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October 29, 2021 17 mins

Horror movie director and fellow spooky rocker Rob Zombie inducts Godfather of Shock Rock, Alice Cooper and his band. Zombie reflects on the influence that Alice Cooper’s theatrical rock and macabre stage shows had on music.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yah, Welcome to Induction Vault, a production of I Heart
Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. M

(00:31):
Who better to induct the godfather of shock rock, Alice Cooper,
along with the rest of the Alice Cooper Band than
horror movie director and fellow spooky rocker Rob Zombie. Zombie's
hilarious speech recounts his lifelong idolization of Cooper and the
momentous inspiration that Alice Cooper's theatrical rock and maccabb's stage
shows were not only for Zombie's career, but for rock

(00:52):
music in general. Then, Cooper, Dennis Dunnaway, Michael Bruce, and
Neil Smith make brief but poignant remind paying tribute to
late bandmate Glenn Buxton and thanking the fans and others
who helped them along the way, perfectly illustrating why so
many devotees remember the poop Hello, Hello, good evening, um

(01:19):
rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was thinking about
rock and roll heroes and what they mean. I mean,
we love rock and roll heroes because they're cooler than us,
they're smarter than us, they're richer than us, and we
all love them right. Wrong? Wrong? Uh? I mean Let's
put it in perspective. I don't want to name names,

(01:40):
but say James Bond. You know what good is James
Bond without gold Finger or dr No or pussy galore.
He's just a swab boring guy in a tucks with
a nit picky drink order that UH like to say

(02:00):
his name a lot. You know, Bond, James Bond, Hey Bond,
James Bond, Buddy and um. In nineteen sixty nine, that
was essentially what had happened to Rock. All heroes, no villains,
and you're thinking, what about Jerry Lee Lewis, what about
Keith Richards? Badass motherfucker's to be sure, but not villains.

(02:26):
But then in nineteen sixty nine, a very special event happened.
It was in Venice, California, at the Cheetah Club where
a new band, Alice Cooper, appeared on stage. You say
that now, but not in nineteen sixty nine, because that
show is famous for the fact that within five minutes

(02:48):
they cleared the room. They told me the story themselves.
It's true, they cleared the room. Everyone hated him except
one man. Now, I see John Densmore brought a up
and so did I. Uh I figured that was a
very intense moment in rock history, so I wanted to
act it out for you, but I need my script,

(03:09):
told him the one man who saw the beauty, and
that was Frank's appa. Exactly who else? So Frank went
up to that band said I'm gonna sign you to
my label. I don't like you. I don't understand your music.

(03:30):
You're so freaky. I don't get it. Are you on drugs?
Which Alice said no, not on drugs. I don't know.
Maybe he wasn't uh, And then Frank asked, hey, where
are you from? Phoenix, Arizona. Well, I guess Phoenix Arizona

(03:54):
was all Frank needed to hear, because right after that
he signed him to his label. The rest is history.
I mean, they went on at that point to become
the most rock star destroying band of all time. Nobody
could understand. They took everything to a new level. They
even tried to explain it in their own songs. This
this one song be My Lover with the lyrics go.

(04:16):
She asked me why the singer's name was Alice. I said, listen, baby,
you just wouldn't understand. As my mom would say, which
one's at which one's Alice? Is that she is? Is
she the one that's Alice? Anyway? They were more than
a band. They were more like a murderous gang of
drag queens. Say in a good way, that's good. But

(04:41):
their mission was, as they would say it themselves, was
to destroy the hippies dreams of peace, love and understanding,
and to quote them, all they wanted were ferraris, switchblades
and blonds. Well maybe Rolls Royces too, I don't know.
In fact, they knew how, you know, the villains know
how a party, And even Jim Morrison wrote about it.

