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<\/p>\nAt its core, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll has always been about youthful rebellion. From the national debut of Elvis Presley \u2014 who was initially shown on television waist-up so as not to offend delicate sensibilities with his shaking hips \u2014 to transgressive modern-day artists like Marilyn Manson and GWAR, part of rock music\u2019s mission has to been to entertain some while shocking others. And since the very early 1970s, Alice Cooper has reigned supreme as the king of shock rock.<\/p>\n
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Once upon a time, Alice Cooper was band, not a person. Signed to a label co-founded by iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper made a pair of well-regarded but little-noticed garage rock LPs. Jumping to Warner Brothers Records and teaming up with producer Bob Ezrin, Alice Cooper embarked on a path filled with hit singles including \u201cI\u2019m Eighteen,\u201d \u201cUnder My Wheels,\u201d \u201cBe My Lover,\u201d \u201cElected, \u201cNo More Nice Guy\u201d and the teenage anthem \u201cSchool\u2019s Out.\u201d<\/p>\n
By 1975, the group was no more, but lead singer Vincent Furnier had taken Alice Cooper as his stage name. As a solo artist, he would go on to score more hit albums and singles; six of his songs reached the Top 40.<\/p>\n
Nobody\u2019s idea of a virtuoso vocalist, Cooper made the most of what he had, focusing instead on putting on a thrilling and memorable show. \u201cI was at the forefront of a movement bringing theatrics to rock,\u201d Cooper says. With a keen sense of what his public wanted, Cooper served up memorable fist-pumping rockers that became part of a generation\u2019s life soundtrack. And from the early 1970s onward, he cultivated his reputation as a master of the macabre, a supreme showman and one of the prime movers of theatrical shock rock.<\/p>\n
With a stage show that often included mock executions (Cooper\u2019s stage props feature a guillotine), Alice Cooper pushed the limits of what was acceptable onstage, but he always did in the name of entertainment. Today at age 70, Cooper hasn\u2019t lost his edge, nor his motivation to create. His most recent studio album, 2017\u2019s Paranormal<\/i>, reunited him with Ezrin, charting in 14 countries. \u201cHe\u2019s my guru when it comes to writing,\u201d says Cooper. And in a surprising move, that well-received disc saw the first-ever reunion of the surviving members of Alice-Cooper-the-group on three tracks. \u201cAnd it sounds<\/i> like the original band,\u201d Cooper says. Nearly 50 years and as many albums after his major-label debut, Alice Cooper still skillfully combines metal, melody and mayhem.<\/p>\n