ALICE COOPER Talks Elvis, Guillotines, Tiger Woods

[knocking on door] What's the scariest thing to you? Needles. Needles. Needles. Do you ever think about what's at the bottom of the ocean? I think scary. The Meg is down there. Yeah, that's kind of scary. I want that. Yeah. Racism scary. Yeah, it is, yeah. [music] I guess this week is rock and roll legend, Alice Cooper. Alice is best known for his work in the band, Alice Cooper, which is also his name. Alice first came onto the sea. Hey guys, over here, I'm the real Adam. That's an imposter. I'm trapped in a painting. And I'm here to tell you, don't watch this episode with Alice Cooper. It's too scary. It's the scariest painting. Don't watch it. Turn it off. Turn it off. Oh, I'm evil Adam. I'm evil clone. You know what? I actually like it. I like it. November 13th. Town Hall. Please, please, please, if you're in New York. November 13th. I'll be a town hall. It's a big deal for me. It's a big night. Please come. I have all new material. Welcome back to the Adam Friedland show. I'm Adam Friedland, and this is not a scary episode. [music] Ladies and gentlemen, rock icon, Alice Cooper. Everyone, give it up for it. This is really surreal and awesome. I've really enjoyed researching for this and getting to know your life's story a little bit better because it's, excuse me, but you are kind of forest gump, I think. Kind of. Yeah. You are like, you know, like, in the background of every, like, Washington is crossing the Delaware. You're like on the boat. I was there. Yeah. Yeah. It's like the last weekend. I was the bartender, you know. It was my first thing that bell that rung, which is that, like, there's this moment in history where John Lennon, Yoko's like, just date this other girl for a year, and then I'll come back and tell you that you're not. You have to come along. Yeah. But there's this just legendary period of John Lennon's post-Beetles life, where he moves to Los Angeles, and he's just on cocaine the entire time. Yeah. And, you know, but Harry Nielsen, who's like, what are my favorites ever? Harry was one of the coolest guys. And yet, one of very self-destructive to himself. Yeah. I mean, like, if the Beatles say their favorite musician is Harry Nielsen, while they're at the peak of being the Beatles, that's kind of big. It would drive me insane. Yeah. Yeah. Also, John Ruined Harry's voice, of course, in that album they made together. Oh. John produced. What was it called? A Nielsen Schmelzen? No, it's the one with many rivers to cross the cover. We could cut all this. Why do I talk about one? ♪ Many rivers to cross ♪ Well, his voice. I'll tell you what, Harry had the most pure voice. The most stunning voice. Sure. Yeah. Irish, you know. There's something about it, which was, there was a sadness to his voice. Yeah. Yeah. But then, of course, Keith Moon was also there. Keith Moon, there's William Shakespeare. I could tell you 50 stories about Keith Moon. Harry would tell you another 100 stories. Ringo would tell you 50 stories. And they'd all be different. I mean, every day was an event for him. We wanted to put Riddlin in his drinks, you know. He didn't need it. Well, it would calm him down a little bit. Yeah. But I mean, he was just manic. But at the same time, best drama I ever heard. Yeah. Did it get annoying after? Like, you know, he would come to your house and stay for two weeks. Yeah. And then dressed as a French man. Yeah. Well, that was that day. You know, the next day he was the Queen of England. And then he was a Groucho Marx version of Hitler. That's funny. That's a great big question. Yeah, yeah. It was, he would show up and we would just applaud. Yeah. You know, because he would go to Western costume and decide I'm going to be a Viking today. Uh-huh. What was it like? Well, look here on the room. And it's just like, it's everyone. Like it was at that golden period building. Did it feel like it was that the these are just my friends that I get fucked up with. Or did it feel like, oh, this. When there's a beetle in the room, it's a different thing. Yeah. You know, that beetles. That was royalty. You know, that was royalty to all of us. Because we wouldn't have done what we did unless it was for the beetles. Correct. Yeah. You got your start at a talent show at your school. Yeah. I was at the perfect age. I was 15 when the beetles, beetle mania hit. Yeah. And I didn't know what I was going to do. But as soon as I did that, I went, oh, I got to do this. You did a parody song. Yeah. Of course. Well, we were in a cross-country track team, right? So we did, uh, instead of she loves you, it'll be I beat you. I'll beat you. Yeah. In a race. Yeah. Yeah. And how did John let him get over the humiliation of you just belittling him? You know, the great thing about the beetles. Did John let him say that hurts, man. They had a great sense of humor. They were funny guys, right? All of them. And they really was never, there was never, you never felt ego ever with those guys. They're working class lads. They were, they never pulled. Yeah. I think that they remembered that all the time. Paul McCartney would walk in a room and he'd be your best friend. Uh-huh. Like he's known you forever. I have a friend who has a theory. That the stones never broke up because they grew up middle class. And the beetles had to break up because they were working class. Yeah. There's something about the stones where they could like persist and like have basically a business and a career together as like a partnership. And the beetles background like prohibited that. I'm pretty sure the beetles were aliens. Yeah. Because nobody writes that many good songs in a row. It was the two of them, right? Yeah. But George wrote great songs. Well, they're mean to them. They even won great songs. I mean, it was minor key, but it was the best. I mean, yeah. Frank Sasha says something is the best love song of all time, you know? Yeah. But they were still, he was still a younger kid from high school. Yeah. They still like, we're like, your, your guitar plays actually needs to get a little bit