If you ever had the chance to see someone famous up close you know what it is like to get starstruck but that really happens to everyone, even to people who are famous. Everybody has their heroes and will get really nervous when they finally have the chance to meet them. That already happened many times with the legendary Alice Cooper, who is the godfather of Shock Rock.
In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland in 2023 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage), the musician recalled how crazy it was when many movie stars started to appear at his concerts in the early 70s. Some of them were Groucho Marx and Fred Astaire, who really liked the show and praised him at the time.
The artists that made Alice Cooper get starstruck
“Groucho Marx came to the show and he wanted to see what all this talk was about this show. He saw it as Vaudeville. It is a dark Vaudeville. Rock and Roll Vaudeville, if you really want to look at it. He started bringing (people) like Mae West, Fred Astaire, Jack Benny, George Burns. They’re on the side of the stage watching the show. The audience is freaked out totally by what we’re doing and these guys are like ‘Grace Allen and I used to do this on an act in 1923 in Toledo with a guy with the guillotine’.”
“They were not shocked in the least bit. They’d seen it all, right. But we’re looking on the side and (we couldn’t believe they were there). My dances are going (whispering) “That’s Fred Astaire”. And he comes back and says ‘your dancers are great’. (Then) of course the dances are just going ‘He just said that we were great!’ When Salvador Dalí saw the show, it was surrealism. Dalí took credit for everything, so he says it’s surrealism and it’s based on me (laughs). We went ‘Well, of course’ (laughs),” Alice Cooper said.
In the early 70s already Cooper had the chance to meet many other famous artists, like John Lennon for example. They were part of the drinking club “Hollywood Vampires”, which also had Micky Dolenz and Harry Nilson.
Formed in 1968, the band Alice Cooper remained together until 1975 when dissolved and Vincent Furnier, the vocalist and main songwriter started his solo career using the same name and persona. The original group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.