Alice Cooper is a living legend and the original 'shock rocker'. His career has spanned over 5 decades, and he continues to record new music and tour. His career in music has had him cross paths with everyone from Rob Zombie, to Megadeth, to Paul McCartney, to Elvis Presley, to Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd... to name just a few.
As I finally got around to reading his '07 autobiography, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict, I found it to be one of the most enjoyable rock musicians' biographies I've read in a long time! I had fun going back and listening to several albums as I read through the stories behind them, appreciating the new perspective gained by having Alice's own insight into them fresh in my mind.
While the book does follow his music career from his high school beginnings with The Spiders, all the way up to his late 1990's releases, he also gives several very thorough tips and instructions and analogies about golf, it's similarities to music, the unending challenges the sport presents, and numerous tips on how to improve your own game. He puts chapters on golf in between those on life and music. The chapters of the book alternate in this fashion pretty regularly. If you are not interested in golf, or even interested enough in Alice's obsession with golf, then you'll probably be bored with almost half of this book. But I recommend giving it a fair chance, as Alice does tie the two parts of his life together quite nicely by the end.
Now, as you're reading through these reminiscences you can also treat yourself to a thorough sampling of the songs from Alice Cooper while you read, or at the very least, in between chapters. The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper is a 4 disc box set released in 1999, soon after his album The Last Temptation. While this biography was published years after the box set, in 2007, the majority of the discussion about his music career only goes up to The Last Temptation. That album was a significant statement for Alice on several levels. You'll have to read the book to find out those reasons yourself.;-) He mentions the albums Brutal Planet (2000) and Dragontown (2001) only in passing. No further music projects are mentioned, although in closing Alice does say that he continues to record music and/or tour every year. He says he'll keep doing it for as long as he can...
God bless you Alice! As a fan, I can only look forward to hearing your next album, seeing your next tour, and if I'm fortunate enough for our paths to ever cross, I wouldn't say no to a round of golf! My game has nothing to do but improve!
Recommended Alice Cooper tracks:
-Why Don't You Love Me? (The Spiders-1965)
-I'm Eighteen (1970)
-Elected (Alice mentions that John Lennon once said it was his favorite Alice Cooper song. 1972)
-Cold Ethyl (1975)
-Teenage Frankenstein (1986)
-Poison (This was the song that introduced me to Alice Cooper when I was a teen myself. I can never get enough of this one! 1989)
-Stolen Prayer (An especially treasured favorite of mine, featuring guest vocals by Chris Cornell. 1994)
-Brutal Planet (2000)
-Disgraceland (2001)
-School's Out/Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (Hollywood Vampires-2015. This rerecorded version reflects the manner in which Alice has performed this song live in concert for years. I love it to death!)
-My Dead Drunk Friends (Hollywood Vampires-2015)
Happy Headbanging!