better. Like, yeah. Well, Paul said an interesting thing. He said that he says, John and I have perfect pitch. He says, George was just a little bit sharp. And he says, and that gave it that sizzle. Yeah. That kind of sizzle in the, in the harmonies. I never thought about that, but that's, it's pretty cool. So you just know all these guys. You just know. Well, your whole life is just a different version of the traveling wheelbears, every room you're in. If you would have told me when I was 16, that I was going to even be in the same building as a beetle. I would have gone. I'm mad at you, belittled. Are you kidding? No. It's insane. Yeah, it is. It doesn't make any sense at all. And then you get to a point where you meet everybody. You know, and you meet everybody. And they just, you realize you're all in the same game, but still you idolize them. You know? The sense I get is like, there's like the rocker that's destructive, bridge burning. Rocks are, like, I, I, the sense I get is that you're just a great guy. And people like you a lot. I think that it confused me with the character. Yeah. The character Alice is a whole different thing. Now, when I play Alice, it's like playing Captain Hook. It's like playing Dracula. It's like playing, it's a character that I jump into. And I get to be this villain. I get to be this, well, and I don't mind this villain slipping on a banana peel once in a while. You know? Because it's funny. There's a slapstick nature to it. Oh, a vaudeville. Total vaudeville. You know? There's something, yeah. It's very old showbiz. And I watched your manager's chef. I watched his documentary, a supermanager. Yeah. Mike Myers. Mike Myers. But like, uh, there's something about how like, like a Jewish guy be like, we're going to come up with an act. He's like, your music, it's terrible. We were the producers. It's just a horrible music. I don't like this kind of music, but I'm thinking maybe spider webs. Maybe spooky Halloween. And it like works. Yeah. There's something very old school stories. We were totally the producers. Yeah. You know, we were, we were saying we were honestly terrible. I can't stand it. And he wanted a 120 told Bob. I was really so come. They can't sound more like, you know, the stylistics. And Bob says, Chef, just take care of the business. Okay. Why not a song that's nice? Why not something I kept it in to Neil? What is this thing? Chef will admit. I have no idea if it's good or bad rock and roll wise. What he describes seeing your first, the first time he saw your gig. Yeah. I think Hendrick said you should manage this guy. Yeah. Well, he was the first guy that ever went, he, man, try this. You smoked a pot with it. He was the first time I ever smoked it. I smoked weed with Obama. First time I ever did. Did you? Yeah. Oh, that's cool. That's like a real thing that he won't believe in. That's even cooler. Obama, yeah, I smoked pot with it. He said, I said, I didn't want to. He said, you're pussy if you don't smoke. And I was like, come on, Obama. Stop. That's it. And I was like, come on, Obama, stop. That's inappropriate. He's like, you know where, you know where the bodies are buried. I don't know anything, dude. I'm a, I'm a loser. But, uh, no, but he said that he just, he watched your act. And he's like, he's like, I thought it was awful. And he's like, we're gonna make them into like the most hated band in America. And like, he's like, it's gonna be sexual, it's gonna be violent. And it was like kind of a good concept where it's like, you were kind of the first rock act to be, I guess, to, I guess have horror elements to actually, like, you know, like Elvis, I don't think one in parents to like be mad at him, right? He just, I don't, I think he just was who he was. And, and people were not used to hearing black music out of a white guy. - Yeah. - And then on top of it, he was. - He was shaking his dick around. - He was right there, you know. - Yeah. - So that was a shocking thing. But now, who doesn't love Elvis? I mean, you know. - Well, their daughters did. And they were like, I don't understand. Our daughters are sliding out of their chairs. And we're like, we can't have this in our homes. - That's right. - But the Beatles though, when the Beatles of the Stones, my parents loved the Beatles. - Yeah. - But when the Stones came out, they went. Well, I went out. These guys are a little bit. - They're acting black. - Yeah, they're probably on drugs, you know. - And now, then after that, they loved the Stones. - When I, when I was a kid, I thought you had to like one of them. I thought you had to either be Beatles or Stones. - You're right. - So I was Beatles. And then when I was, when I started getting horny for chicks, then I got the Stones. - Yeah, yeah. - You're in the street. - But there's something about it where the Beatles are like, I want to hold your hand, doesn't really get it. - Well, that's all pop. They were the greatest pop band of all time. - They were the best band of all time. - Yeah. And they were actually very good lives. That was the thing. They weren't just a recording band. They were a really good live band. But the Stones were like, they were a bar band, you know. And in other words, we toured with them one time. And I said, Charlie, do you guys know any endings? And he goes, no, we just end up somewhere. (laughs) - What do you think of the fact that British guys like made the best bands? - Helping over. - It's our shit. - And then we set it over there. And then they, I don't know. - Well, they always wanted to be called Blues bands. They didn't want to be rockin' roll bands. - Yeah. - You know, they all went, no, we're R&B. - Yeah. - The who said that, the yard version said that, kinks, the animals, they all said, no, we're R&B. 