Alice Cooper says there was no “competition” with theatrical contemporary David Bowie
The rock legend says the pair used to “complement each other” on their theatrical ways.
Express / Stringer
Alice Cooper has recently revealed that his theatrical on-stage character was an ‘inspiration’ for David Bowie in his old band Spiders From Mars.
According to the goth-rock icon, Bowie had attended one of his Welcome To My Nightmare shows and told his band, ‘this is what we should be doing.’ Cooper stated he felt his shows “opened up a huge door for Bowie,” as they made him realise “you could be theatrical and commercial at the same time.”
In a recent fan-lead interview with Metal Hammer, responding to a question asking if the two had ever crossed paths, Cooper admitted: “I created Alice as a villain and Bowie created all of his characters to fit who he wanted to be, so I never really saw him as competition, I encouraged him. Bowie and I talked all the time, we’d complement each other.”
He added: “There was a whole thing about Bowie and Lou Reed talking about my androgynous thing being fake and they were right, of course, it’s fake. It’s a dark vaudeville show and I play a character.” Cooper revealed how at the time he attended his shows, Bowie was a mime artist known as Davy Jones.
Both respected icons adapted theatrical characters in their own way, with Bowie putting his own spin on Cooper’s villainous alter ego: “I knew how to make that character scary, sexy, revolting and funny at the same time!” He stated.
Cooper also recently spoke about the value of theatrics in rock, specifically the effectiveness of the shock rock act that launched his career. He told the Independent that he didn’t think his original act would work on modern audiences: “You could cut off your arm and eat it on stage and it wouldn’t matter,” he explained. “The audience is shockproof.”
Alice Cooper’s new album Detroit Stories was released in February – it’s the rocker’s 28th studio album.
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