Vincent Furnier grew up in Detroit, the son of a minister. He had the typical pressures that Preacher's Kids have--always expected to do the right thing, never straying off the beaten path. He trod that road for a bit, but there was a rebel (some might say "demon") buried inside waiting to get out.
He decided to become a rock and roller. He formed a band and off they went. Dad moved the family to Phoenix, but young Vince decided that he would stay on the new path he chose. His band had success, but the "demon" grew closer to the surface.
Vince couldn't resist it anymore. His "demon" came to the surface. Vince named it Alice. The rest of us knew him as Alice Cooper. His contribution to rock music was unprecedented--he introduced full-on theatrics to a rock band. Yes, David Bowie and others were introducing elements of theatre to their shows, but Alice Cooper refined it.
Banned from certain cities to his "negative impact on the youth of our community", Alice became a icon for teenage angst and the need to express the inner self. Nightmares, rehab, and the nature of Heaven and Hell were fodder for concept albums in the mid-'70s. Urban legends persist that he bit the head off a live chicken (before Ozzy Osbourne did), that he was a devil worshipper, and any number of other attributes.
I saw him live in 1980, when he was promoting an album named From the Inside. The stage had a projection screen at the back, and the concert opened with a short film of Alice in rehab, and his subsequent escape. At the end, Alice runs towards the camera. Unseen by the audience were vertical slits cut in the screen. As the film Alice approached the camera, the 3-D Alice burst through the slits and ran to the front of the stage. Nobody else even tried anything like that.
The Time Machine stops today at the leadoff track from Billion Dollar Babies, the album that launched Alice Cooper into the mainstream. This song also often was the first song played in concert, and in some venues Alice was lowered to the stage from the rafters. Enjoy "Hello Hooray".
See you Friday (23). My first airplane in 9 months is tomorrow and I have no idea how I'll do...
Pete
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