At 74, Alice Cooper continues to offer up hard rock with a theatrical twist
At 74, veteran rocker Alice Cooper continues to tour and will be at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh Sunday.
Alice Cooper pays tribute to his hometown on his latest album, "Detroit Stories."
A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Alice Cooper has influenced generations of hard rock and heavy metal musicians.
Here鈥檚 a heads-up: If you鈥檙e walking around a mall and you see a guy in sunglasses and a baseball cap who looks like Alice Cooper, it might very well be Alice Cooper.
And if you want an autograph, don鈥檛 hesitate to ask.
鈥淚 sign everything,鈥� Cooper said on the phone from Palm Springs, Calif., last month. 鈥淚 look at it as a compliment. The day they don鈥檛 want your autograph, the day they don鈥檛 want your picture is when you鈥檙e in trouble.鈥�
Strolling around a shopping center with your wife of 46 years and getting in nine holes of golf after breakfast are all pretty standard activities for a 74-year-old man, but Cooper will never be confused with your run-of-the-mill septuagenarian. The man born Vincent Damon Furnier is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, has sold an estimated 50 million records in a career that spans more than 50 years, and is held up as a key influence on generations of hard rock and heavy metal musicians who married crunching power chords with dark theatrical flourishes.
Cooper is also one of the hardest-working classic rockers out there. He plays about 200 shows a year, performing everywhere from Toronto to Toledo, Ohio, and on Sunday night will be at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh. His relentless touring came to a halt from March 2020 to September 2021 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and Cooper admitted that the time away from the road was rough.
鈥淲e are all road rats,鈥� Cooper said of he and his band. 鈥淵ou get addicted to the adrenaline. You get addicted to getting up there in front of an audience. And so that鈥檚 the high point of your day. So all of a sudden you pull that out from under you and say, 鈥楴o more shows for 18 months,鈥� and you go, 鈥榃hat?!鈥� It鈥檚 like going to jail.鈥�
Cooper didn鈥檛 remain idle during the forced layoff. He continued to host a radio show, 鈥淣ights With Alice Cooper,鈥� and released his 28th studio album, 鈥淒etroit Stories,鈥� which pays tribute to his hometown. Working with longtime producer Bob Ezrin, the album serves up an array of styles that sprang from or were refined in the Motor City, including Motown, hard rock and punk. It peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart last year, and hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart that tabulates the physical sale of vinyl albums and compact discs. It also reached No. 1 in Germany.
Cooper鈥檚 hit albums from his 1970s heyday, like 鈥淏illion Dollar Babies鈥� and 鈥淲elcome to My Nightmare鈥� are concept albums and, according to Cooper, 鈥淏ob and I always do conceptual albums. They all have storylines. And I said on this one, 鈥楲et鈥檚 just do a solid rock album,鈥� and it evolved into being a concept album.鈥�
He added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice to still be doing it. And doing it better than I did before.鈥�
Considering that Cooper can now be found participating in celebrity golf tournaments and pounding out beloved old hits like 鈥淪chool鈥檚 Out鈥� in casinos, it鈥檚 easy to forget how shocking Cooper鈥檚 act was a half-century ago. Emerging in the envelope-pushing atmosphere of the late 1960s, the dark makeup that lined Cooper鈥檚 eyes and a stage act that included guillotines and fake blood were more than enough to send mothers to fainting couches and fathers into fits of apoplexy. Of course, the opprobrium of adults only helped fuel the success of Cooper and compatriots like Kiss and David Bowie.
鈥淵ou could shock an audience then,鈥� Cooper explained. 鈥淣ow, you can鈥檛 shock an audience. We still use shock elements in the show, but people know it鈥檚 going to be a dark rock and roll vaudeville up there.鈥�
Artifacts from Cooper鈥檚 career went on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland last fall, including an electric chair that was once used in concert, and stage outfits. He explained, 鈥淲e have a place in Los Angeles that is a museum almost. It鈥檚 a warehouse of all the props from all the shows over 50 years. I wouldn鈥檛 want to sleep in there!鈥�
Whenever Cooper visits Pittsburgh, it鈥檚 something of a homecoming for him. He spent a few summers in Uniontown with his grandparents when he was growing up, and briefly attended Smock Elementary School.
鈥淵eah, Pennsylvania is almost a second home for me,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e on stage, and honestly, when you鈥檙e doing 100 cities, you can鈥檛 tell one city from another. If I look out in the audience and I see a bunch of Pirates hats, I know I鈥檓 in Pittsburgh.鈥