It took a real man to change is name to "Alice" and then become respected around the world as one of the most masculine metal gods in the history of pop culture.
If you think about it, Cooper pretty much anticipated all of the trends that go on in rock music today. He helped invent the rock as theater, created new fashion trends, and even ran for president against Nixon. His style and actions set precedents for shock-rock and numetal, like Marilyn Manson (note the female name change too) and Rob Zombie, Glam Rock like T. Rex and David Bowie, industrial like Nine Inch Nails, and most notably 80's metal like Twisted Sister and Poison.
Alice Cooper's real name is actually Vincent Furnier, born in 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. In high school he was a member of the varsity track team and the school newspaper where he met his soon to be Bass and Lead Guitarists, Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton. Their first performance together was actually a Beatles parody in which they dawned bad wigs and hired girls to scream for them on Letterman's talent show.
After several years and band name changes (from the Earwigs to the Spiders to the Nazz) the band gained some minor notice in the southwest and headed out to Hollywood. Still at this point they were practically starving and had not even reached a glorified bar-band status.
In 1968, due to a legal dispute, the band was again forced to change their name. Only this time it was more beneficial than they could have imagined. The name Alice Cooper automatically got attention, considering it was a gruff and arguably quite ugly man with this name (his name was not legally changed until 1972 though). The band grew to become more infamous as it got increasingly better interesting in theatrics, not to mention the members were five cross-dressing, yet masculine men.
After moving to Detroit, the band met producer Bob Erin, and after much work they produced their first successful album, "Love It to Death" featuring their number 21 hit single, "Eighteen" which is still one of their most popular songs today. The album went gold and allowed the band to spend more money on their stage performances. In 1972, their breakthrough record, "School's Out" was released and reached number two on the Billboard charts. The next record, "Billion Dollar Babies." This album proved to be their biggest hit, reaching number one in both England and the US. After this the band split up and each began virtually unsuccessful solo careers.
After being rehabilitated from alcoholism, Alice Cooper made a comeback in the 80’s with “Constrictor” and had even greater success with his next CD, “Trash” which went platinum. This release featured the single “Poison,” one of the most commonly recognized Cooper creations. Since “Trash” Cooper has released a few more decent CD’s and continues to have sold-out tours, but retains mostly a cult status.
Current Band Lineup:
Alice Cooper - Vocals
Eric Dover - Guitar
Ryan Roxie - Guitar
Eric Singer - Drums
Chuck Garric - Bass
Bio written by: syntheticxdreams |
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