Post by Edith Grove on Apr 13th, 2014 at 8:06am
Interview: Alice Cooper on the Rolling Stones
Ed Masley, The Republic | azcentral.com 3:21 p.m. MST April 12, 2014
(Photo: Jim Louvau | Special for the Republic)
Alice Cooper was still going by the name his parents gave him, Vincent Furnier, when the British Invasion swept through Cortez High School here in Phoenix, introducing any number of the artists who would shape the sound of Cooper's own iconic musical career. If you don't hear a little Beatles in "Dead Babies" or a hint of Rolling Stones in the swagger that runs through "Be My Lover," you may not be paying attention.
We caught up with Cooper so he could weigh in on the Rolling Stones and the British Invasion in general as we honor the 50th anniversary of the Stones' first album, a self-titled U.K. debut that was re-titled "England's Newest Hitmakers" when it was released in the U.S. the following month with a slightly different track list.
Here's what Alice had to say.
Question: What are earliest memories of the Rolling Stones?
Answer: I saw the Rolling Stones play at the Coliseum in my sophomore year in 1964. There was no production at all. They played 40 minutes with no lighting, just the Stones and their drums and amps. No distractions. It was magical. Little did I know I would be opening for them one day.
Q: What drew you to them?
A: I was 15 or 16. The British invasion was in full force. We were a high school band. The Beatles were the greatest, but the Stones were definitely the coolest.
Q: Was the bad-boy image a factor?
A: Absolutely. They seemed really dangerous. They were not the clean cut Beatles, who my parents ended up liking -- ESPECIALLY after they saw the Rolling Stones. The Stones didn't wear uniforms or have a "look", they wore whatever they wanted. Their hair was messed up. Their jackets were wrinkled. They looked like they had been up all night. They looked as much like a gang as they did a band.
Q: Are you more a Stones guy or a Beatles guy?
A: I am half and half - right in the middle. I loved the rebellion of the Stones, but I loved the genius of the Beatles. The Beatles were fun and sort of romantic, the Stones were dangerous. These were guys you wouldn't want your sister to be going out with. Everyone else I knew was in between as well. You know you want the pop sensibility of the Beatles, but there's this draw to the Stones that you can't really escape. They were like fireworks, you knew they were dangerous but you still wanted them.
Q: Would you say they had much impact on your music?
A: When we were the Spiders at Cortez High School playing the VIP Club every weekend, we were the No. 1 band in Arizona. We did everything that was current -- the Who, the Yardbirds and the Beatles, but 60 percent of our set was Rolling Stones' songs. They would advertise at the VIP Club "This week, the Spiders do the latest Stones' single". My contribution to music was adding the theatrics, the lighting, throwing in a little "West Side Story" and a bit of Dracula at the same time. But our music was always heavily influenced by The Stones.
Q: Do you have a favorite Rolling Stones song?
A: My favorite track is "Brown Sugar", which we do live every now and then as a tribute to The Stones. It's timeless.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/04/12/alice-cooper-interview-rolling-stones/7643683/
Ed Masley, The Republic | azcentral.com 3:21 p.m. MST April 12, 2014
(Photo: Jim Louvau | Special for the Republic)
Alice Cooper was still going by the name his parents gave him, Vincent Furnier, when the British Invasion swept through Cortez High School here in Phoenix, introducing any number of the artists who would shape the sound of Cooper's own iconic musical career. If you don't hear a little Beatles in "Dead Babies" or a hint of Rolling Stones in the swagger that runs through "Be My Lover," you may not be paying attention.
We caught up with Cooper so he could weigh in on the Rolling Stones and the British Invasion in general as we honor the 50th anniversary of the Stones' first album, a self-titled U.K. debut that was re-titled "England's Newest Hitmakers" when it was released in the U.S. the following month with a slightly different track list.
Here's what Alice had to say.
Question: What are earliest memories of the Rolling Stones?
Answer: I saw the Rolling Stones play at the Coliseum in my sophomore year in 1964. There was no production at all. They played 40 minutes with no lighting, just the Stones and their drums and amps. No distractions. It was magical. Little did I know I would be opening for them one day.
Q: What drew you to them?
A: I was 15 or 16. The British invasion was in full force. We were a high school band. The Beatles were the greatest, but the Stones were definitely the coolest.
Q: Was the bad-boy image a factor?
A: Absolutely. They seemed really dangerous. They were not the clean cut Beatles, who my parents ended up liking -- ESPECIALLY after they saw the Rolling Stones. The Stones didn't wear uniforms or have a "look", they wore whatever they wanted. Their hair was messed up. Their jackets were wrinkled. They looked like they had been up all night. They looked as much like a gang as they did a band.
Q: Are you more a Stones guy or a Beatles guy?
A: I am half and half - right in the middle. I loved the rebellion of the Stones, but I loved the genius of the Beatles. The Beatles were fun and sort of romantic, the Stones were dangerous. These were guys you wouldn't want your sister to be going out with. Everyone else I knew was in between as well. You know you want the pop sensibility of the Beatles, but there's this draw to the Stones that you can't really escape. They were like fireworks, you knew they were dangerous but you still wanted them.
Q: Would you say they had much impact on your music?
A: When we were the Spiders at Cortez High School playing the VIP Club every weekend, we were the No. 1 band in Arizona. We did everything that was current -- the Who, the Yardbirds and the Beatles, but 60 percent of our set was Rolling Stones' songs. They would advertise at the VIP Club "This week, the Spiders do the latest Stones' single". My contribution to music was adding the theatrics, the lighting, throwing in a little "West Side Story" and a bit of Dracula at the same time. But our music was always heavily influenced by The Stones.
Q: Do you have a favorite Rolling Stones song?
A: My favorite track is "Brown Sugar", which we do live every now and then as a tribute to The Stones. It's timeless.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/04/12/alice-cooper-interview-rolling-stones/7643683/