.com/artist/alice-cooper-mn [login to see] /biography]
2. imdb.com/name/nm0004840/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

"Here's Alice Cooper and the band on hometown TV show "Detroit Tubeworks" in 1971 doing their huge hit "Eighteen." We found the master tapes of over 11 hours from this legendary show which had been stored in a basement in Michigan. Other great guests we found on this underground show from 1968-1973 include MC5, Ted Nugent, Phil Ochs, Commander Cody, Captain Beefheart, Earth, Wind & Fire, Humble Pie, Fleetwood Mac featuring Peter Green and Joe Cocker. Also part of this archive is a 45-minute unseen concert of the Rolling Stones filmed at Olympia Stadium in Detroit on their 1969 tour."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcd6WmGTOQc

1. Background from [https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alice-cooper-mn [login to see] /biography]
"The man (and the band) who first brought shock rock to the masses, Alice Cooper became one of the most successful and influential acts of the '70s with their gritty but anthemic hard rock and a live show that delivered a rock & roll chamber of horrors, thrilling fans and cultivating outrage from authority figures (which made the fans love them all the more). The name Alice Cooper originally referred to both the band and its lead singer (born Vincent Furnier), as they played dark, eccentric, psychedelic rock on their first two albums, Pretties for You (1969) and Easy Action (1970). After a spell in Detroit where they soaked up the high-energy influence of the Stooges and the MC5, Alice Cooper scored breakthrough hits in 1971 with "I'm Eighteen" and the album Love It to Death, in which the group finally stumbled upon the formula that made them stars, blending tough, dirty, guitar-fueled hard rock with Cooper's sneering vocals and lyrics that were by turns relatable ("I'm Eighteen," "Body") and wilfully spooky ("Black Juju," "The Ballad of Dwight Frye"). Coupled with a live show that included snakes, electric chairs, fake blood, and mock hangings, Alice Cooper had something to offend everyone, and from 1971's Killer to 1973's Billion Dollar Babies, they could seemingly do no wrong. Following the commercial and critical disappointment of 1973's Muscle of Love, the Alice Cooper band broke up, and Alice went forward as a solo act, delivering a cleaner and more professional variation on the themes of his early '70s hits, while the band attempted to continue as Billion Dollar Babies, with little success. Cooper's glossy 1975 solo debut Welcome to My Nightmare was a massive hit, and his shows became even more elaborate as he became a regular fixture on television, but subsequent solo releases saw his following dwindle until 1989's Trash and 1991's Hey Stoopid, where he blended his trademark sound with hair metal arrangements and production and gained a new audience. Cooper's dedicated fan base kept him in the game as he kept recording albums well into the 2010s and regularly touring, playing fresh material alongside his greatest hits.

Vincent Furnier formed his first group, the Earwigs, as an Arizona teenager in the early '60s. Changing the band's name to the Spiders in 1965, the group was eventually called the Nazz (not to be confused with Todd Rundgren's band of the same name). The Spiders and the Nazz both released local singles that were moderately popular. In 1968, after discovering there was another band with the same name, the group changed its name to Alice Cooper. According to band legend, the name came to Furnier during a Ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th century witch of the same name. Comprised of vocalist Furnier -- who would soon begin calling himself Alice Cooper -- guitarist Mike Bruce, guitarist Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith, the group moved to California in 1968. There they met Shep Gordon, who became their manager, and Frank Zappa, who signed Alice Cooper to his Straight Records imprint.

Alice Cooper released their first album, Pretties for You, in 1969. Easy Action followed early in 1970, but failed to chart. The group's reputation in Los Angeles was slowly shrinking, so the band moved to Furnier's hometown of Detroit. For the next year, the group refined their bizarre stage show. Late in 1970, the group's contract was transferred to Straight's distributor Warner Bros., and they began recording their third album with producer Bob Ezrin. With Ezrin's assistance, Alice Cooper developed their classic heavy metal crunch on 1971's Love It to Death, which featured the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"; the album peaked at number 35 and went gold. The success enabled the group to develop a more impressive, elaborate live show, which made them a highly popular concert attraction across the U.S. and eventually the U.K. Killer, released late in 1971, was another gold album.