(05:02):
He would sing, I woke up this morning, I got
myself a beer, which is a line he stole from Alice.
When Alice was just explaining his morning ritual. Jim thought, wow, hardcore. Anyway.
The Alice Cooper band was glam rock before anyone thought
of glam rock. They were punk rock before anyone thought
of punk rock. In fact, Johnny Rotten audition for the

(05:25):
Sex Pistols by singing at Alice Cooper song so what
are you gonna doing? I mean everywhere I turned someone
references them, I mean rocky horror picture show. The main
reference was Alice Cooper everything's Alice Cooper. I mean they
were just basically em appeal meets baby Jane under the
guidance of Dr Frankenstein. I can't think of any other

(05:48):
way to describe it, even for a fourth grade I
remember I was worshiped Alice Cooper and brief little story,
you know, his fourth grade little art fair at the
local public library. Everybody had a paint a picture of
somebody they had fired. They figured, you know, Abraham Lincoln,
George Washington, whatever, boring. I painted a portrait of Alice
Cooper with the words love it to death and blood
dripping down the side. It seemed like a good idea

(06:13):
at the time. Well, I got yanked out of the
art show and made the paper front page, you know,
sick kid loves Alice Cooper or something. So Alice, thanks
for the early press. I appreciate that. Um anyway, of course,
Alice Cooper did one thing that I think people forget.
He did he invented the rock show. Before Alice Cooper,

(06:34):
it was not a rock show. He invented the rock show.
I could list all the things that he did, but
I'd be here all night. But dancing skeletons, bog and strictors, guillotines, hangings,
electric chairs, black widows, dead babies, balloon, shield of money,
blizzards of bubbles, confetti, chickens with machine guns, nurses, platform boots, tuxedos,

(06:57):
blah blah blah blah blah, and makeup the iconic makeup.
Oh yeah. He also did a thriller of a track
with Vincent Price, long before Michael Jackson ever thought of it,
just to stick it in there. Um. Anyway, I wouldn't
be here talking about Alice Cooper if it was just
the stage show. You know, stage shows get old, outrage fades,

(07:22):
and last year's freak show is this year's awards show.
But within that a man would come along who was
sort of as George Martin was to the Beatles. This
man would be to Alice. That's Bob Ezran Bob. Where
are you, Bob? You've been bugging me all night? Where

(07:42):
did you go? Um? In a short period of time,
they would just crank out amazing platinum record after amazing
platinum record. He'd have to hit that became more than hits.
They became anthems, teenage anthems. Everything was an anthem. Schools
out eighteen no more Mr nice guy under my wheels,
on and on and on. By that point it was

(08:05):
impossible to ignore these sick things, and their place in
rock history was already rock solid. But I still remember
seeing this picture of Alice Cooper leaning at the bar
or maybe leaning on the counter at the holiday and
I'm not sure, and he had a denim jacket that
said remember the coupe embroidered on the back. Well, forty

(08:27):
years later, fifty million records later, yeah, we fucking remember
the coop all right after the break quill here from
members of Alice Cooper Band on the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame Induction vault. Thank you, Cochuta cachun Are

(08:57):
Snake here called a little left out because she normally
performs with us, but you know, yes, that is Elton
John will be there. That's right. Such a groupie, it's unbelievable.
We just want to thank the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame for voting us in. Um. We really have
to thank our manager of forty two years, Ship Gordon.

(09:23):
We still don't have a contract. We'll get around to that.
And Joe Greenberg Bob Ezrin who produced all of the
big records for us, and uh we want to recognize
the late Glenn Buxton, who was the heart and soul
of our band as black and dark as it. Maybe

(09:44):
it's the heart and soul played tonight, of course by
Steve Hunter on lead guitar. You know, we were the
first generation brought up by the Beatles and the Stones,
who influenced everybody. But the bands that really really hit
home for us were the Yardbirds, the Who, the Kinks.

(10:07):
They gave us our musical education. I hope I never
outgrow a Pete Townsend windmill chord. I hope I never
outgrow a Jeff Beck lead guitar. If I do, just
shoot me. We've always been a hard rock band. We
just wanted to decorate it just a little bit differently. Uh.

(10:29):
I wish I could tell you that being in the
hall now, that we'll never embarrass you, but I really
can't make that promise. I mean, after all, we are
Alice Cooper. It's what we do. I'd like to thank

(10:58):
the rats there in the snake stomach for sacrificing the
ultimate sacrifice for art. Lots of things happen over the years.
Number One, you trade these in for these. Uh. Also,

(11:19):
one thing I did not anticipate to the volume that
it has been. As as soon as we found out
that we were inducted, the phone rang off the hook.
I've been so busy and I'm not him. The snake
probably got more than me too, even but but uh,
I've been so busy. This is what I ended up

(11:41):
with for a speech. I'd like to thank Dwayne Eddy
and the Rebels for playing at a double feature movie
and between movies they came out and played and I said,
that's what I want to do. And I talked to
my my other skinny nerd friend at high school. We
were the two nerds, and uh, we decided to start

(12:03):
a band. How did we get here? I'd like to
thank John Spear, John Tatum, Mike All and Charlie Carneal
Dick Christian Jack, Curtis Fender for the billion dollar base
that you saw tonight and the equipment the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. I love him. Uh we are here. Uh.