'Cause that was a cool thing in America, it was R&B. That's what's where it came from, Detroit, you know. - Well, you couldn't even get it in the UK. - No. - I think Keith Richards talks about how he, used to have to write into chess records in Chicago. Again, they've just said like, lead belly records. - Well, they have their pirate radio. - But why don't we let these pedophile bastards go to the British, come back and show us up and our thing. Rockin' Rolls. - It was the weirdest thing. Honestly, every week we turn on Hullabaloo or Shindig. And there'd be another band from England, we go. - How many bands are there over there that are good? They're all good. - We get our asses. - Yeah, they're, that's cool. Well, of course we're gonna copy them. We didn't want to be the four seasons and we didn't want to be the Beach Boys. We wanted to be that. - It's really amazing, as a cultural exchange, like it's like, yeah, these pasty, weird guys, like hear black guys in America's music and then give it back to us and then t-edge girls like started masturbating, you know. - I'm telling you, it was the strangest time in music. It really was a very strange time. We look at it now and we go, oh yeah, that was cool too. It was very weird because I picked up a Rolling Stones record. We, you know, the whole band was hit there, listen. And go, oh man, these are great songs. We kind of looked at it, Willie Dixon. - Yeah. - You know, lead better, you know, lead belly, all these blues, write any of these songs. This is all our music. When it comes to, like, the horror elements, like the blues definitely had a lot of that confused into it. Like, yeah, like I put a spell on you. There were, there were these elements of like, or like Robert Johnson's only his soul to the devil. There was something, like a history there. But like, when I, when you're act first broke, was it a response to like the hippie-dippy '60s? - Yeah, we were not hippies at all. - Yeah, we were like, fuck you. - Yeah, we just didn't understand the hippie thing at all. We were much more, I don't know what it was with the band, but these five guys are in the band. All were much more, we all grew up on horror movies. We all grew up on the Twilight Zone. We all grew up on that. And you add that to rock and roll. And then you throw a little West Side story in. And then you throw a little bit of Broadway in. And a little bit of this. And it just ended up being what we were. - So we didn't mind throwing in "I Spy" the "I Spy" theme in a song. You know, because that was who we were. - There's something about you when you describe, 'cause how many shows a year do you play? - 150. - How old are you? - A 78. - This is insane. - Yeah. - Are you golf six times a week? - Every day. - Hey, you didn't say that. - You know, that's weird to me too. I don't, well, I got sober forty-three years ago. - You still have sex. - Oh yeah. - I don't believe it. - Yeah. - You live in like Hawaii. - No, I mean, honestly, if you were gonna, if I woke up today and they'd say how old are you, I'd say 40? - I gave up on sex. I'm 30 years. I just discussed it. What's the point? No, I, but there's something about you where like, if you see Jason Alexander walking down the street, he played this iconic character, George Cassanza. And you see George, right? And there are a lot of people that are like, it bugs them. They're like, I'm actually way more than George Cassanza. They were like, shut up George. It's such a George thing for you to say. But your attitude to your character is that you love it. - Oh yeah. You're like, not like, I'm too big for this. - No, no, no. - No, like, I'm more like Alice. - I am grateful. - So who is Alice? - Well, this character was a bit of every, he was my favorite rock star. He's my favorite rock star. I created him to be my favorite. If I was in the audience, I'd go, what do I want him to wear? - Yeah. - He's gotta look like Emma Peel, you know? He's gotta be all black leather at all this. - Yeah. - And then what do I want the face to look like? Baby Jane, cake to make up. Not correct at all, you know? So it's sort of indefinable. That's what I wanted. I want, in fact, Alice never talks to an audience because that makes him human. - 'Cause he's rude. - Yeah. So I keep him just. - Oh, it's like a theatrical work. - Oh yeah. - It's a play that I'll talk to you. - I play the character. But it's fun to play. - You love him. - Yeah. - Yeah. - How do you become him? - Like that. I'll be talking, the curtain's down. I'm in full Alice. My guitar player's over here. I'm going, okay, hey, we're playing Hazelteen tomorrow. Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada, Dada. Curtain goes up and it's, oh, really? Curtain comes down and then I go, and about eight o'clock. Well, we'll be exposed to you now. So they switch right in the way. - You're pro. - Yeah. Well, for a while, they'll take you a while to get to the level. - Yeah, there was a gray area. There was a real gray area. - Yeah, you got fucked up. - Where I didn't know where he began and I ended, really. You know, I'd go out, I've got some popularity. And I go, now, do I have to go and make up if I go to the restaurant? - Well, you did change your name. - Do I need a snake? - You know, to, and they finally got you a point that was driving me crazy when I got sober. I went, ah, okay, there's me and there's him. - Did you, when you first got sober, because you were an alcoholic in the set. - Yeah. - I mean, you were with John Lennon and Harry Hilson. - I did a whole callex. - You were doing drugs with the coolest guys ever. If you didn't do drugs with them, I would be like, you're a loser. - I don't know. - You have to do drugs with a constant party. - But like, when you first got sober, was there a fear that you couldn't do Alice without being fucked up? - It's amazing. It's, it, my, when I first show. - Yeah. - As Alice, without the alcoholic drugs. - Yeah. - I probably wore a circle in the rug, you know, walking around and just go, what if he didn't show up? I mean, honestly, what if he didn't show up and I get out there and I'm like, all this and I'm, hello, you know, I'm Jerry Lewis or something. - You're doing, but what if the best professor? - Was the early Alice was this. He was the whipping boy. He was the, you know, he was the part of society that you just beat up on, you know? This new Alice was Alan Rickman. - Yeah, really. - It