Released in the summer of 1972, School's Out was Alice Cooper's breakthrough record, peaking at number two and selling over a million copies. The title song became a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and a number one single in the U.K. Billion Dollar Babies, released the following year, was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain; the album's first single, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," became a Top Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. Muscle of Love appeared late in 1973, yet it failed to capitalize on the success of Billion Dollar Babies. After Muscle of Love, Furnier and the rest of Alice Cooper parted ways to pursue other projects. Having officially changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier embarked on a similarly theatrical solo career; the rest of the band released one unsuccessful album under the name Billion Dollar Babies, while Mike Bruce and Neal Smith both recorded solo albums that were never issued. In the fall of 1974, a compilation of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits, became a Top Ten hit.

For his first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, Cooper hired Lou Reed's backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal -- guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, bassist Prakash John, keyboardist Joseph Chrowski, and drummer Penti Glan -- as his supporting group. Released in the spring of 1975, the record was similar to his previous work and became a Top Ten hit in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed." Its success put an end to any idea of reconvening Alice Cooper the band. Its follow-up, 1976's Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, was another hit, going gold in the U.S. After that album, Cooper's career began to slip, partially due to changing trends and partially due to his alcoholism. Cooper entered rehab in 1978, writing an album about his treatment called From the Inside (1978) with Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist. During the early '80s, Cooper continued to release albums and tour, yet he was no longer as popular as he was during his early-'70s heyday.

Cooper made a successful comeback in the late '80s, sparked by his appearances in horror films and a series of pop-metal bands that paid musical homage to his classic early records and concerts. Constrictor, released in 1986, began his comeback, but it was 1989's Trash that returned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven hitmaker Desmond Child, Trash featured guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith; the record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison," a midtempo rocker featured on the album, became Cooper's first Top Ten single since 1977. After the release of Trash, he continued to star in the occasional film, tour, and record, although he wasn't able to retain the audience recaptured with Trash. Still, 1991's Hey Stoopid and 1994's The Last Temptation were generally solid, professional efforts that helped Cooper settle into a comfortable cult status without damaging the critical goodwill surrounding his '70s output. After a live album, 1997's Fistful of Alice, Cooper returned on the smaller Spitfire label in 2000 with Brutal Planet, and Dragontown a year later. The Eyes of Alice Cooper appeared in 2003 and found Cooper and company playing a more stripped-down brand of near-garage rock. Dirty Diamonds from 2005 was nearly as raw and hit the streets around the same time Cooper premiered his syndicated radio show Nights with Alice Cooper. Three years later he returned with Along Came a Spider, a concept album that told the story of a spider-obsessed serial killer. In 2010, he released the live album Theatre of Death, along with a download-only EP of redone Cooper classics titled Alice Does Alice. 2011's Welcome 2 My Nightmare, a sequel to his 1975 conceptual classic of the same name (minus the 2), was recorded with longtime co-conspirator Bob Ezrin, and featured 14 brand-new cuts that spanned multiple genres and relied on the talents of a host of previous members of the Alice Cooper band (including Steve Hunter), as well as a guest spot from pop superstar Ke$ha. In the same year he was awarded the Kerrang! Icon Award.
Paranormal Advancing years didn't prevent Cooper from maintaining a hectic schedule, and by 2012 he was touring with Iron Maiden and headlining Bloodstock Open Air. As an aside from his musical pursuits, he also starred in Tim Burton's adaptation of Dark Shadows, playing himself alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, and Michelle Pfeiffer. He returned to touring in 2014 as the opening act for Mötley Crüe's final tour, and the following year he unveiled a new supergroup called Hollywood Vampires, which included Johnny Depp and Joe Perry. They subsequently released an album of rock covers. He reunited with Ezrin yet again for his 27th studio record. Paranormal was released in 2017, featuring contributions from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Deep Purple's Roger Glover, and U2's Larry Mullen, alongside original bandmembers Smith, Dunaway, and Bruce. The album was also released in a special edition with a bonus disc of live material. Early the following year, an EP was released centered around Paranormal single "The Sound of A," which included a handful of live cuts from his 2017 tour. In August 2018, Cooper released A Paranormal Evening at the Olympia Paris, a live album drawn from his European tour in support of the Paranormal album."