(12:27):
My wife, Cindy, who had a lot to do with
blinging us out, and she was a dancing tooth. She
was the original nurse and she was also a major
therapist for all of us. My daughter's Renee and Chelsea
for all of their support, my mom and dad, Joe Greenberg,

(12:49):
Chef Gordon for seeing something that a whole room full
of people didn't. Uh. Bob Ethern, it's always uh an
honor and a joy to work with him. Uh he
he puts up with a lot out of my abstract
excursions into the pioneering realms of outer space. Uh. And

(13:12):
last but not least, the great the fire of the band,
Glenn Buxton, Thank you Obi still my raging heart. I
just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful uh

(13:35):
Alice's parents Mr Mr Fern for putting up with us
as we rehearsed and said on their Naga Hyde couch
and during the summer and it's stuck. And uh also
the Buxton's Uh Glenn of course, uh a wonderful man
who's not with us tonight. And also my folks who

(13:56):
are not with us tonight, and we couldn't have on
it without you. And also i'd i'd just like to
extend this uh find it in your heart for brothers
and sisters in Japan who have suffered a tremendous loss
and they'll need all of our help to get back
on their feet. And God bless you all and rock on.

(14:25):
First of all, I'd like to thank four of my
best friends in the world. Glen Bucks in Lake, Glen Buckston,
Michael Bruce, Vincent Fernier, came Alice, and then it's Donaway.
These four characters gave a homeless drummer a place to
stay in Santa Monica. Two weeks later, they asked me
to play drums in their band and UH I accepted.

(14:48):
UM thanks to Todd run Gren for calling his band
the naz and we had to change the name bar band.
We chose a name Alice Cooper. And thanks to Frank's
Dappa and thanks to Dennis's wife, Cindy my sister for
being at at work in Los Angeles when two cool
looking dudes from New York came into her shop to

(15:11):
do some shopping. She found out their names were Chef
Gordon and Joe Greenberg and that they had come to
Los Angeles to manage a band. And she said, so coincidentally,
my brother is in a band called Alice Cooper. Frank
Zappa wants to sign them. Joe and Chef, thank you
they did sign us as our managers. UM and and

(15:34):
also thanks to Bob ezmun and thanks to Jack Richardson.
Jack Richardson didn't really want to record the band, so
we threw us at Bob, who became the sixth member
of the band, even though he is Canadian Altgad, I
love their beer. Uh. And Mr Mr Hess, my fifth

(15:54):
grade music teacher who was ready to wrap a troumbone
around my throat and told me, why don't I try
to play something guel like the drums? Thank you and Uh. Lastly,
and most importantly to all the Alice Cooper fans around
the planet that have been supportive over the years and
hoping that this day, this night would eventually come. Well,

(16:17):
guess what, Alice Cooper and the Rock Roll Hall of
Fame but now collided, and this statue is because of you.
It's about you, and it's for you. Thank you a
fucking billion. Thank you. By the way, it's my thirty
fifth anniversary to my wife Cheryl over there, who was

(16:41):
our skinny little ballerina and nightmare and we're still happily married.
Thank you, Ed, thank you. Thanks for joining us on
this week's episode of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Induction Vault for more on your favorite inductees, to shop
inducting arch or to plan your trip to the Rock

(17:01):
and Roll Hall of Fame, visit rock Hall dot com
plus Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on
demand on HBO Max. Our executive producers are Noel Brown,
Shelby Morrison, and Lisa Gurkey. Supervising producer is Taylor Shakoin.
Research and archival assistants from Isabelle Keeper and Shannon Herb.

(17:22):
Thanks again for joining us on this week's episode of
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vall Induction Ball
is a production of I Heart Radio and the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your favorite podcasts
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