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Alice Cooper: Bands
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Originally, there was an entire band called "Alice Cooper " led by a singer named Vincent Damon Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, as well as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and the Stooges, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood, and huge boa constrictors, all coordinated by the heavily made-up Furnier. By that time, Furnier had adopted the band's name for his androgynous onstage personality. While the visuals were extremely important to the group's impact, the band's music was nearly as distinctive. Driven by raw, simple riffs and melodies that derived from '60s guitar pop as well as showtunes, it was rock & roll at its most basic and catchy, even when the band ventured into psychedelic and art rock.
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From the start Alice Cooper were no ordinarily band. Their live shows was unlike anyone else's and people who attended did not know what to make of the group. One night when they opened for the Doors, hundreds of fans left the hall because their music was so loud and the stage act so wild. But Frank Zappa, who was there that night loved what he saw and signed them to his Straight Records label. In early '69 their first album, Pretties For You was released. It wasn't well received and that summer the band visited Cooper's home town of Detroit.
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Alice has been married to Sheryl Cooper (nee Goddard 20th May) since 20th March 1976 and they have three children, Calico (b. 19th May 1981 - Calico means `Many Colours`), Dashiel (b.June 20th 1985 - named after author Dashiel Hammett), and Sonora Rose (b.14th Dec 1992). All go by the name Cooper. Calico Cooper is of course now well known to Alice fans the world over having followed in her mothers footsteps by being part of all Alice tours since 'Brutal Planet' in 2000 playing the female parts on stage including Nurse Rozetta, Britney Spears and the Whipgirl for 'Go To Hell' even being introduced on stage by Alice as 'My own little nightmare'. She has her sights set on a movie career. Dashiel ... has a band in Phoenix called 'Runaway Phoenix'.
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After an unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered some attention from the press, the band decided to capitalize on tabloid sensationalism, creating a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the "Chicken Incident", which took place at the Toronto Rock 'n Roll Revival concert in September 1969, was in fact an accident. A chicken somehow made its way on stage during Alice Cooper's performance. Not having any experience around livestock, Cooper thought, "Chickens have wings, so they must be able to fly." He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting the chicken to fly away. The bird plummeted into the crowd and was reportedly ripped to shreds by the rowdy audience.
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By 1975, the original Alice Cooper band broke up, and Furnier officially adopted the name as his own for his solo act. Unfortunately, the quality of his music took a sharp downturn, and he turned out sappy hit ballads like "Only Women Bleed".
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Without a doubt, Alice Cooper is one of rock's few living legends. He is a pioneer of heavy metal, shock rock, glam rock, punk and almost every conceivable form of hard rock. Enraging parents, media, and even the love generation the band was able to juggle scorn and admiration as their outrageous theatrics and stage show pushed them to the top of the charts.
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