34 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | July 2014
about Alice Cooper . At that point the whole band was Alice Cooper , and the PR lady said she didn ’ t know how to make a whole band that was called Alice Cooper stars , but she could make one person a star . Vince said that he enjoyed scaring people and that it was almost a sexual experience , exposing his Mr . Hyde personality . The only thing missing for the band was a hit song . They contacted Nimbus 9 , who made several hits for The Guess Who . Originally the boss was not interested in the band , but once Shep had him come to see the band play sets with all the props , lights , etc ., he quickly changed his mind , stating it was like a cultural movement .
Vince wanted Alice to be as insane as he could be behind the mask , matching a character with each song like >> he ? they ?<< did for “ The Ballad Of Dwight Fry ” with the straight jacket , and actually make it believable . The trick was to capture that live performance on record , which they were able to do with the help of Bob Ezrin .
They used to warm up with the song “ I ’ m Eighteen ” and Bob said that would be the song to put the band on the map . For 24 hours a day he had everyone calling the stations to request them to play the song , and they became an overnight sensation . they spent days watching TV and got inspired after hearing at a show they were watching someone say “ school ’ s out ”, which became a bigger anthem than “ I ’ m Eighteen ” ever was .
Shep Gordon said they were going to take over the Hollywood Bowl where all the class — acts play and turn it into Hell ’ s Apocalypse ! The band
Photo by Sheri Bayne was blown away that Wolfman Jack came out and introduced them . So what would be next ? Wanting to top that , they paid a helicopter company to drop panties in different colors all over the audience . To get a pair , Rob Halford fought people in the crowd and said Alice was a ringleader who wrapped the audience around his fingers . As a showman you could not help but love him .. He became more in the fishbowl than the rest of the band and it became a world of unreality , as he got totally lost in the character . They got a call from Salvador Dali ’ s people to meet him at the San Moritz . Dali said he wanted Alice to be in this moving hologram wearing 4 million dollars worth of diamonds that would define who he was — a real icon . Dennis was not even told what was going on . The band was sent to one place , but only Alice went to the unveiling . This was something symbolic of their achievement , and it really hurt Dennis being excluded . He felt left out , because that was something he should be sharing too , even though he felt happy for Alice .
Things started changing with success . The band became treated like outsiders as it became all about Alice . He had his own car to go to radio stations for red carpets and parties , and it started catching up with him … He needed a break from the band , from touring , and from Alice . He had no time to stop because they were expected to put out another number 1 album . The band wanted to get back to their roots as a band with a song called “ Woman Machine ” and told Bob Ezrin , who stopped them . The band felt they had lost too much control . Bob
The band drank beer all day , representing untamed youth . Driving parents crazy , anything that they would hate they would do , using Alice wearing a snake onstage , dead babies , makeup , hanging him , sado — masochism , acting out sex , death and violence as portrayed on stage by Alice Cooper . Wondering how they would outdo themselves next ,
34 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | July 2014