2. Background from [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004840/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm]
Alice Cooper Biography
Overview (4)
Born February 4, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Birth Name Vincent Damon Furnier
Nickname The Godfather of Shock Rock
Height 5' 9½" (1.77 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Alice Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of a minister. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, at a young age and still lives in the state today. At age 17, he formed a rock band called the Earwigs, who changed their name to The Spiders and then The Nazz, before finally settling on Alice Cooper. The line-up included himself, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton and Neal Smith. Rumors (which the band did not necessarily make efforts to deny) to the contrary, the name was not chosen from a Ouija board reading nor was it named after a woman once burned at the stake for witchcraft -- it was picked because the random name had a twisted sense of originality and misleading innocence, complementing the band's bizarre and macabre stage theatrics and lyric themes.

The band got their first big break playing at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles one night in 1969 when Frank Zappa discovered them and signed them to his record label. After two albums-and relocating to Detroit -- they were signed by Warner Bros., hooked up with famous producer Robert Ezrin and came out with their third album, the breakthrough "Love It to Death" in 1971. Several albums followed, including "Killer", the highly successful "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Muscle of Love". The band made an appearance in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) and their own theatrically released documentary Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974). Alice himself also starred in an episode of The Snoop Sisters: The Female Instinct (1972).

The original Alice Cooper band broke up in 1975, with the lead singer getting his name legally changed to Alice Cooper -- and performing under the name ever since -- while some of the other members formed a band called the Billion Dollar Babies. That same year saw the release of a Greatest Hits album, while Alice as a solo artist completed the album "Welcome to My Nightmare" and his incredibly theatrical tour. It was on this tour that he met his future wife Sheryl Cooper, who had been hired as a dancer.

Along with the album and tour came a television special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare (1975), and both included dialog from horror movie legend Vincent Price. Alice made a number of other television and movie appearances in the second half of the decade, including The Muppet Show (1976), Mae West's final film Sextette (1977), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and several appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).

However, by the late 1970s, Alice's problems with alcohol became life-threatening, and he was checked into a clinic for rehabilitation. He told of his experiences on the semi-fictional album "From the Inside" (there was also a comic book of the same title), and explored different sounds in the early 1980s with four albums ("Flush the Fashion", "Special Forces", "Zipper Catches Skin", "DaDa"). After having a severe "falling off the wagon" to the point of almost dying, he sobered up once more -- this time for good -- and returned with the albums "Constrictor", "Raise Your Fist and Yell" and the 1989 album "Trash", which featured the hit song "Poison". The 1980s also saw Alice starring in the horror films Monster Dog (1984) and Prince of Darkness (1987), as well as having mostly new songs for the soundtracks to Roadie (1980), Class of 1984 (1982), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) and Shocker (1989).

However, it was the 1990s that brought Alice's most memorable movie appearance: playing himself in Wayne's World (1992). The phrase uttered by characters Wayne and Garth in his presence, "We're not worthy!", became one of the most popular movie catchphrases of the decade. Alice also played the father of Freddy Krueger in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and himself on That '70s Show (1998) and Something Wilder (1994). The decade also saw the release of his "Hey Stoopid" and "The Last Temptation". Alice toured occasionally but took a break from releasing albums until 2000, when he released "Brutal Planet". He followed this up with "Dragon Town", "The Eyes of Alice Cooper" and "Dirty Diamonds", and continues to tour regularly, performing shows with the bizarrely dark and horror-themed theatrics that he's best known for.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill M. ( [login to see] ), Classic Camp ( [login to see] )

Spouse (1)
Sheryl Cooper (3 March 1976 - present) ( 3 children)

Trade Mark (4)
1. Wears black greasepaint around the eyes and usually sides of mouth. Pioneered the use of wild/macabre stage theatrics in rock concerts.
2. Jet black hair and bold blue eyes
3. Leather pants and leather jacket
4. Gruff singing voice

Trivia (33)
1. Alice and his original band made the song "The Man with the Golden Gun" intended for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), but the movie producers deemed Alice "too controversial" and went with another song of the same title sung by Lulu for the movie. The Alice version of "The Man with the Golden Gun" appears on the band's 1974 album "Muscle of Love".
2. Once belonged to the exclusive Hollywood club the "Hollywood Vampires" in the mid to late 1970s.
3. Born at 10:33pm - EST.
4. Graduated from Cortez High School, in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1966.
5. Lived with Cynthia Lang from 1968-1976. She sued for community property.
6. He owned a restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona called "Cooper'stown" from 1998 through 2017.
7. Is an avid golfer, and has participated in several celebrity tournaments.
8. Is the subject of the songs "Why Must I Be Sad?" by They Might Be Giants, "Scared" by Dangerous Toys, and the b-side "The Ballad of Alice Cooper" by Bon Jovi.
9. Has received two honorary doctorates: a Doctor of Performing Arts degree from Grand Canyon University, in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 2004; and, a Doctor of Music degree from the Musicians Institute, in Los Angeles, California in March 2012.
10. When the giant letters of the famous "HOLLYWOOD" sign had to be replaced with new letters in 1978, a fundraising party was held, with the old letters being auctioned off at around $28,000 each. Hugh Hefner hosted the event and bought the "H", while Warner Brothers bought the "W". Alice bought an "O" in memory of the late Groucho Marx, with whom he had been very good friends. The check was painted on a big piece of the old sign and endorsed by Alice.
11. While Cooper was playing a stadium show in the 1970s, a huge fan threw a live chicken on stage. Cooper, who's from Detroit and unfamiliar with farm animals, generally assumed that since the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly. So he grabbed the chicken and tossed into the air, thinking it would fly out of the stadium, when in fact it went straight down into the crowd, who ripped the bird to pieces. The parts were thrown back on stage, and the headlines later claimed that Cooper bit the head off the chicken, and drank its blood. Frank Zappa later advised Cooper not to tell the real story, simply because "everybody loves it!".
12. Doesn't seem to mind mocking his own "scary" image in the media; young people who appear with Alice act unafraid of him, while he pretends fright at ordinary things.
13. Cooper's daughter, Calico Cooper, has been touring with him as one of the dancers/actors in the show.
14. Children: Calico Cooper (born 20 May 1981); Dashiell Cooper (born 1984); and Sonora Rose Cooper (born 1993). Sonora was rumored to be the young actress who appeared with Alice in a television commercial for school supplies, but it wasn't her.
15. Despite his horror-make up, pet snakes and wild image, he is a huge fan of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue.
16. Hosts a radio show "Nights with Alice Cooper", broadcast on many FM radio stations across the United States. [2005]
17. Went out on a limb to get his first record deal, almost to the point of getting himself and his band tossed in jail: after discovering where Frank Zappa lived, Cooper and his band set up their instruments and audio equipment right in Zappa's yard and began to perform. Sure enough, Zappa soon came out of the house in a rage; Cooper told him that he and his band would continue playing until Zappa did one of two things: either give them a record deal or call the police. Luckily, Zappa saw fit to do the former.
18. Once came out with wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts (Jake Roberts) to a wrestling match, carrying a huge snake.
19. On August 26, 1996, he appeared at the Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix, Arizona for the Phoenix Coyotes' unveiling of their new uniforms.
20. 1974: Legally changed his name to Alice Cooper.
21. Collects cars and antique watches.
22. His album "Love It to Death" was recalled to airbrush Cooper's thumb from the cover after complaints it resembled a penis.
23. His favorite songs are "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones, "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, "My Sharona" by The Knack, "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil, "My Generation" by The Who, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie, "Over Under Sideways Down" by The Yardbirds, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, and "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles (Source: BBC Radio 2 "Tracks of My Years").
24. He wrote the song "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" for the movie Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986). He also appeared in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), uncredited as Freddy's father. This makes him the only person who has been involved with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees almost years before the two fought each other in Freddy vs. Jason (2003).
25. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on December 2, 2003.
26. He's the godfather of Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.
27. Is a huge fan of the animated situation comedy The Simpsons (1989).
28. Often appeared on the Phoenix children's television show "Wallace and Ladmo".
29. Wears a silver bracelet on his left wrist which can only be removed with a key possessed solely by his wife Sheryl.
30. As a guest on BBC's Breakfast (2000) (August 10, 2010), Cooper disclosed to hosts Sian Williams and Bill Turnbull that he stopped drinking in 1981.
31. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2011. The other inductees were Darlene Love, Neil Diamond, Leon Russell, Tom Waits and 'Dr. John'.
32. Despite his image, he is a devout Christian, attending the church every Sunday morning with his family. He is also the president of the Solid Rock Foundation, a Christian non-profit organization to help troubled teenagers and children.
33. In 2015 Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and Johnny Depp formed the band Hollywood Vampires. The name of the band was derived from "The Hollywood Vampires", a celebrity drinking club that was formed in the 1970s by Alice that included members such as John Lennon and Ringo Starr of The Beatles and Keith Moon of The Who.