was this really over the top. - Stay villain. - Mr. Poto. - Yeah, I was just like condescending to the audience. Oh, you know, royalty. - Yeah. - Sort of vampire royalty. - And you were probably better at doing it. - A hundred times. - Yeah, it was so much more fun to play that game. - Sure, because you were fucked up. - But I never got high on stage. - Yeah. - Never drank on stage. - You were drunk before you got it. - But I mean, when I was on stage, I was totally clear. - Oh, yeah. - I saw whatever was going on. But I tried to act like I was drunk. - And I never got drunk, really. I just kept this Dean Martin golden buzz going. - Yeah. - You know, I was never there. - There's a type of guy that could just be drunk his whole life. - It could just be in a golden buzz the whole time. - Those guys are. - But it was killing me. - Yeah, yeah, you were going to die. - How many times have you come close to kick the bucket? - Well, you know, being in that era, we were all-- - Everyone died. - Well, they died at 27. - Yeah, it wasn't just dying. All the guys we drank and got high were dead at 27. - In the documentary that I watched yesterday, sorry to keep referencing it, but he's like, and in that room was Janice Chaplin, Jimmy Hendricks. - Jim Morrison. - And Jim Morrison. Did you kill all it's like are you serious? No, they were the 27 club right there Yeah, just in the same room and then one Jewish man that's mysteriously still alive and had sex with all these women It was a very strange thing honestly when you think of it. It was it's almost as if it was almost written It's like it almost seems like somebody wrote that script. Yeah, you know, I get I yeah, I it's just It has to be half not true. I every story is just perfect He's like I heard a woman being raped and I ran outside of this she punched me in the face And then I tried to apologize and it was Janice Joplin and she was having sex with Jimmy Hendrix She said I'm not being raped. I'm having sex on the diving board. Yeah, the swimming pool. Well, who haven't you met that you That you would like that was a lot of weird things. There's certain people that I never met and I never met Tom Petty Really is that weird why and just we weren't in the same circles, you know really everybody else though You know and and I found the everything I found was the bigger they were the nicer they were Yeah, because life sucks because everyone's trying to these guys already did it. They have nothing to prove Yeah, you know Sinatra was great Elvis was great Dylan was great the Beatles were great Yeah, and it was always the guys on their way up that were jerks Yeah, because life must be so lonely to be one of those guys because everyone is trying to like say the coolest thing They've ever said and then walking away like oh god. I blew it. Well Elvis was tragic because I mean he did had no life at all. He's so low. He was so alone. Yeah, and that guns and Whatever he was chewing There I am standing with a loaded 38 on Elvis. You were it is in Vegas. Yeah, I did you and who else was there? Liza Mandelli and Chubby checker and well the poor what's her name? Oh, Linda Loveless. Yeah, amazing So we went up and When he comes in the room. It's like hey man. First of all when you walked in the room. This was not fat drug Delvis This was Elvis Elvis. Uh-huh, and he he was the room. I mean he walked in and everybody's like wow He goes hey, man. You're that cap from Detroit, right? I kept with the snakes. Yeah, that dig that man And he say he said come here. I want to show you something We're in the kit just me and him. Yeah, it opens the drawer and hands me a loaded 38 And he says I'm gonna show you how to take a gun out of somebody's hand. Yeah That's a little devil goes shoot him Yeah, you shoot him and you can't take this rock story of all time. Yeah, let's go for shoot Elvis Imagine you murder Elvis. Everyone's like the snake eye. We should see it a little angel said that wound him don't kill him Yeah, she's doing it the way. He's like I was trying to By that time the gun's out of my hand. I'm on the floor and this boot is in my neck. I have to go to Elvis Really in front of Liza Manelli. Yeah, no, it was just me and him. That's terrifying. Yeah, I know. Isn't that weird? Did he in part any wisdom or he just gave you a loaded gun? This was the weirdest thing after that He said you want to see my most pros present? I see my penis. Yeah, and I went we went in his bedroom He closes the door to what we went. No, he opens the door and he pulls out this envelope and he he says last night He says we all leave in the club. We'll all leave in the place and a bunch of cowboys want to fight me It's three cowboys want to fight me. I call my guys off and I fight all three of them He takes out these X-rays. He goes to broke the guy's collarbone right here He says and the uncle. He says smash this guy's ankle and I'm going. This is your most prized possession from last night But it was there's only connection with the outside world. Yeah, you those guys don't go to the supermarket Yeah, yeah, he couldn't go play pool. He couldn't go to a movie couldn't go And he's white trash from fucking Memphis and all his and he brought his boys up with it Well, they're all shooting if the TV itself if I give you the biggest mansion in the world Okay, and so you can have anything you want all day all night, but you can't leave the mansion You'll find a way to kill yourself No, anything I want no eventually you'll eat yourself to death. You'll drug yourself to death. You'll die of a You know a sexual disease How do I know way I have a doctor, but anything I want I ask for a doctor. You know what? It's a good. I wait. Yeah, but the doctors are killing everybody the doctor wouldn't kill me Michael Jackson is doctor codrad Murray Do you mean Michael? Yeah, I knew Michael would be that big only a couple people that are like God gave us them and we walk we share to play it with Michael Yeah, I love watching clips of him singing who's loving you because he's like he's like seven But you're singing like an adult man who a woman is ruined his life And like he's just pouring this emotion out into the performance and it's like oh, yeah That's because God gave him I'm telling you. He was the most talented guy He was unbelievably talented my wife teaches ballet and jazz right. She says look at his hands Hands are perfect when he's dancing. He says feet are great, but his hands are great You say Bob Fossy apparently. Yeah, exactly. Who's your favorite guitarist Jeff Beck. Yeah, Jeff Beck was you know I've talked to open char players, and they would go we're here here here, and then there's Jeff. Yeah You know you open you famously open for what you were young we were sixteen opening for the yardbirds and We did we were the yardbirds band you were all their songs before them You're fucked and then we look back and they're going they're in the back of the room going like this And then they got on stage and page is watching you. He's like oh, yeah, go ahead You know, Jeff Beck and he gets it and then they got on stage and blew us off the stage. I can back your sixteen. Yeah Believe me we were so stoked to play with them And that what did you get that gig? Well, we were the house band at this at the club back then Those bands didn't play arenas they played rock clubs show business used to be awesome. Yeah, we opened in that club We opened for the hollies them The yardbirds Every band that came to we were the opening act because we were the house band So when they said the yardbirds are coming in we went Wait a minute. We we play all yardbirds songs Did they not do the the venue? They loved it. They loved the fact that we did their songs and they just smashed you guys and then they got on stage And they they were the yardbirds. Yeah This episode is brought to you by ebay live. Here's how it goes First you're just watching ebay live seeing some rare finds not even bidding just lurking and then you see a rare rookie card go for an absolute steal a 90s handbag comes up and you have to jump in maybe put that Put that rookie card in the handbag Maybe you lose your first auction you bid again and win and that winning feeling It's such a rush because you know everyone else wanted it to Meanwhile on ebay live you don't just watch the action you're in it download the ebay app to stream and shop live ebay live things people love Going back to the joe jackson point what a sense like it is that you had really Your parents were religious. You were doing this like spooky scary. Oh my that was a pastor my granddad was a pastor It was almost it was like played with elements of a Satanism kind of like imagery like but they were also supportive parents And I think that's maybe why you're well adjusted. Yeah, my parents were very they were you know, they were very religious You know, but at the same time My dad Was very cool and my mom was very cool. They listen to music and they went. Oh, yeah, that's cool They said my dad says I love the music. I love the show because he saw there was nothing satanic in the show Yeah, it was it was more schlock Vodville you know you had that yeah, and And he says I think I that's fine He's what I can't deal with is sleeping around taking drugs the lifestyle. He says I can't condone. Did you promise him? You would never do it Well, I was 18 at the time. So you know, I mean, I was told I will never have sex dad I swear to god You were born in Detroit though Yeah, and you had a near you had health issues. I had asthma. So I couldn't stay you know, but but I'm still a loyal Detroiter even that is like from the 1890s. It's like I had to go where there was to the to the desert air Well, I was exactly I had to go someplace where the burn it out of me, you know, but Detroit was the Rock City MC5 that was stew just stew just are you closely? Oh, yeah, yeah, we grew up together pretty much, you know I mean god There's so he'd get in there's so many stories about him. He's so tan. Yeah, he's got a great tan Well, he at that time he was the greatest punk of all time. Yeah, he was he was punk. Yeah, there was nothing more punk than him And the band was They didn't go away from that they're fucking like they were just animals, you know, yeah, did you ever be death? Yeah, I knew that we saw them, but you know, they all black they weren't like They were like an entity really at that time. Yeah, yeah, you know, they're like a they're like a punk. Yeah, they were black punk depth metal. Yeah You you broke in Detroit, right? Yeah, we've to LA. You were kind of like fucking you were well, you know LA belong to the doors. Yeah, and it belonged to love and those bands. Yeah, San Francisco It was it was Jefferson Air play in the grateful dead in New York was the rascals You know that that the only place that we fit in was Detroit Because it was hard rock and it was attitude. Yeah every band if you went to Detroit with a soft rock band that killed you. - Yeah. - They wanted attitude. - Air support. - Yeah, it's just, yeah. - They were destroyed. - Yeah, you imagine that, you know, it doesn't work. - Oh, that's that one. - You had to come in with a bunch of attitude and you better be loud and you better be angry. - So like, yeah, I guess like, when you broke, it was kind of like the end of the '60s hippie. Like, when you'd Manson had happened. - Yeah, he had already made hippies dangerous now. - Yeah, yeah. - You know, the government. - And we took it, we said, well, if you're gonna be dangerous, that'd be really, yeah, let's be like, have an edge. But you kind of are credited with like, someone that kind of infused rock and roll with that, you know. I mean, you and Ozzie are obviously, there's the bat story and the chicken story, you know? - Exactly, yeah. - There's a lot of similarities there. - For someone that created something that is now just, so that's what we think of rock and roll, is that it's dangerous or-- - It was already outlaw. We were already outlaws because we didn't, we weren't pop, we were attitude, right? And so there's all, there was no internet then. So everything you did on stage got blown out of proportion. - Uh-huh, yeah. - If