Rock star says the Beatles and Beach Boys are among the bands that inspire him.
July 22, 2011— — Shock rock legend Alice Cooper has made a name for himself for pushing past rebellion and into a playfully dark realm in both music and character.
Over the years, Cooper has experimented with multiple musical genres, including hard rock, pop, heavy metal and grunge, producing anthems such as “School’s Out,” “I’m Eighteen” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy” that are still popular today.
Born Vincent Furnier, the 63-year-old legally changed his name in 1972, taking the name of the original Alice Cooper band he had formed a few years earlier. His band’s stage performances have looked more like horror shows, incorporating guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood and live boa constrictors.
With four decades worth of music that earned the band nine gold and platinum albums and 11 top 40 hits, Cooper and his band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past March.
The rock life led him to superstardom but also landed him in rehab for alcohol addiction in 1978. Now it has been replaced with an addiction to golf, as laid out in his 2003 book, “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster.”
In an interview with “Nightline,” Cooper recounted the top five songs on his playlist that have inspired him and influenced some of his music.
1. “The Last Time,” The Rolling Stones (1965)
The son of a Michigan preacher, Cooper said his father loved “big band music,” such as Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman, but also appreciated his son’s love for the Rolling Stones.
“Most dads were shunning that and saying, ‘Don’t listen to that, don’t listen to this.’ My dad was going, ‘I like that,'” he said. “My dad was very cool. He could preach a sermon and he could tell you who played bass for The Animals, which I thought was great. So I got along really great with my dad.”
2. “I Get Around,” The Beach Boys (1964)
In 1964, Cooper formed a band called The Earwigs with some buddies from his high school track team. The same summer, The Beach Boys’ released their hit, “I Get Around.”
“It sounded great driving around with your buddies all summer and kind of hanging,” Cooper said. “That song, in itself, had that great summer sound to it. And so it really brings back the memories about being 14 and just almost emerging into getting your own car, getting a job, getting into high school next year. ‘I Get Around’ was one of the great records of all time.”
3. “She Loves You,” The Beatles (1963)
The very first time Cooper heard the Beatles was when “She Loves You” came on the radio. He was around 15 years old and was painting the inside of his house in Phoenix.
“I was listening to normal top 40 radio, which was Motown and the Four Seasons, who I loved, and, like, [I was listening to] this top 40 and all of a sudden I heard this sound that I had never heard before,” he said. “It was these guitars and these drums and it was this really up sound. And I kept saying, ‘What is that?’ It was the first Beatles song I had ever heard. It was three minutes and it was so happy. And so up. And I went, ‘Wow, that is great.’
“The Beatles influenced everybody,” he said. “I don’t care if you are Cannibal Corpse. So I think the Beatles hear themselves an awful lot. [Paul] McCartney must hear himself in so many records.”
