Alice Cooper, 69, Delivers Multi-Million-Dollar Music Lessons With New Album

In 1973, aged 23, Cooper was a FORBES cover star, with the headline “A New Breed of Tycoon.” In 2017, aged 69, he is being interviewed in London, still wearing the famous black eyeliner and saying he has absolutely no plans to retire.

Cooper has a new single “Paranoiac Personality,” out now, and reunited his band of 42 years ago for tracks on the album “Paranormal,” released on July 28 via earMUSIC.

Vincent Damon Furnier has spent most of his lifetime as Cooper, a name surrounded by a lot of urban legends such as that it came from an Ouija board session. The new album already is garlanded in many tales about similarly spooky goings-on, with the star gleefully speaking of ghostly experiences.

Looking to make it in rock? We can work out some of Cooper’s tips and offer some headlines based on his own words:

Put the music first, do it live first.
Cooper is known for his elaborate stage show, with snakes, swords, snakes, electric chairs and guillotines. Still, he recalls the early days: “We would have a nine-hour rehearsal and eight hours were on the music. If you didn’t have the cake, then you can’t put the icing on it. If you weren’t a great live band, you didn’t belong in the studio.” So first be good in concert, then write songs, then go into the studio and start becoming who you are. “But I don’t know if that happens anymore. I think the bands are just going to the studio. And when you put them in front of an audience, they are like a deer in the headlights.”

Always believe the best is yet to come.
“If you don’t think your next album is going to be the best one, then get out of the business. If you don’t think that your next show is going to be the best show you have ever done, then get out of the business. I know that there is a better song out there than ‘School’s Out.’ I just need to find it, and I will do so as long as I’m healthy.”

Write songs with passion and about passion.
“I don’t understand why young bands don’t want to be outlaws. I don’t understand why young bands want to be anemic. I hear a band and they go (initiates whiny singing voice) ‘oh, oil’s bad.’ Do tell me about your girlfriend, that is what rock is about. Tell me how you killed her, hate her or love her. Every great rock record is about your girlfriend.”

Forget the politics.
“I couldn’t care less about your politics. It is so introverted right now, whereas rock in the 1970s was extroverted. Everything was about grabbing the audience and pulling them in. Now it is like, ‘I am here and I hope you like it tonight.’ That’s not really rock ‘n’ roll.”

Asked about the likes of U2’s Bono, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Sting, Cooper says: “I don’t think they are political. They are more humanitarian. What I’m saying is, I don’t think politics and rock ‘n’ roll should be in bed. My job is to take you away from the news, not to bring the news to your front door.”

Don’t get too serious in the studio.
“There is a lot of laughing. I like to keep everything really light, let the creativity go. No, we don’t keep it dark. I want to keep it alive. When everybody’s got candles, I say ‘turn the lights on - wake up!’”

Gather the best people around you.
This time, Larry Mullen Jnr. came in from U2 to play the drums on Cooper’s album: “He doesn’t play like anyone else. He wanted to see the lyrics and I said, ‘a drummer wants to see the lyrics?’ But he added a whole different volume. I have met U2 many times – a really good Irish pub band and it all just got way out of control! I have managed to get the right people for the right songs.” ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons and Deep Purple’s Roger Glover join on Paranormal, with production by long-time Cooper associate Bob Ezrin, who Cooper credits with creating the act’s signature sound, first on the Love It To Death LP in 1971.

Give the people what they want in concerts.
“We play every single hit and then there are stage hits, all the things people have to see in order to experience the production. It gives us little room to put in new songs, but some are there. We will of course do ‘Under My Wheels,’ ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy,’ ‘Muscle Of Love,’ ‘I’m Eighteen’ - and ‘School’s Out,’ the last with two bands.”

Always be open to the next generation.
Cooper points to his role in the movie Wayne’s World, with fans still coming up to him often to say “we are not worthy” and apparently thinking that they are the first to make the joke. He is still grateful.