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DESERT ISLAND DISCS REVISITED: AMERICAN SINGERS - ALICE COOPER (320kbs-m4a/99mb/43mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 8th August 2024
American rock musician Alice Cooper is castaway by Kirsty Young.
As a teenager he says it was British music that he tuned in to - listening to The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who.
He realised that while rock music had many heroes, there were few villains - that was the territory he marked out for himself. He developed his trademark look - blackened eyes, straggly hair and glamorous clothes - and set about designing live shows that were gleefully gory and macabre.
While critics have described him as 'the world's most beloved heavy metal entertainer', it took him a while to untangle himself from his creation.
"For a long time I honestly didn't know where I began and Alice ended. My friends at the time were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and I was trying to keep up with them. And I realised when they all died that you didn't have to be your character off stage."
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Work Song
BOOK CHOICE: Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
LUXURY CHOICE: An indoor golf driving range
Producer: Leanne Buckle
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.
The Yardbirds - Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
The Beach Boys - I Get Around
The Who - I'm A Boy
Laura Nyro - Timer
King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man (incl. Mirrors)
Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Work Song
Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man
THE FIRST TIME WITH... SERIES 3 - 7. ALICE COOPER (320kbs-m4a/132mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 7th December 2017
Another chance to hear Alice Copper sharing his musical milestones with Matt Everitt. First broadcast in 2011.
The image of Alice Cooper as a cartoon-ish Halloween schlock rocker is one that the 63 year old Vincent Damon Furnier has worked had to establish, but his real musical and cultural impact is often ignored.
His band emerged from the Detroit garage rock scene of the mid 60s alongside the MC5 and Iggy & the Stooges and he can lay claim to helping inspire punk as much as either of those revered acts (it's no coincidence his track Eighteen was sung by Johnny Rotten at his audition for the Sex Pistols). But Alice also helped develop the idea of the rock concert as theatre - employing theatrical imagery and stagecraft way before Bowie picked up the pan stick.
In 2011, Matt Everitt spoke to Alice about his early years, how he developed his showmanship, and the massive international success that followed albums such as Welcome to my Nightmare and School's Out - albums that turned him into a household name. With typical grace and humour, Alice also discusses his battles with alcoholism, his creative rebirth with a cameo in Wayne's World, and his life as a born-again Christian - an interesting contradiction considering the characters he portrays and the battles he's endured with moral crusaders.
And, of course, we talk about his current addiction... golf (he plays six days a week off a handicap of two).
Alice Cooper - Elected
Chuck Berry - School Days [Backline]
Frankie Avalon - Venus [Old Gold]
The Beach Boys - All Summer Long [EMI]
The Beatles - She Loves You [Apple]
The Yardbirds - I'm A Man [Band Of Joy]
Frank Zappa - Dancin' Fool [Rykodisc]
Frank Zappa - Peaches En Regalia [Rykodisc]
Alice Cooper - I'm Eighteen
David Bowie - All The Young Dudes [EMI]
Alice Cooper - Poison [Columbia]
Alice Cooper - School's Out [Warner E.S.P.]
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
The Who - I'm A Boy [Polydor]
The Yardbirds - Train Keep A Rollin [Go On De Luxe]
