ALICE COOPER Is 'An American Treasure'

Scott McLennan of Worcester Telegram & Gazette News reports that although Alice Cooper was the first to be labeled a shock rocker, he never set out to simply offend.

"What I do is more like a sideshow or vaudeville," Cooper said. "It's full of dark humor. I always liked theatrics and liked to express myself that way as an artist. I'm not so much into overdone productions, but instead want a good story. It's not just showing you a hanging or guillotine. There's a story about the reason for the hanging. By the end, you want me hanging."

Over time, Cooper slipped into pop culture as a symbol of all things ghoulish — especially after kicking a notorious addiction to alcohol achieved a bizarre sort of respectability.

"There's definitely that moment that I think David Bowie had — and we were pre-Bowie — and that Ozzy (Osbourne) had, that point when it is clear you are not going to go away, that you are woven into Americana," Cooper said. "Alice Cooper is an American treasure, just like Boris Karloff and Vincent Price are American treasures. And I don't mean that I am an American treasure, but that the character of Alice Cooper is."

Cooper is also at the helm of the popular "Nights With Alice Cooper" syndicated radio program. More than 100 radio stations now carry "Nights with Alice Cooper" and/or its spinoff "Breakfast With Alice".

"The whole idea for the radio show started with the question, 'How come I never hear this band or that band on the radio?' How come I wasn't hearing LOVE, or THEM, or FRANK ZAPPA, or T. REX, or early PINK FLOYD with Syd Barrett? So I put together a show with that music. I'm turning back to a time when FM radio was about the artists and the DJs could turn you on to cool artists. The worst word ever in hard rock is 'demographic.' It's poison. It's guys in suits telling you what you should hear."

Read more at Worcester Telegram & Gazette News.