Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Illustrated biography explores legacy of shock rocker Cooper
Shock rocker Alice Cooper recently turned 75.
To celebrate the milestone, veteran music journalist Gary Graff has published “Alice Cooper at 75,” a lush coffee table book full of photos and images exploring 75 key events in Cooper’s life and career.
The recently released book is an unauthorized illustrated biography that starts with Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, playing in garage rock bands. The book follows a chronological timeline through his 28 studio albums, gory live stage shows and musical collaborations — as well as his Christian faith, love of golf, charity work and life as a husband, father and grandfather.
Graff, who has lived in Detroit since 1982 and interviewed Cooper numerous times throughout his career for various newspaper and magazine articles, described his subject as fascinating.
“I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I was a huge fan of Alice as a kid,” he said. “Like any other kid, I heard that there was this guy, and he kills chickens on stage, which of course, wasn’t the true story, but yeah, he cuts their heads off, and he wears makeup, and it just captures your imagination.”
He said that at the time, about 1971 to 1973, Cooper’s music was the ultimate act of rebellion.
“Your parents didn’t like him, your older siblings didn’t like him and anyone who was a hippie didn’t like him,” Graff said. “Alice liked to say that they were the stake in the heart of the hippie movement with what they did, so for a particular generation that was trying to find its own rock icon and its own music, Alice was definitely one of a handful of artists they found ... the others being like David Bowie and Elton John. But Alice was doing something that hadn’t been done before and even a lot of rock fans didn’t think it should be done. We all said, ‘Great! Then give him to us. We’ll take him, and he’ll be ours.’ ”
Graff spent nearly five months writing the book and several more waiting for the graphics to be added to the finished product. The visuals include full-color photos of Cooper and his band and rare backstage images, as well as scanned concert posters from myriad tours and various cities, ticket stubs and other Cooper memorabilia. It’s part of a series of books that includes “Elton John at 75” and “David Bowie at 75.”
Graff said he was struck by how embedded Cooper is in pop culture. Cooper appeared on “The Muppet Show” in 1978, and he was worshiped by Wayne and Garth in the 1992 feature film “Wayne’s World.”
He inspired artists such as Rob Zombie, Swedish heavy metal band Avatar and Swedish rock band Ghost. And he’s still rocking, too. Cooper was out on tour in support of his 2021 album, “Detroit Stories,” and he still performs with supergroup Hollywood Vampires, featuring Johnny Depp on guitar and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry from time to time, too.
“One of the things that gets eclipsed by the Alice Cooper image and the Alice Cooper stage show is that he created great music,” Graff said. “I mean, ‘School’s Out’ and ‘I’m Eighteen,’ those are going to be with us forever. The line has been for so long that ‘I’m Eighteen’ smelled like ‘Teen Spirit’ before the guys from Nirvana were born. The music will last forever and the sense of showmanship will be passed on. He’s entrenched in our collective understanding of popular culture. He’s created something that will be with us forever.”