Alice Cooper: Self
Photos
Quotes
-
Alice Cooper : Well, I mean, I was the poster boy for controversy. In some ways I think I invented it. Because, I mean, we were the first band to get banned in England. We got banned and nobody could figure out why they were banning us. We asked them in London; "What are we banned for?". And they couldn't name anything... "Is there any nudity in our show?". "No". "Is there any bad language in our show?". "No". "So what are we being banned for?". "Well, there's blood in your show". Has anybody here ever seen 'Macbeth'? There's more blood in 'Macbeth' than in my show, and that's required reading in school. There was no real definitive rock vampire that was really the creature of the night and that's what Alice was supposed to be. If you say "Welcome to my nightmare", you don't just say it - you do it. Give them the nightmare. Show them the nightmare.
-
[On the subject of who is the first heavy metal band]
Geddy Lee : If you really wanna go back to the early metal bands, you have to look at Blue Cheer. Nobody talks about them very often because they were kind of a bloop on a screen. But they were, at one point, the loudest most metallic trio going.
John Kay : Heavy metal lies of course in the lyrics of 'Born to be Wild', which was written by a Canadian; Dennis Edmonton / Mars Bonfire. He was really talking about that whole experience of, you know, big bikes and roaring down the highway.
Robert Ezrin : For me, my awareness of it came with Led Zeppelin, it really did. As soon as those guys launched people started using the term 'heavy metal'. And I knew instantly that that sound was 'heavy something'.
Lemmy : As it is today, probably Deep Purple. You know, 'cause they were the first to have this great big fuck-off PA... And, uhm... the first to have a lot of pyrotechnics really.
Alice Cooper : Actually, the first time 'heavy metal' was ever used was used about Alice Cooper in Rolling Stone magazine. Rolling Stone magazine was doing an interview with us. I think it was in '71, '72, '73, something like that. And there was this picture of this giant guy holding me up and it said; "Da-da-da-da-da-da... It's heavy metal", in quotes.
Alex Webster : Every metal band owes a debt, musically, to Black Sabbath. They were the original.
Randy Blythe : Indeed, first metal band ever; Black Sabbath.
Rob Zombie : Every cool riff has already been written by Black Sabbath. Anything everyone else does is just basically ripping it off. Either you're playing it slightly different or fast or slow, but... They did everything already.
Sam Dunn : For my money, Black Sabbath reigns as the first heavy metal band.
-
Alice Cooper : I love going to Norway and Denmark, because I love picking up the black metal magazines. It's so 'Spinal Tap',
[laughs]
Alice Cooper : 'cause each band is trying to be more wicked and evil than any other band, you know. And I can't turn the page without going; "Look at this one, here are these guys and they're..."
[mimicking the pose and look of black metal photoshoots]
Alice Cooper : You know, and they're... And you know these guys, when you meet them in the mall they are;
[lightens his voice]
Alice Cooper : "Hello, Mr. Cooper. How are you? Nice to meet you. My mother is right over there, could she have your autograph?". And I say; "I thought you guys were like satanists or something?". You know, it's like; "Well yeah, we are, but...".
[laughs]
Alice Cooper : Very rarely do you meet anybody that's truly scary.
