Alice Cooper

USA, 1964–now

American singer and band, known as the godfather of shock rock. Stage productions using guillotines, snakes and theatrical props, alongside songs such as 'School's Out', established a model for later theatrical rock and metal acts.

MusicRoots documents 6 artists who influenced Alice Cooper and 3 artists Alice Cooper influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Alice Cooper?

• The Yardbirds — Cooper told interviewer Jonathan King the Yardbirds were his favourite band of all time — their raw R&B-driven British Invasion sound was the single biggest musical model for the early Alice Cooper group.
• The Who — Hearing 'My Generation' on the radio hit Cooper like 'an explosion' — the Who's aggression and auto-destructive stagecraft fed both his sound and his taste for spectacle.
• The Beatles — The first time Cooper heard 'She Loves You' on the radio at around 15 set him on the path to music — he has repeatedly called the Beatles a defining influence.
• The Rolling Stones — The Stones' sneering R&B-rooted rock was part of the British Invasion bedrock the Alice Cooper group grew from.
• The Kinks — 'You Really Got Me' sounded like nothing Cooper had ever heard — the Kinks' proto-hard-rock riffing was a direct spark for his heavier sound.
• The Doors — Jim Morrison's dark, theatrical menace was a key model for the sinister persona Cooper built the Alice Cooper act around.

Which artists did Alice Cooper influence?

• W.A.S.P. — Blackie Lawless's blood-and-horror stagecraft descends straight from Alice Cooper — the shock-rock theatre W.A.S.P. pushed to a gorier extreme.
• Marilyn Manson — Manson combined the makeup-rock of KISS with the theatrical shock tactics of Alice Cooper, a defining model for his stage persona.
• Hanoi Rocks — The theatre. Cooper is where the idea comes from that a hard rock band should look like something.