[9] He helped shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and has been described as the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre".

[11] Aside from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio disc jockey (DJ) with his classic rock show Alice's Attic.

[16] Cooper attended Kantner Elementary School, recalled watching horror movies at the Eastown Theatre (where he would later perform),[17] and local neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween, the "biggest night of the year", which he took "very seriously".

An unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper, a feather pillow, and a live chicken garnered attention from the press; the band decided to capitalize on the tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock.

[fn 3] The next day the incident made the front page of national newspapers, and Zappa phoned Cooper and asked if the story, which reported that he had bitten off the chicken's head and drunk its blood on stage, was true.

[33] Despite the publicity from the chicken incident, the band's second studio album, Easy Action, produced by David Briggs and released in June 1970, fared even worse than its predecessor, entirely failing to chart within the Billboard Top 200.

[39] With Cooper's on stage androgynous persona completely replaced with brattiness and machismo, the band solidified their success with subsequent tours in the United States and Europe, and won over devoted fans in droves while at the same time horrifying parents and outraging the social establishment.

Continued attempts by politicians and pressure groups to ban their shocking act only served to fuel the legend of Alice Cooper further and generate even greater public interest.

[citation needed] Their 1973 US tour broke box office records previously set by the Rolling Stones and raised rock theatrics to new heights; the multi-level stage show by then featured numerous special effects, including Billion Dollar Bills, decapitated baby dolls and mannequins, a dental psychosis scene complete with dancing teeth, and the ultimate execution prop and highlight of the show: the guillotine.

[48] During this time, Cooper relocated back to Los Angeles and started appearing regularly on television shows such as The Hollywood Squares, and Warner Bros. released the Greatest Hits compilation album.

However, the band's 1974 feature film Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (consisting mainly of 1973 concert footage with 'comedic' sketches woven throughout to a faint storyline), released on a minor cinematic run mostly to drive-in theaters, saw little box office success.

[citation needed] Accompanying the album and stage show was the television special The Nightmare, starring Cooper and Vincent Price, which aired on US prime-time TV in April 1975.

[51] This lineup would perform together again (televised) on March 14, 2011, at the induction of the original Alice Cooper group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as on May 11, 2011, at London's Battersea Power Station at the Jägermeister Ice Cold 4D event (webcast).

In 2017, they appeared on two tracks they co-wrote on Alice's solo studio album Paranormal, released in July, and in November they joined his current live band for five tour dates in the United Kingdom.

[52] In 1978, a sobered Cooper used his experience in the sanitarium as the inspiration for his semi-autobiographical studio album From the Inside, which he co-wrote with Bernie Taupin, known for his work with Elton John; it spawned yet another US Top 20 hit ballad, "How You Gonna See Me Now".

Around this time, Cooper performed "Welcome to My Nightmare", "You and Me", and "School's Out" on The Muppet Show (episode #307) on March 28, 1978 (he played one of the devil's henchmen trying to dupe Kermit, Gonzo and Miss Piggy into selling their souls).

Flush the Fashion, produced by Roy Thomas Baker, known for his work with Queen and the Cars, had a thick, edgy new wave musical sound that baffled even longtime fans, though it still yielded the US Top 40 hit "Clones (We're All)".

1982's Zipper Catches Skin was a more pop punk-oriented recording, containing many quirky high-energy guitar-driven songs along with his most unusual collection of subject matters for lyrics, and Patty Donahue of the Waitresses provided guest vocals and "sarcasm" on the track "I Like Girls".

1983 marked the return collaboration of producer Bob Ezrin and guitarist Dick Wagner for the haunting epic DaDa, the final studio album in his Warner Bros.

[59] The concert, which received rave reviews in the rock music press,[fn 6] was also described by Rolling Stone magazine as bringing "Cooper's violent, twisted onstage fantasies to a new generation".

Then in 1989 his career finally experienced a legitimate revival with the Desmond Child produced and Grammy-nominated studio album Trash, which spawned a hit single "Poison", which reached No.

Afterwards at a backstage party, the movie's main characters Wayne Cambell and Garth Algar discover that when offstage, Cooper is a calm, articulate intellectual as he and his band discuss the history of Milwaukee in depth.

The album has been described as leading the listener down "a nightmarish path into the mind of rock's original conceptual storyteller"[82] and by Cooper himself as being "the worst town on Brutal Planet".

[citation needed] During this period Cooper was also recognized and awarded in various ways: given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003;[94] in May 2004 he received an honorary doctoral degree from Grand Canyon University.

Original members Bruce, Cooper, Dunaway, and Smith all made brief acceptance speeches and performed "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out" live together, with Steve Hunter filling in for the late Glen Buxton.

[114] In 2013, Cooper announced that he had finished recording a covers album, based on songs by his rock star drinking buddies in the 1970s who had since died from excess, and that it was scheduled for a spring 2014 release.

[138] Cooper would later pay homage to the Who by singing "I'm a Boy" for A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who in 1994 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performing a cover version of "My Generation" on the Brutal Planet tour of 2000.

"[142] Evidence of Cooper's eclectic tastes in classic and contemporary rock music can be seen in the track listings of his radio show; in addition, when he appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program Tracks of My Years in September 2007, he listed his favorite tracks of all time as being: "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966) by the Rolling Stones; "Turning Japanese" (1980) by the Vapors; "My Sharona" (1979) by the Knack; "Beds Are Burning" (1987) by Midnight Oil; "My Generation" (1965) by the Who; "Welcome to the Jungle" (1987) by Guns N' Roses; "Rebel Rebel" (1974) by David Bowie; "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) by the Yardbirds; "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (2003) by Jet; and "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) by the Beatles,[143] and when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2010 he chose the songs "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" by the Yardbirds; "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys; "I'm a Boy" by the Who; "Timer" by Laura Nyro; "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson; "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction; "Work Song" by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; and "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Bob Dylan.

[149]) In 1999, Cleopatra Records released Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper featuring a number of contributions from rock and metal all-star collaborations, including Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Roger Daltrey of the Who, Ronnie James Dio, Slash of Guns N' Roses, Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, and Steve Jones of Sex Pistols.

[164] In recognition of the work he has done in helping other addicts in the recovery process, Cooper received in 2008 the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the fourth annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert in Los Angeles.