ALICE COOPER - "Back In '73, When Billion Dollar Babies Went To Number One, The Next Thing I Knew Mick Jagger Was Wearing Eye Makeup"
March 20, 2008, 16 years ago
The following story is courtesy of Frank Spignese from The Daily Yomiuri:
When current shock rockers MARILYN MANSON and SLIPKNOT were teething, ALICE COOPER was playing arenas and raising Cain across the land. But aside from theatrical extravagances, he had the chart topping anthems to boot.
Initially with his legendary band in the 1970s and then as a metal godfather in his later career, he's amassed a body of work that has stood the test of time.
Conspicuously, at the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Cooper was again snubbed. On the phone prior to a Japan tour, he didn't seem concerned.
"There's a bunch of good bands that aren't in," he said. "It's five New Yorkers deciding who's gonna be in the Hall. I don't know who gave them that right. I've got every credential...it'll happen. I kinda like the idea that I'm blackballed. What's better, to be in the Hall of Fame or to be kept out of the Hall of Fame?"Cooper's ghastly getup and ghoulish shows are infamous; guillotines, severed heads and gigantic cyclopes have all adorned his stage. While reaping accolades from generations of hard rockers, this underappreciated songsmith has tinged his tunes with whimsy that most metalheads are too dense to duplicate. Curmudgeons BOB DYLAN and John Lydon (SEX PISTOLS) have avidly praised his songwriting. Without the theatrics, would his songs be more appreciated?
"Yeah, but I wouldn't give up the spectacle," he said. "That's my legacy. KISS? OZZY? Who did it first? I did. There's no two ways about that. And I had hits. Few bands putting on the kinda show I did ever broke that barrier. Back in '73, when Billion Dollar Babies went to Number One, the next thing I knew Mick Jagger was wearing eye makeup. He didn't wear eye makeup before that!"Read more here.
