10 Things You Might Not Know About Alice Cooper

My brother will be bored by this one, since he already knows all of it…but I’ve been listening to Alice Cooper a lot this week, and it occurred to me that he’s a pretty interesting guy.  A lot of people only know that he’s the dude who bit the head off a chicken and drank the blood (not true, by the way) and that he always gets killed in his stage shows (usually true, but he’s not done it for a couple of tours). But there’s more to Alice than that…and here’s ten things you might not have known.

1. He’s a Christian – Yeah.  I know.  Total reborn Christian.  He doesn’t talk about it a lot, saying that he’d rather people focus on Christ and that he’s just a rocker, not a philosopher…but he’s way into Jesus.  Makes sense…his dad was a minister, after all.  Even still…  Kinda puts the “freak” back in Jesus Freak, doesn’t it?
2. When record executives first heard a tape of Alice’s hit “Only Women Bleed” (a song speaking out against abuse) they had no idea who recorded it.  One exec ventured a guess — James Taylor.
3. Cooper’s stage shows since the early days have been morality plays.  Fans know this, but it’s often missed by laymen.  The character of Alice goes on an evil rampage throughout most of the show, eventually deserving punishment for his misdeeds.  He is then executed and is “reborn” (usually in a white tuxedo) into a hard-rocking, celebratory encore.  Ties in with the “Christian” thing pretty well, no?  It’s always been there, folks!
4. He is an avid, celebrated, and highly awarded golfer.  Most people know this one by now…but I still have trouble with it somehow.  🙂
5. He’s been married to the SAME WOMAN since 1976, which pretty much no one else in rock and roll can claim.  (Pete Townshend probably came the closest, but he got divorced a few years ago.)  His wife was a background dancer in his stage show when they met, is a minister’s daughter, and is pretty hot if you ask me.
6. After his own battle with alcohol addiction, he has been a mentor to several other musicians who have tried to kick the habit.  He has been responsible for cleaning up more than one musician, such as Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine.
7. He is a Republican.  Also shocking, considering the image he’s put out there over the years.  Actually, this isn’t 100% confirmed, but in 2004 he referred to the musicians supporting Kerry as “a bunch of treasonous morons” [sic] (later claiming that he was referring to their using their rock status to back ANY candidate not specifically Kerry — which I don’t really buy). Then this past year he referred to Sarah Palin as “a breath of fresh air” [Gigantic SIC with lipstick on it], but also teased support of the Democrats a few times (though not as solidly).  So…he’s probably a Republican.
8. Groucho Marx was noted to be a fan of Alice’s, saying that he saw his stage shows as a revived form of vaudeville.
9. In 1996, he sang the role of Herod in the London recording of Jesus Christ Superstar.
10. His daughter, Calico, is in his stage show.  My brother told me that when he went to see Alice a couple of years ago, those around him were taking about her (not knowing she was Alice’s kid) saying that they “knew why he kept her around” and were betting he was “hitting that.”  Dave was trying to tell the guys that it was Alice’s daughter they were joking about, but they didn’t believe him…until Alice announced it from the stage at the end of the show.  (By all accounts, by the way, Alice has never cheated on his wife and still takes her out on regular dates when not touring.)

So there you go…there’s some stuff about Alice Cooper.  (Weird how you don’t even notice that he’s got a girl’s name anymore, isn’t it?)

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The George W. Bush Picture of the Day (21 days remaining in term):

“…and that’s when the election got creepy…”

To be fair, it’s actually the big smile on McCain’s face that makes this funny to me…but whatever!