Personal Quotes (35)
1. I have never made fun of religion. Religion is something I don't even want to mess with, because I am really afraid of the clouds opening up and my being struck by lightning. Satanism is something else I don't mess with. I think that the heavy metal bands that do are playing with fire. I have never influenced people in a negative way, and I'm not about to start now.
2. The hippies wanted peace and love. We [the original Alice Cooper band] wanted Ferraris, blondes and switchblades.
3. [Regarding rock artists involved in the 2004 "Vote For Change" tour] When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick. If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal.
4. To me that's treason. I call it treason against rock n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics. - criticizing the rock artists involved in the anti-Bush "Vote For Change" tour.
5. I didn't go to my senior prom, but I played it.
6. We'd found out that another band was called the Nazz. And I said, "We don't have anything to lose, let's do something that no one's going to relate to at all." I could have said "Jennifer Smith" or "Mary Truesdale", but it just happened that "Alice Cooper" came out. It was the very first name that came out too. There was something axe-murderish about "Alice Cooper". It reminded me of Lizzie Borden (Lizzie Andrew Borden). Alice Cooper - Lizzie Borden. That's got a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) feeling to it. It was like feminine, but it wasn't feminine. It had some sort of ring to it, something disturbing.
7. The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves. I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easygoing sound and strangle the life out of it.
8. On stage, I'm this figure, this actor, who does things that people aren't used to seeing and I relish in that reaction. In real life, though, I play golf, I shop and I walk around with no makeup on and my hair in a ponytail. I may not be the typical middle-aged Joe, but I'm closer to normal than you think.
9. On Frank Zappa: Throughout my life, there are four people I've met who were truly original people. The other three were Groucho Marx, Jim Morrison and Pablo Picasso.
10. Why be boring? Have some fun. Rock shows should be like movies: I don't go to a movie hoping it'll change my life. When I saw 'Jaws III' (Jaws 3-D (1983)), it wasn't a great movie, but it was worth the seven bucks to see the shark eat the helicopter. It was a wonderful waste of time.
11. [on the infamous "Chicken Killer Alice" incident] Now everywhere I go the ASPCA is there, "Now no killing chickens." Okay I promise I won't kill any chickens. Go tell that to Col. Sanders. He kills 7 million chickens a day. If I had barbecued the chicken it probably would have been okay.
12. [About Marilyn Manson] He took a girl's name as his first and wears a hell of a lot of makeup. I wish I'd thought of doing that.
13. Girls started talking to me and I got hooked on the limelight. That's why I went into rock 'n' roll, for fame and sex.
14. Everybody relates to trash. Kids get trashed in school, trashed by the cops, trashed at home. We live in a high-pressure era. It's a dangerous world, and trash is what it's all about.
15. I didn't really care about meeting Rod Stewart or Sonny and Cher. I wanted to meet Groucho Marx, Fred Astaire, Errol Flynn. I wanted to meet the guys that had invented me, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, the real stars.
16. Oh, I love to lie. That's one of my favorite things in the world, coming up to somebody, especially press people, and telling them some enormous lie that couldn't possibly be true.
17. I would say 50 per cent of the things you hear about Alice Cooper is urban legend. The same thing with Michael Jackson and Marilyn Manson. It's all partly legend. But everything you've heard about Keith Moon is true - and you've only heard 10 per cent of it! Every day was an event with Keith.
18. The thing about Keith (Keith Moon) is that I've seen everybody play in this business, and he's still the best drummer I've seen in my life. And that eccentricity showed up in his drumming so that there was nobody like him - Ginger Baker didn't drum like Keith, Mitch Mitchell didn't, Ringo (Ringo Starr) didn't. He was totally unique.
19. I like horror movies that are over-the-top gory, that's the essence of what I do. I like setting an audience up, giving them a good scare and a good laugh, but it's all based around the songs. Without the 14 top 40 hits, there'd be no cake to put the icing on.
20. Everyone likes to be scared a little bit.
21. I loved The Beatles because they wrote such simple songs, which is a really tough thing to do.
