Legendary shock rocker Alice Cooper stopped by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Monday to talk to a sold-out crowd at the Foster Theater about his life and his memoir, Devil On My Shoulder.
Jason Hanley, the Rock Hall’s VP of education and visitor engagement, engaged Cooper in a 90-minute exploration of the genesis of Alice Cooper and some fascinating insights into Shock Rock that the 78-year old rocker kickstarted.
Cooper, born Vincent Furnier in Detroit is, paints himself as a normal guy despite his theatrics. He’s a scratch golfer and a born-again Christian. He celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary in March.
Hanley delved into Cooper’s origin story. Moving from Detroit to warmer Arizona, Cooper excelled at high school sports and formed his first band with a “handful of jocks” from his high school.
When Cooper decided to pursue music, to the chagrin of his preacher father, he looked to his idols, The Yardbirds, for imitation. His father understood that the band’s antics were, he said, “rock ‘n’ roll horror vaudeville” and not satanic. Regardless, Cooper’s drug use worried him.
After years gigging in Phoenix, Cooper’s band moved to Los Angeles, catching the eye of Frank Zappa. Zappa signed them. Cooper was then introduced to legendary talent manager and film agent Shep Gordon, who to this day is his manager.
On their wild costumes early in their career, he said that the Ice Capades, the traveling variety show, were having a sale on their costumes. “It was only twenty-five cents a pound,” Cooper said, “so that’s what we bought and that’s what we wore.”
In the 1970s, Cooper roomed with members of Pink Floyd. One day, Cooper walked into the kitchen and caught Syd Barrett staring at a Corn Flakes box. Cooper asked him what he was doing; Barrett said the corn flakes were “dancing.”
“How high do you have to be to see corn flakes dancing?” Cooper said. “Combining acid, LSD and schizophrenia, could be a dangerous thing.”
Cooper also touched on The Hollywood Vampires, a coterie of famous actors and musicians who would convene at West Hollywood’s Rainbow Bar & Grill to swap stories and drink until morning. The initiation to get into the club was, he said, to “outdrink the other members.”
Realizing that he had a drinking problem, Cooper quit booze in the late 1970s. Sober for five decades, he often reaches out to friends and other musicians that struggle with addiction woes.
Cooper’s Devil On My Shoulder is out now.