it was a five foot snake, it was a 25 foot snake. By the time it got to school the next day. - It's so funny because like, in those days, it's like, when you see that video of Dylan, it's like going electric. And like, you see the like, people of the causes, they're like, it's horrible. Like, I came here for a folk cut, like, an electric guitar was like scary to people at that time, you know? But like, and your parents saw Mick Jagger, like, I don't know, acting kind of like, he was a black eye movie, but they were like, "Ah, Mick Jagger was James Brown." - Right, he was doing James Brown, exactly. But like, nowadays like, if I'm considering that or seeing that through a 20, 26 lens, I'm like, it's kind of like, I can't understand why people were afraid of it. Like, for you as having a stage act and the image, as Ellis Cooper, he's got a snake and makeup on. And this is 1968. - Yeah, was there pressure to like, step it up? Like, as society changed. - Oh, every time, yeah. - Every time we tried to up, we had to go further. - Was there a lie that you were like, I'm not gonna do that. - We never knew where we never got to that point where what can we, by that time we were already hit it. We already made it. And people wanted to see the guillotine. They wanted to see the gallows. They wanted to see all the stuff. What was important to us was, if it was a five hour rehearsal, four hours was on the music. - Yeah. - I mean, if you didn't have the cake, you couldn't put the icing on it, you know. So you had to be a great band back then. And then you could do that. - It was a meritocracy. - Yeah, but you had to be really something people go, "I love this band." Oh, and look what they do. - What's the scariest thing to you? - Scariest, you know, to me, I work on fear. - Yeah. - I like the idea that Alice has to prove himself every single night. - Yeah. - What's scary to you as a guy, though? - Other owls. - Needles, needles, needles. Like I, I could put my head in a guillotine, but I can't, a blood test. - Yeah. - Yeah. - And needles. - I could never be a junkie because of needles. - How do you cut your head off every night? - Oh, that's, she cuts my head off every night. My wife. - That's amazing. - That's the most, of course I stabbed her. - This was beautiful love of all time. - It really is. I killed her and she kills me in the show. - Do you ever think about what's at the bottom of the ocean? - I think scary. - That's scary. - The Meg is down there. - Yeah, that's kind of scary. - I want that. - Yeah. - I want some day to do that thing to eat a sh-- - Yeah. - A, you know, destroyer or something. - Racism scary. - Yeah, it is. - Yeah. - We thought that was gone. - Well, Eric laughed at it. - Yeah, well, I mean, we, we, it was all over. And that was still going. - It's back. Racism is back. - Yeah. - Yeah, people are doing like 18 to 80 racism. - Yeah. - They're like measuring skulls and putting meaches on wounds. - Yeah. - Obviously the name, like having a, like a kind of, an old lady's name, Alice Cooper, was supposed to be like kind of subversive, but also like in your stage get-ups, like a gender bed thing and stuff like that. - Yeah. - Like, what's that? Like, I guess like a, does it feel like you're like, kind of like a queer icon or something? You know, we never thought of that. - Right. - Honestly, that never occurred to us. - Or was it just scary to be where you grew up? - It was, I figured that if you went on stage you had black leather pants and boots. And you had your girlfriend slip on, but it was all torn and bloody. - Yeah. - You immediately, the audience really goes, what happened? You're already, they're already into the theater a bit. Like, well, what happened? - And then the makeup is smeared and you have attitude on top of that? - Yeah. - Then you're already in the middle of a drama. - Yeah. - When you first walk out, everybody goes like this. - Uh-huh. - Yeah. I guess Bowie also could, could temporary at the time. He was also doing that. - Who was that? - David Bowie. - Well, Bowie, Bowie used to come to our shows in England. - Yeah. - And he would bring the spiders from Mars. And he'd go, this is what we need to do. - Yeah. - So you inspired him. - Yeah. - It's crazy that everybody wanted there to be a big problem with Bowie and I, or Kiss and I. - Yeah. - And my idea was, I was sort of the Zigfield. You know, I broke down that door that if you were theatrical and you looked theatrical, you couldn't have hit records. Well, we had hit records and we were this. - Yeah. - So that opened the door for Bowie. - So you were like, you're proud to inspire. - Oh, absolutely. There was never, it was come. You were competitive, of course. - There had to have been some shit. - But you were friends. - There had to be some copy catch bulls. I mean, Bowie's like inspired by you. That's a, that's a cool thing. - That he was a space guy. - But if there has to be, there has to be some dog shit. Like, we're doing an Alice Cooper thing. - Oh yeah. - Yeah. - Who's the worst one? - At the time, it was wasp. - Wasp. - Yeah. - Wasp. - They were heavy metal. And, you know, the whole thing. And they kind of like- - They chose a different bug. - Yeah, they took every kind of thing and redid it. - Yeah, yeah. - But you know, that never bothered me. I didn't, they saw it. - That was a compliment to me. - You're good. - Yeah, you know. - As long as we did it better, that's all I cared about. - Yeah. Do you get along with everyone? You had to have had like some fucking guys that you were like, fuck this guy. - No. - No one never really met anybody. I didn't. - No problem. - There was somebody back there. - Somebody probably hated me, but I never met them. - No, but you were like this fucking guy again. - I wish I could think of somebody. - You know, in your mind, you're thinking of the guy right now but you're not gonna say it. - He's too nice. He's a God-fearing Christian. - Well, what it was was, I was very non-confrontational. And I, we sought this. - More is it that these guys better than me as doing this than he