Aug 3, 2012 at 4:40 PM | Music News | By Rock Square

Alice Cooper more or less invented “shock rock”, long before the Marilyn Mansons of the world did their thing.

As such, with the recent news of an upcoming covers album and his own maze at Universal Studios, we felt it was appropriate to honor Alice -- born  Vincent Furnier, with some facts you might not know about him.

Enjoy our Ten Things You May Not Know About Alice Cooper below. 

1.       He used to babysit a major Hollywood star.

When he spent time in Toronto recording music, Cooper found some down time at a house across the street. It was tended by a Mrs. Reeves, who left her son under Alice’s care while she worked long hours. The child, of course, was Keanu Reeves, who turned out to later have a successful movie career. (source)

2.       Cooper was a notable track star in high school.

Back in the proverbial day, when he was known as Vincent Furnier, a teenage Cooper set a 24-mile cross-country running record. Not too shabby! (source)

3.       An iconic Simpsons character once recorded Alice’s voicemail greeting.

Voice actor Dan Castellaneta, known for his various characters on the Simpsons, once recorded Cooper’s outgoing voicemail recording – in the style of Barney Gumble. The greeting informed a caller that Alice was currently enjoying a night at Moe’s Tavern. (source)

4.       Some of his most notable recordings didn’t perform as you’d expect on the Billboard charts.

Both 1972’s School’s Out and 1989’s Poison rank as Cooper’s most successful singles, but neither reached the Billboard Hot 100’s top 5. Instead, both peaked at #7. Additionally, School’s Out (the album) debuted at #2 on the Billboard album chart, but never hit the top spot. (source)

5.       I’m Eighteen helped Johnny Rotten acquire his day job.

Fun tidbit: according to legend, a young John Lydon auditioned for the Sex Pistols by singing I’m Eighteen – and the Pistols’ manager Malcolm McClaren was impressed enough to give him the job and his nickname. (source)

6.       Cooper had no intended message behind Welcome to My Nightmare.

Despite its gripping visuals and haunting themes, his powerful 1975 tour in support of Welcome to My Nightmare didn’t have a specific “theme” behind it. In his own words, it was intentionally open-ended: “I project images to the audience and they make up their own story to fit it. I have no message at all. I never did.” (source)

7.       One of his songs was rejected as a potential James Bond theme.

In the early 1970s, Cooper submitted a song titled The Man with the Golden Gun for the upcoming Bond film of the same name, but it was rejected as he was deemed “too controversial” to be allowed to pen the film’s theme. Accordingly, the song was included on the album Muscle of Love. (source)

8.       He isn’t a big fan of musicians using a political agenda.

A quote from Cooper illustrated that he doesn’t really support musicians that expound their personal political beliefs through music: So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick. If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal. (source)

9.       Golf is essentially his form of religion.

Another choice quote from Cooper himself, exemplifying his love for golf and reflecting his disinterest in aligning with organized religion, in his book Golf Monster: My 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict: I'll loft a ball into the dunes just so I can utter a golfer's prayer, just to share a few seconds of private meditation. (source)

10.  He starred in a horror movie, but only spoke Spanish. 

In 1984, Cooper played the lead role in a horror flick called Monster Dog. Originally a Spanish-language movie, when it was dubbed into English for American audiences Alice didn’t record his own English overdubs – that was done by actor Ted Rusoff. (source)

Have any other facts about Alice Cooper that you want to share? Let us know!

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