17 April 2010

Rock-n-Roll Oldies: Alice Cooper 1971

Alice Cooper is a conservative... surprised? If you're not familiar with this pioneering 1970s rock legend's personal beliefs... who wouldn't be? The snake-toting, makeup-wearing master of macabre rock theatre -the original shock-rocker- inspired the British glam scene of Elton John, Bowie, and Roxy Music... while later the American band KISS borrowed heavily from the costumes, makeup, and stage antics. Obviously, a lot of garbage metal bands borrowed from Cooper's vampire schtick, too- not to mention horror-show type punkers like The Misfits.

Detroit native Alice Cooper (and the eponymous band) actually developed the over-the-top horror-show stage act in desperation for exposure -their first two albums were complete flops- but 1971's I'm Eighteen put an end to that obscurity. They followed with huge hits Under My Wheels... School's Out... No More Mr Nice Guy... Only Women Bleed... and I Never Cry. I myself caught a gig in the mid-80's, a bit past his prime... but still one the best shows I've ever seen.

Offstage, Cooper is known as a good-cheer, affable character as well as an actor, DJ, restaurateur, and 3-handicap celebrity golfer... but this man is also a serious born-again Christian and a political conservative. Although loathe to use his celebrity to promote personal beliefs, his patriotic, common-sense views have become better-known in recent years.

When asked how a shock-rocker like himself could be a Christian, Cooper responded: "Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's real rebellion!"

In the runup to the
2004 presidential election, he declared in the press that the crop of rock stars campaigning for and touring on behalf John Kerry -such as Bruce Springsteen, Cheryl Crowe, and John Cougar Mellencamp- were "treasonous morons". Cooper went on to state "When I read the list of people supporting Kerry, if I wasn't a Bush supporter already... I would have switched!" In a 2008 interview he described Sarah Palin as "a breath of fresh air"...
This 2005 mini-interview is definitely worth the 2 mins -here-

Conservative blogging pioneer Arthur Chrenkoff -clearly impressed by what Cooper had to say- summed-it up well:  "You have to be worried when a guy with too much mascara and a snake wrapped around his neck has a keener grasp of basic new millennium geopolitics than so many leading lights of the Democratic Party."

Indeed- and so much for the Obama administration's cockamamie portrayals of all those who have political stances to the right of them (that's 90% of the country) as something between Hank Hill and Timothy McVeigh... rock-on, Alice: