Alice Cooper: Give The Kid a Break

       By 1976 Alice Cooper was one of the most successful rock stars in the world.  His stage show theatrics had become the stuff of legend followed by lots of innuendo and genuine misinformation.  For example there is a wonderful story that Alice bit the head off of a chicken and drank it's blood. As strange and disturbing as that is the real story is more mundane, but equally bad for the chicken in question.     
       While the band was performing someone in the audience threw a chicken up on stage.  Why someone would bring a chicken to a rock concert or how they managed to get it in (I mean did they buy a ticket for it?) is still kind of a mystery.  Once the chicken arrived on the stage Alice threw it back into the audience where, to his horror, they proceeded to tear it to shreds.  Imagine what that scene must have looked like?  The next day the headlines said Cooper had bit off the birds head and drank it's blood.  In this case the strange and negative publicity only fueled ticket and record sales.
     Another great story regarding Alice and his penchant for macabre stage props is the story about the Boa Constrictor.  Boa's are a relatively harmless snake that rarely attack humans.  They only eat about once a month and they really prefer live rodents.  Alice added the Boa to the show because he realized how, in general, people have a strong fear of snakes. A snake draped across his shoulders and wrapped around his arm made an amazing theatrical prop that evoked emotion in the audience and garnered world wide headlines.
     One night he left the snake locked in a hotel bathroom and it apparently went down the toilet and into the piping.  He called the manager who brought in crews to tear the plumbing apart to try and locate the lost Boa.  Imagine being a member of that plumbing crew?  They were unable, or unwilling, to rescue the snake.  Of course it did show back up about 2 weeks later when it came out of the toilet in Charlie Prides bathroom.  Wish I could have been there to see that!!!

Alice Cooper inspired everyone with a theatrical flair

      Alice Cooper and his band were considered a "metal band" and were the forerunners of many great theatrical rock and roll bands that followed.  I never considered Cooper a true  metal artist because his albums were full of songs that covered the musical spectrum from pretty love songs to strange Gothic offerings like Sick Things and I Love The Dead.  But many of his songs were straight forward rock and roll, some with extra loud crunchy guitars.  Throughout the 70's he had a string of hits like I'm Eighteen, Schools Out, Under My Wheel, Billion Dollar Babies, No More Mr. Nice Guy, & Hello Hooray, & Elected.

I highly recommend Alice Coopers Greatest Hits Album

      I've chosen the song Give The Kid a Break from the Alice Cooper Goes to Hell album.  Goes to Hell was a continuation of the Welcome to My Nightmare concept album.  Hell was made at a time when Cooper (whose real name is actually Vincent Furnier) was succumbing to a serious alcohol problem.  In fact the problem was so intense that he was forced to cancel the Hell tour and check into rehab.  Gratefully he survived the experience and went on to create more great music.  The cancellation of the tour and the time it took for his recovery destined the album to become a forgotten classic.  It's really to bad because the album is very strong with many great songs that might have elevated Cooper even fruther if he had been able to properly support it.  I especially like Go To Hell, I'm The Coolest, Guilty, Give The Kid a Break (featured here), & I'm Always Chasing Rainbows.

Purchase: Alice Cooper Goes To Hell