Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper

by LeeAnn Sharpe

Alice Cooper’s classic image is one of horror and outrageous antics, the macabre perversion beyond anyone else. In fact, next to Halloween masks of Frankenstein, you can find the Alice Cooper mask resplendent with the trademark black eyeliner and wild black hair. None of it would have built a rock and roll dynasty lasting 40 years if there wasn’t a solid base of really good music. Alice Cooper’s music stands the test of time as rock classics as viable to today’s audiences as they were in 1969 when he started out.

At his recent Arizona State Fair Halloween concert a mother and daughter came out to enjoy the night together. “Alice Cooper was the first concert I went to when I was a teenager and now I’m taking my 15-year old daughter to her first concert to see him too,” says Betty excitedly. The crowd was heavily populated with older Alice Cooper fans, many with families in tow.

Alice Cooper’s portfolio of work is pretty remarkable with some 45 albums. The “Poison” video on YouTube has been viewed 836,992 times! “School’s Out” is still an anthem for every kid in the world on the last day of school. “Only Women Bleed”, “Welcome to my Nightmare”, “Love’s a Loaded Gun”, and “Eighteen,” are favorites the audience mentioned.

On stage Alice Cooper is more than just a rock singer. He becomes a total performer using stage props and characters telling a story through the music. His long legs and lean form carry him in costumes as varied as a white tuxedo or a black lycra jumpsuit cut to expose his front down to the nether lands. His most frequent costume in the past has been a red devil jumpsuit. This night he dons black pants decorated with a skeleton theme, trademark black top hat and a walking stick which he throws to the crowds several times to hysterical cheers.

The emotion and torment he performs are themes the audience can relate to and contribute to the cult like following his fans maintain through decades. His voice can be pretty and melodic when necessary, but more often it is jagged and cutting punctuated with screams and howls.

So how does this rocker take his show mainstream? Alice is in commercials for the Arizona Department of Transportation reminding Arizonans to renew their vehicle registration. More humorous was his Staples commercial where he’s buying school supplies for a petulant little girl who says, “I thought you said school’s out forever.” He responds, “No, the song says School’s out for summer”. Or there’s the Marriott commercial where he tells a guy mowing his lawn to take a vacation with his family so they won’t grow up to be weirdos. Hilarious! Calloway has a commercial where Cooper is a machinist. Of course golf is one of Cooper’s favorite pastimes.

You’ve become an American icon when you appear on the Muppets singing “Schools Out” with the Muppet characters in his trademark red devil jump suit.

A frequent participant in charity golf tournaments, Alice has lent his name to a number of charity projects. The biggest commitment is The Rock, a Christian youth center at the Grand Canyon University campus in west Phoenix. Chuck Savale, Executive Director of the Solid Rock Foundation says, “To date he has helped raise $2.5million.” They are working towards a goal of $7.25M. The 29,450-square- foot center would include sports facilities, a concert hall, recording studios and sound room, coffeehouse, computer lab, a rock-climbing wall, game room, dancing space, skateboard area and other amenities. They believe it can be the model for teen centers across the U.S.

He’s often said Alice is a character he plays as far removed from himself as he can get. That separation has allowed him to maintain a stable personal life. Married faithfully for 30 years and raising three kids his life seems pretty grounded. A tour takes him to the UK, Russia, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the coming weeks. But he will be home in time for the December 15th Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding, a night of comedy and music to raise money for The Rock Teen Center.

Alice Cooper has taken a path he started at 16-years old, followed the curves and turns, climbed the hills and grown in the process. He allowed his music and audiences to mature right along with him as he approaches 60. His humor and outrageousness along with compassion and brains have kept his fans and built a new younger base who pull out mom and dads vinyl and say, “Can I get this on MP3?”

For more photos and extended story visit www.azphm.com/alice.htm

Author: LeeAnn Sharpe is freelance writer/photographer in Glendale Arizona and can be reached at www.leeannsharpe.com or lasharpe@cox.net