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Getting straight with Alice Cooper

The canvas-protected arena floor was strewn with garbage. The bleachers reeked of dried vomit. The area nearest the stage was blanketed with pillow feathers. The entire site reminded one of the aftermath of a tornado. Alice Cooper was here.

I talked with Alice in the dressing room immediately following Tuesday night's concert. I asked him about the pillow-bursting, the straight-jacket routine and the many other bizarre things the group is known to do. Alice, who demonstrated a surprising straight-forwardness throughout the interview, explained that he considers himself first an actor and then a singer.

"Audiences like to have fun", he continued. "We had a riot up in Canada once. The kids rushed the stage and ripped off our shirts. Like the Stones or early Beatles. That's when you really have fun — when you have a riot."

Did Alice think that the Grove City audience had fun? "I think so... They weren't as open as some of our other audiences... but yeah, I think so."

Alice delights in seeing his audience enjoy themselves. The slow sensuous movements are all part of the act, all part of the fun. "And besides," he added, "it turns the chicks on."

Alice, a 1966 graduate of Cortez High School, in Phoenix, Arizona, apologized for the absence of one of the members of the group, a pet boa constrictor. "He's sick, he threw up a bird."

The music of Alice Cooper is not all that alienated from the norm of contemporary rock. It's the acting which makes Cooper unique. Alice claims that the group's music is patterned after that of Burt Bacharach, although not many people realize this. When he's not listening to Bacharach, he gets into the Stooges, motion picture soundtracks and old Kinks albums.

But the majority of Alice's item is not spent listening to music or even rehearsing it. ("We do very little rehearsing") Alice loves television and claims he's addicted to it. For that matter, the whole group will sit around a set for hours. "Television is very sexy," Dennis, the quiet member of the group, explained. "But most people don't realize this."

Alice noticed the puzzled look of my face and elaborated. "You'll see this lady on TV and she'll have this bottle of detergent in her hands, squeezing it... until the soap comes oozing out." At this point I changed the subject. I asked Alice if he or the group had ever been arrested for any of the various antics which take place on stage.

"We came close one," he confided. "But I gave the cop a dirty look and he went away."

"The cops are afraid of us," Dennis added, and the rest of the group agreed.

Contrary to what most people believe, the group is not comprised of homosexuals. On occasion they have been approached by the gay people, most of whom are on the make. Alice usually goes along with them, but it's all fun.

"The reincarnation bib is part of the act too," Alice went on. "You see, I'm very honest in an interview."

The truth is, Alice is as straight, perhaps even straighter, than the next guy. "We're only in it for the fun and the money." Alice Cooper likes both. Evidently what you see... is not necessarily what you get.