should be doing it. But, you know, one time somebody asked me this, "What's the difference with a good show and a great show?" I said, "I don't know, I've never done a good show." - You just wanted to do a good show. - It was just, every show had to be the best show. - Was Jim Morrison a little bit annoying? - He was great. He was so handsome. - He was ridiculous, you know? - We toured with them and they'd start out with, you know, when the music's over, the band. - Yeah. - All the girls and they're like this. - And here comes his guy out there. He looks like the statue of David, right? - He takes a cigarette, lights it. - Yeah! - He never Googles, oh, so funny. - He was so good on stage. - He had the fastest, like, pure sexy guy to, like, fat. - He was a torturing poet. - And it all happened like every girl was gonna fix him. - Yeah, also with the gender writing stuff, it must have driven guys nuts that girls wanted to fuck you and Bowie. They must have been like, "What the hell, why, why?" - You know, Morrison was that, ADA didn't even try to be a sex symbol, he just was. - He was born with it. - And he had it, he had that thing that you can't explain. - I remember my mother, when Bowie's name would be mentioned, she'd just have a smile like this, and it was like, "Well, Bowie even confused me." - He looks like a girl. - Yeah. - Well, I would watch it and I'd go, 'cause we never came off as feminine. We came off as more west side story. I mean, we were more ganged. - It's kind of, we were more clustered orange. - The idea was kind of a little, we were violent, you know, whereas Bowie's story is a little bit, you're like dancing, hopping. - Yeah. - Little Fred Astero there. - I love the LA period. I love like young Americans. - Yeah, yeah, young Americans won the best records. - Yeah, yeah. Luther, it does back-of-focals on it. - Yeah, yeah. - You just know everyone. - Luther Vandross. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Can you call Paul McCartney right now? - Give him his phone. - You had this really beautiful relationship with Groucho Marx. - Yeah, Groucho was great. - And you could tell the story about the end of his life, but like you were kind of his, like-- - He was-- - Protector, he came to see our show. And he saw it as Vodville. - Yeah. - It was what it was. - It was a big act. - Yeah, it was an act. He says, you know, I get it. He says, this is rock and roll. We did it this way. - Yeah. - But it's Vodville. He immediately picked that out. So the next time we'd be on, there'd be George Burns on the side of the stage. stage. And, you know, I mean, Jack Betty, watching the show. And they got it. Yeah. George Woods is saying, yeah, 1929, you know, Gracie and I, you know. So I like, work for the guy I did the, uh, did the guillotine only, uh, doves would fly out of his, you know, and we were going, this is great. It's May West. People like that would come to see the show. Yeah. And that was the coolest thing ever for us. So Groucho happened to be a, an insomniac. So after we got to know each other pretty well, I'd get a call at one in the morning, you know, Alice can't sleep. Come on over. Yeah. You know, and he'd have a chair next to the bed. He'd be in bed with his beret on a cigar. I'd chair with a six pack of Budweiser. And there's a television. Anyway, and we'd watch old movies. You know, and the guy would write up on the white horse like this and like this. And he said, see that guy? I go, yeah, he says, gay, gay. What guy? I don't know if it was Randolph Scott or somebody like that, you know, what's the, what's the craziest gossip you gave you about? Oh, no, he, you never paid a file. You never knew what to believe. Really? Because he could have been on. Yeah. He was always on. Yeah. Yeah. He was a genius. But he was great. If you went to his house for dinner, you had to perform. Really? Yeah. So you had to bring it to the dinner. And then Marvin Hamill should have it be on piano. And if you were a singer, you had to dance. If you're a comedian, you had to be dramatic. You couldn't do what you do. Uh-huh. It was the craziest, but what dance did you do? I did. I did. Oh, I did exotic dance. The tattooed lady. The tattooed lady. It was a, it's a song that Groucho did in a movie. It was a lady, a lady, a lady, a tattooed lady. What's the most nervous you've been around like in a roomful of legends? This is, you know, you get to that. You're always going to go, oh, wow, you know, Sinatra, you know, blah, blah. I'm playing golf at Oakland Hills in Detroit. And so when he says, LK line's behind us, LK line was my Mickey Mantle when I was this big in Detroit. The tie is the greatest tiger of all time. I was him and Tiger Cobb. And I went because it was, are you kidding me? My, to this day, I only collect LK line stuff. And he's right there. I was the most nervous I was ever. As someone that's gotten sober, he's helped out other people. Your, your passion is golf now. You play, play every day. The booze with, I'm so happy to know you play golf. We played yesterday because to prep for this, we had no work done. Yeah. It was a beautiful day. Yeah. Yeah. Forest Park. Have you, just a random question to pop to my mind, have you reached out to Tiger ever? Played right behind Tiger at the Pebble Beach. Yeah. He gave me one of the best compliments of all time. What the fuck is? Okay. So they asked, they were asking him about celebrity golfers. Yeah. And he would go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. They said, Alice Cooper. And he says, I wouldn't give him to a side. I wow. What was your best handicap ever? Well, I was scratch, but my best round was 65. 65? Yes. Seven under. How old were you? I was, I was about five years ago. Five? Oh, okay. Yeah. So Andrew, you, well, I shoot my age, under my age every day. I'm a four handicap. Really? Yeah. You know what I had on the show, Laurie Povitch. He's an unreal golfer. No, no, no, a couple of guys. The drummer for no doubt. Really? Is great player. Um, Kenny G. Now, he's unreal. It can really play. But it's so good. It flared at it. Do we as a Zappa? Really? Pretty, pretty clear. Based on the music, it kind of matches. Yeah. Well, I was shocked when I realized that he was a player. What was it like? You played with Trump. And what was it like seeing someone shoot an 18? You know, it's funny. That bike. I played behind Trump. You played behind it. So, you know, it was always one of those things where you was holding every single hole. Yeah. Yeah. He was, uh, apparently is. He's a pretty good stick. Yeah. He can do it. He hits it straight. Yeah. I saw, I saw a video of him in Bryson, D. Shambo. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, he, he roaps. Yeah, I can hit it. Yeah. And I don't look at the, I forget the politics. I want to see a swing. You know, when I hit the sheet, I went, not bad. This Trump cheat. That goal. I mean, I know, first of all, I don't know anybody that doesn't cheat and golf. You have to have to lie to your friends. I mean, if you're playing a tournament, you can't, you can't, of course. But, you know, if you're playing with your friends, yeah, move the ball, get a better lie. Have you reshots a tiger? It seems like he's had a kind of a rough go of it. You know, tiger, well, we don't even one thing about tiger. Yeah. He's the best driver and the worst driver at the same time. Oh my God. I hope my audience understands that that was great. We're hitting new demos on this. I'm hoping that we break into the Boomer. I'm like a Boomer. Like he was the Beatles. You love golf. I cried when he won the Masters when he came back with it. It was like, uh, when I was a kid, I had, I used to get sports illustrated for kids. And it was always tiger and Grant Hill. Those were the two guys. Yeah. Oh, isn't it? But like, I, we thought we'd never see him again. No, right? And then, uh, and then he wins. I mean, he can't write that. I saw him in the red. It was Sunday and yeah, yeah, yeah. But I just like, yeah, I get really sad. But, you know, you think about, think about when there's somebody that's so much better than second place. Yeah. Then you start thinking alien, you know, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, the Beatles. Yeah. Nobody really close. Uh-huh. You know, tiger. Nobody really close. I just used to love seeing Phil Mickelson just each shit on a Sunday. I used to play with Phil when he was in college at ASU. Really? And you had to have money in your pocket. Really? It doesn't matter if it's a quarter or quarter million. He had to have action going. Well, you know, you get it. NCAA. That was against the rules. We passed on $100 bill back and force about 10 times the amateur athlete. You should have done that. I broke the law. He won the Tucson Open as an amateur. Yeah. Yeah. And then he just used to get just the, his face of despair every Sunday when tiger was a vice-coff. Yeah, vice-coff to the Salieri. Right? To some of the stuff. One thing that's really, I really like about learning more about you is that you, and the book, guys, devil on my shoulder. It's, it's, it's literally, this man is, I surprised it's this short. Like, yeah, oh no, it could be another volume. Yeah. Oh, but you're like, love of this character that you've created and comforted it and love of like, doing the, the, the key to you, they coming out in a white tux and like, doing the finale of your show and like, um, is that what keeps you going? Is it the crowd? I never get tired of it. I never get tired of going on stage. So when COVID hit, we had 18 months off. Yeah. I was going insane. Yeah. You know, because we're used to doing 150 shows a year, every year since, you know, since 1968. Yeah. So I would, I was going through withdrawals, yeah, going, come on. Let's go. Uh-huh. We thought maybe it was over. Did you, did you, did you make your wife do the guillotine or just the, yeah, don't, no, here's the funny thing about Cheryl. Still crazy after all these years. We'll be walking down, you know, we'll be in a K-Mart, you know, walking along and I'm talking to her and I'm going, you know, when you, what I slit your throat, she says, when you're slitting my throat, make sure that the blade is catching the light so that they get, and there's people are going to bite cereal going, what? I think housekeepers about to murder this, this credit, but much younger woman. You guys have been together 50 years. I think we should give it up to that 50 years, 50 years. We just have a 50th anniversary. See, really? All right. How do you make it work after 50 years? We just don't fight. Don't fight. Never fight. Never fight. Not once. One of you is, no. No, both of us are fighting. No fighting. What do you, how is it possible? No, we just disagree on things, but we don't fight. Really? She's too cool to fight. She's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. We suck. Yeah. They're awesome. Well, I always say our wives keep us civilized. Yeah. Oh, yeah. We have to be benches or else them think of what we would be. I would be terrible. I'd be awful. I would ruin my life more than I already have. You lived such a big life. It's not fainter, honestly, but you deserve it too, right? One thing you look back on, you're like, I wish I could have done that one thing differently. You know, the only thing I really wish I would have done was continued playing guitar. Really? When I first started, I played a little bit of guitar, right? Yeah. And then I got two guys in the band that could really play. Yeah. And I kind of went well, put that away. You know, I wish I would have continued playing guitar. So you wouldn't like save Jimmy Hendrix's life for it? No. I mean, those guys were, those guys were just so far beyond anything. That era of guitar playing, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff, come on. You know, this, Alex, you're, you're an absolute legend. And I really appreciate your time. Well, thank you. I just like, uh, no one has That's a bad word to say. like I've like and all my friends that are in music I told them you were coming in They're just ecstatic. It was guys my age. It's been a pleasure. Can we play? [Music]