Bob Dylan’s opinion on Alice Cooper

Although Bob Dylan has his favorite kinds of music, particularly those that inspired him the most throughout his career as a songwriter, he has always been quite aware of what was going on in music. Over the years, he has shown that he knows the work of groups like Oasis, Metallica and even Ronnie James Dio. Another heavier artist he has talked about over the years, giving his opinion on him is Alice Cooper.

What is Bob Dylan’s opinion on Alice Cooper

Bob is not only a fan of Alice Cooper but also considers him an overlooked songwriter. Already back in 1978, when Alice already had released his first solo studio albums, Dylan was asked by Rolling Stone which artists he liked at the moment, and he mentioned the singer and songwriter. “No, I’m not interested in them (New Wave bands). I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter. I like Ry Cooder. And I like Dave Mason’s version of something, which is on the jukebox right now.”

During his Theme Time Radio Hour in 2006, while presenting a show centered around the theme of “school,” Bob Dylan chose Alice Cooper’s hit “School’s Out” as one of the songs to play. He introduced the track by saying: “Graduation is almost here but before we put on our gowns and throw our mortarboard in the air, we got time for one last song.”

“What could be more appropriate than the national anthem of summer vacation? Courtesy of Mr. Vincent Furnier, who put on the manic make up and changed its name to Alice Cooper. ‘No more teachers, dirty looks, School’s Out.” The music starts to play and Bob continues, reciting the lyrics: “‘We got no class, we got no principals, we can’t even think of a word that rhymes’,” Bob Dylan said.

Alice Cooper said Bob Dylan liked ” Billion Dollar Babies” and “Welcome to My Nightmare”

Since the late 1970s, Alice Cooper was frequently asked about being praised by Bob Dylan as a songwriter. He said that he believes the legendary musician liked the songs “Generation Landslide” (1973) and “Only Women Bleed” (1975).

“After ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ came out, even people like Bob Dylan and members of the Beatles started saying nice things about us, which was the final stamp of approval. Dylan loved ‘Generation Landslide’, and John Lennon’s favorite song for a while was ‘Elected”. It didn’t get better than that,” he told Guitar World in 2008.

More recently, in 2018, when talking with Randy Patterson he said that he believes “Only Women Bleed” (From ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’) was one of the songs that Bob Dylan loved. “I think when Bob Dylan heard ‘Only Women Bleed’ or something like that. That was the one song that he mentioned in Rolling Stone.”

He continued:

“He said, ‘I think that Alice is the most underappreciated writer in America.’ For me to get a compliment like that from Bob Dylan was, you know, you can’t get any better than that! I didn’t think he even knew I existed! That was a nice push,” he said in an interview with Randy Patterson in 2018.

One interesting thing about “Billion Dollar Babies” is that Donovan, one of the greatest Folk-Rock musicians of all time, who could be considered the Scottish Bob Dylan, was a guest on the album. He contributed vocals to the album’s title track.

The question he would ask Bob Dylan

When Forbes asked him which person he would like to ask a question and what that question would be, he mentioned the legendary songwriter. “Who wouldn’t want to interview Bob Dylan? I’ve never interviewed Bob Dylan.”

“Somebody told me that he doesn’t use a teleprompter. That’s 400 songs, okay. Everybody in that band has to know every song because he does an audible. He doesn’t just give them a setlist. He’ll get done with a song and say, ‘Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands.’ And they have to know that. If he’s not using a teleprompter it’s one of the most amazing memories of all time.”

“I was told he doesn’t use one. I would ask him if he does use a teleprompter. Because as a singer I would be lost without my teleprompter. And I know those songs. I still like to have it on. So I would ask him, is it just whatever song you want to play right at that moment? It is just an audible?” he said.

When asked about retirement over the past few decades, Cooper has also mentioned Dylan a couple of times, using him as an example. In his view, artists like Bob, Paul McCartney, and himself don’t do it for the money because they don’t need to anymore. They do it because it’s what they do and what they love to do with their lives.