Alice Cooper still shock rockin' the boat

Detroit coughed up a shocking new rock n' roller named Alice in a day when most of its famous offspring were automobiles.

As Motor City rolled out one new vehicle after another, they rocked to a beat that can still be heard today in newer, just as visual acts from the White Stripes to Insane Clown Posse and Kid Rock.

He was macabre before Marilyn Manson picked up his first tube of lipstick, but Cooper wants to be remembered for more than his skill with an eyeliner pencil. He has a rock legacy now to protect, after all, which began more than three decades ago when rock was abuzz with the exciting strains of groups like Iggy Pop & Stooges, MC5 and Ted Nugent.

The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves,” Cooper recalled.

I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easygoing sound and strangle the life out of it.”

Exactly the kind of controversial, off color remark that has garnered this son of a preacher, born Vincent Furnier in 1948, legions of fans fed up with “hypocritical politicians, the Brady Bunch and the America of soft drink commercials.”

It's been a bumpy rock road full of hits, misses, platinum success and downright flops.

The showy front man began his career in his native Phoenix, Arizona as a member of the Earwigs, but it wasn't until he moved with the group to Los Angeles and infuriated hordes of concert goers as the Spiders that Cooper truly came into his own. They were the anti-hippie movement, wearing their revolutionary style like a badge of honor and scaring the living daylights out of every adult in sight.

We’d play exactly what we wanted to play and people would just get insulted and walk out on us. The more they were angered and shocked, the more we fed off that. I think it had the opposite effect it was supposed to.”

That sat just fine with another controversial music man, Frank Zappa, who penned a deal with the group for his label, Straight Records. The boys changed their collective name to Alice Cooper (allegedly after a witch who communicated with the front man during a Ouija board session) and unveiled an acid rock debut, Pretties for You, which was virtually ignored by critics and fans alike.

Their next release, Easy Action, didn’t fair much better, but did get the band a deal with Warner Bros. 1971’s Love It to Death followed and finally scored the group a hit with the angst-ridden teen anthem “Eighteen,” which helped bring Killer (1972), School’s Out (1972), Billion Dollar Babies (1973) and Muscle of Love (1974) to mainstream America.

As each found gold record glory, the strain became noticeable within the inner confines of the band. In 1974, Cooper left the group and simultaneously became Alice Cooper, the man.

There were songs that hit on radio, like “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” but I think most of our fans came around because of the stage shows. You can’t hang or guillotine someone on stage and not hear about it the next day. They came for the show and stayed for the music.”

Soon, other rockers like KISS began copying Cooper’s crowd-pleasing, ghoulish appearance and attention-getting antics. With every pierced baby doll that oozed fake blood or live snake magic trick, Cooper became less and less the Phoenix garage bandleader and more a musical icon. He also became a Marvel Comic hero, a cameo king (“The Muppets” and “Celebrity Squares,” to name two) and the poster boy for a new generation marching wholeheartedly towards nowhere in particular.

But with fame came the inevitable downside, which for Cooper meant a spiral into alcoholism that he’s since conquered, but will never forget.

You do things at that level of notoriety that you wouldn’t normally do,” he said candidly. “You have all these things handed to you, all these things that you never thought you’d have and you just take and take and take. With every sliver of your soul you give up for the sake of your career, you look for something to replace it.”

By 1978, a recovered Cooper was ready to reclaim his gothic throne. He paired up with Elton John songwriter Bernie Taupin for the “guts and nuts” “From the Inside” and tried his hand at acting in 1984’s bit horror movie “Leviathon.” Fans were not impressed.

He returned to his day job in 1986 after signing on with MCA and released “Constrictor” to much acclaim. His real moment in the proverbial sun came in 1989, however, when the heavy metal ballad “Poison,” from the album Trash, made him an MTV and commercial radio mainstay.

Refusing to rest on his rock laurels, Cooper returned to the screen in “Nightmare on Elm Street” in 1991 and “Wayne’s World” in 1992, where Wayne and Garth deemed themselves “not worthy” to be in the presence of such a legend. 1994’s The Last Temptation and 1997’s live album A Fistful of Alice soon followed, but neither they nor the colorfully graphic album Brutal Planet in 2000 really breathed any new life into his career. Not that he’s giving up that easily.

I think with all the pop kids out there chalking up one hit after another that it’s time for fresh, innovative bands to come around and kick some ass again. We’re all feeling patriotic and non-complacent now. What better time for a revolution?”

With the release of The Eyes of Alice Cooper, which he calls “a live album that’s not live,” he momentarily quenched the thirst his fans held for live Alice, but he is the first to note that a good studio album is still worth its weight in gold records.

He's branched out into other media, including a DVD entitled Alice Cooper Trashes the World and is set to drop a new album, Dirty Diamonds, in the very near future. His appearances on the animated Fox hit The Simpsons have spawned more than just new fans - there's a comic book ode to Bart's "Monsters of Rock Stars" available on Cooper's website. And who could forget his hilarious turn on "Staples'" back to school TV spots in which he reminds a frustrated little girl that he said "School's out for SUMMER," not forever.

With all his raucous releases, the king of queasiness hopes to merge his real life persona with the man we all know and fear a little. His take on his own theatrics makes his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame seem oddly appropriate.

On stage, I’m this figure, this actor, who does things that people aren’t used to seeing and I relish in that reaction. In real life, though, I play golf, I shop and I walk around with no makeup on and my hair in a ponytail. I may not be the typical middle-aged Joe, but I’m closer to normal than you think.”

For more information on Alice Cooper's current 2005 tour - screaming towards a city near you - go to www.alicecooper.com.