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Cooper: An Outrageous Show

"When I was a kid, I would save an entire week's allowance and blow it on a Saturday afternoon horror show. And if I didn't get scared shitless, I'd come out feeling extremely disappointed. The kids pay their money for a show and that's what they'll get."

They sure did. The quote was Alice Cooper's, and he gave the Convention Center crowd one helluva outrageous show last Monday night. As a rock concert, it ranked between fair and good. As theater of the absurd, it blew over such tame productions as "Hair." In fact, it blew over Kubrick, Vonnegut, Tolkein and even Karloff in one fell swoop.

Musically, the concert was disappointing. The group performed most of the songs from their Billion Dollar Babies album plus "Dead Babies," "Under My Wheels", "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out." The problem was that, except "I'm Eighteen" and "Under My Wheels," the songs were performed almost exactly as they were recorded on the albums; the only difference being that they were done in the form of abbreviated medleys: "Hello Hurray"/"Billion Dollar Babies," "Dead Babies"/"Sick Things," "Raped and Freezin'"/"No More Mr. Nice Guy" and so on.

Who was there to hear the music? The crowd came to see if the notorious Mr. Cooper really was as gross as they'd heard. Well, believe me folks, he's no boy scout. As the concert opened, from amid blue­green-red lights and billows of dry-ice fog stepped Alice dressed in a white satin suit and silver shoes. As the concert progressed, Alice and his group went through what must have been five costume changes, each one depicting the mood of the music at the time.

Granted it's outrageous, profane, repulsive and even a bit too grotesque at times. But it's theater; it's a world of fantasy, where you pay your money and forsake the real world for a chance to dream; a chance to be someone and somewhere else for two hours. And for the 9000 or so last Monday night, Alice Cooper was their savior from the real world of teenage hang­ups. To this end, the concert was an over­whelming success.

And, of course, there was the ol' ultra­violence. Alice was guillotined during "Sick Things." He sliced up dolls and mannequins, threw rubber rats into the audience, toyed with a stiletto and was beaten and kicked by the boys in the band. He even created violence in the audience by throwing posters to the crowd just to watch them fight for the gift from their god. And he laughed sadistically through it all.

(From the colllection of Anders Mossberg. Originally appeared in the University of Louisville's Cardinal - April 5, 1973)