Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990 TAG: 9003071515
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TRACY WIMMER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I've never gotten rock 'n' roll confused with religion," Alice Cooper said calmly. "I've always been a Christian - always."
Cooper spoke by phone from his home in Phoenix, where he lives with his wife of 13 years and their children, a daughter, 8, and a son, 4. There's another child on the way.
"I refuse to be in the category of these satanic bands," he said. "I don't believe in music that tells kids to commit murder or commit suicide. I'm not so sure even Ozzy [Osbourne] does . . . but my music has never done that."
Maybe not, Al, but it's certainly done just about everything else.
For 20-plus years, Cooper has reigned as the king of shock rock, the black humorist supreme. He hasn't acquired titles like those by singing "Kum By Ya" all his life.
Say those two little words - Alice Cooper - and images ooze: a skinny, straggly haired guy with dagger eyes circled in black, toting a 10-foot boa constrictor, bouncing frantically around stage shouting anthems of necrophilia to a bunch of mesmerized teens.
Such was the case in 1972 when he played here at the Salem Civic Center. Unfortunately, the only thing Cooper remembered about that night was downing three bottles of whiskey during the course of the evening.
In essence, Cooper was a musician who was as wild offstage as on.
Meet the new Alice Cooper.
At 42, he is working his way back to the top.
"Trash," his new album, has already hit No. 22\ on Billboard's Top 100 album chart and sold more than 1 million copies. The first single off the release, "Poison," peaked at No. 14 on Billboard's Top 100 singles chart. The title says it all.
"Everybody relates to trash," Cooper said. "Kids get trashed by the cops, trashed in school, trashed at home. . . . Living is harder, sex is harder. It used to be that when you got into trouble from sex, you got a shot of penicillin; now you die! It's a dangerous world, and trash is what it's about."
Fortunately for Cooper and bands like Aerosmith, record companies now realize they can get hits from older groups without too much image tampering.
Cooper's second chance came in 1988, when Epic hooked him up with songwriter Desmond Child, who helped Cooper write and produce the release. Steven Tyler, Jon Bon Jovi, Joe Perry and Joan Jett also join Cooper on "Trash."
Moving away from the blood and gore of his last two splatter rock releases, "Constrictor" and "Raise Your Fist and Yell," this LP explores all facets of sexuality today.
For example, "Poison," is a about a relationship that starts out fine but turns into a horror story. Cooper said a lot of people think the song is about AIDS, but that was not his intent. "Poison" has a sophisticated message, Cooper explained, focusing on one female friend he had in Phoenix who kept getting herself into impossible relationships with men.
The title cut, featuring Jon Bon Jovi on harmony vocals, is a tribute to people who allow themselves to become "trash" for sexual conquest.
"Spark in the Dark" is a pure summer lust song. And "Bed of Nails" is song about a relationship kept fresh through sadomasochism.
So why is it OK to sing about violent sex for pleasure and not murder?
Cooper defended "Bed of Nails" by calling it satire.
"Anything that promotes drugs and suicide is bad, but I don't think kids are stupid," he said. "Who hasn't heard that drugs are bad for you? I just think that sometimes it's very hip for kids to act stupid."
Cooper should know. His original band - named Alice Cooper - started when he and other 16-year-old upper-middle class high school buddies started playing in a Phoenix garage.
"Even then, we were very theatrical," Cooper said. "We never did it straight. I found it very hard to go onstage without doing something to make the audience talk. You have to portray the song, sell the song - not just sing it."
But early audiences weren't always hip on his portrayals. Some enjoyed it; others sat there seemingly transfixed. And more than a few walked out.
Eventually Frank Zappa's label, Straight Records, signed the group. By 1971, Warner Brothers had signed them, and the soon Alice Cooper singles were making hit charts regularly.
"Eighteen" and "Caught in a Dream" made the Top 10 within months of their release.
In the mid '70s, tired of arguments with Warner Bros. over artistic control, Cooper decided to dissolve the group. He released a solo LP on the Atlantic label, "Welcome to My Nightmare," which spawned the hit single, "Only Women Bleed."
When disco tunes began to dominate the airwaves in the late '70s, Cooper's career took a dive. Oddly enough, today he says he's grateful to disco, because it forced him to come to grips with his alcoholism.
"I started out like a lot of high school kids - drinking a beer here and beer there," Cooper said. "Soon I was drinking three bottle of whiskey a day. Every morning I was throwing up blood from gastritis. I was literally falling apart, which was totally due to alcohol.
"The best thing that could have happened to me was disco. Fortunately when it came out, rock 'n' roll left the airwaves. That was what gave me a chance to dry out."
With his music career on hold, Cooper became a personality of the late '70s and early '80s, guesting on talk shows, appearing on "Hollywood Squares."
He has done two world tours since 1986 but took four years off before that - gearing himself up to go back onstage.
Pulling out of the slump, giving up alcohol, was probably harder for Cooper than for some other groups. Alice Cooper onstage was simply a character - someone Cooper didn't care to know in his private life. And alcohol had become the fuel for the transformation - put the makeup on, drink and perform. For a while, Cooper wondered if he could be Alice onstage without the help of alcohol.
"Trash" answers that question. Cooper's concerts have met with repeated critical praise. But fearing that he lost some of his former audiences to the sheer theatrics of previous concerts, Cooper has toned down the show. The days of drenching the first few rows with fake blood are over.
"I don't think you'll ever find an Alice Cooper show without a little blood," Cooper said. "But Alice is an innovative person. . . . Of course, if I didn't do some of my older material onstage the audience would kill me."
Cooper said his shows run around an hour and 40 minutes - with at least a half hour dedicated soley to "the nightmare." And that's when fans will meet the Alice of the past.
"You see, Alice is another person," Cooper said. "He's as much a character as Darth Vadar. But his personality is more theatrical. . . . He doesn't belong in the real world."
Alice Cooper performs at the Roanoke Civic Center coliseum tonight at 7:30. General admission tickets are $17.50. The Front will open the show. For more information, call 981-1201.
by CNB