22. I've always thought if you can break the girl's heart by the second verse, it's a hit.
23. After I started having hits I saw lots of bands who'd been Alice Cooper-ised; KISS came out after us, even David Bowie before Alice Cooper was a mime and a folk singer. Then, when we broke down the barriers, we said you could do music and theatrics at the same time, which opened the door for acts like Marilyn Manson and Slipknot.
24. We don't use any animals in the shows now. Snakes catch pneumonia very easily. They become ill if you take them from a hot climate to a cold climate. I didn't want to put them through that any more. As long as a 15ft boa constrictor has been fed, they're like a kitten.
25. Put my head in a guillotine, fine, but put a needle near me and I'm passed out on the floor.
26. [2010] I'm 62 now and haven't had a drink for 30 years. Back when I was 30, I felt like I was 62 because of the drinking. It's like Benjamin Button. I finish a 90-minute show and feel great - it's the guys in my band in their forties who are panting.
27. Jesus spent half his time dealing with demons and throwing them out of people. I don't think you just float around when you die - there's judgment, you either go to heaven or hell.
28. I listen to those albums and I go, "What the hell was I thinking then?" It was a whole different time. There are three albums I don't remember doing. I don't remember doing Dada. I don't remember Special Forces, or Zipper Catches Skin. Those were three albums during my blackout period, and I listen back to them and I go, "Ha... there's some pretty cool stuff on there!".
29. The funny thing was that The Last Temptation really wasn't part of the trilogy. That was on its own. That was the first thing I wrote as a Christian. And then, it was six years before I wrote Brutal Planet. Brutal Planet was a whole different story. Brutal Planet was a story that was talking about, "What's the world like? Let's get a picture of the future 50 years from now, when all of the systems have failed, church, family, school, politics, every system has failed, and there's no God. Let's say that no one believes in God. Well, what have we got? Now we've got Brutal Planet this horrible place that nobody wants to be." That's what that album was about.
30. (2005, on quitting drinking) They tell you you're supposed to go to AA meetings, but I didn't go. Instead, I went directly to a bar and I ordered a Coca-Cola. Everybody around me was drinking alcohol and it never occurred to me to have some too. In the 23 years since, it's never been a temptation, and that's interesting because I have absolutely no will power. If I had a beer now, I wouldn't be able to stop and I'd be hiding five bottles of whiskey in my hotel room tonight. That's how volatile a hair trigger it is for me, so I sat in the bar and it was as if all my desire to drink had completely gone.
31. [on being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame] It's like graduating because what happens is the guys that you learned from are the ones that vote on you. The Jaggers (Mick Jagger), the McCartneys (Paul McCartney), the Pete Townshends (Pete Townshend), the Jeff Becks (Jeff Beck). And you never feel like you're ever in their league. It just doesn't matter how many records you've sold or how many tickets you've sold, you always look up to those guys as being your big brothers, and you're never going to be quite in their league, which is good. It's not an ego thing, it's a humbling thing.
32. [on continuing to perform at 65] When people say "Why are you still touring?", I go "Because that's what I do.".
33. [on his memorabilia] I have a warehouse in L.A. that probably even ghost hunters wouldn't go into late at night. I'm sure the stuff that's living in that warehouse has been through a lot. Guillotines, gallows, electric chairs. Everything you can think of is in that warehouse and there should be a movie about it. I wouldn't stay in there late at night by myself.
34. You can't out-shock CNN.
35. In the early days of Pink Floyd, they at one point had run out of funds while touring in the L.A., so they stayed over at my place. One morning I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen, and there's Syd Barret at the breakfast table. He was wearing crushed purple velvet trousers and was staring at a box of corn flakes the same way you and I would watch television. He was looking at something we couldn't see.
"

FYI Maj Robert Thornton SFC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland MSG Andrew White SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC (Join to see)SP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-Cwik TSgt David L.PO1 Robert GeorgeCol Carl Whicker SPC Margaret Higgins

Maj Marty Hogan Very strange man.

Saw him in concert in summer 72
!