Alice Cooper : "I'm So Happy That The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Nomination Was For The Original Band"

Rock AAA is reporting Alice Cooper says his original band have always been victims of the “misconception” they were more concerned with theatre than music – when the reverse was true. And their upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a good enough reason to reunite and play a series of major city shows.

The band known as Alice Cooper formed at school and released a stack of world-class tracks – including I’m Eighteen, School’s Out and the acclaimed 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies – before splitting up, leaving frontman Cooper to continue with the same name.

Now the shock rocker tells Rolling Stone: “When I heard we’d made it into the Hall of Fame I called the original band guys immediately and said, “Remember when we started in high school? Here we are. It only took 45 years.”

Cooper believes the band didn’t get the recognition they deserved in their heyday: “People didn’t take us seriously, musically. But we had two number one albums, 14 top 40 hits and 15 gold albums. I think there was a misconception – but we were much more concerned with the music than the theatrics”

The Alice Cooper band are aiming to play some reunion shows early next year alongside their appearance at the Hall of Fame induction in March.

Their frontman says: “We broke up in 1976, and I understand why we became exhausted. It was never a bitter break-up – it was, ‘I have different ideas, you have different ideas, but let’s still be friends’.

“We’ve done a couple of things together in recent years, but we’ve been looking for an excuse to do more. Why not do four or five major cities? Detroit because that’s where we broke out of, and LA, New York, London and Toronto – the cities where we got our major push.”

Cooper’s only regret is that original guitarist Glen Buxton, who died in 1997, won’t be there to take the credit for his 1970s work: “Glen was our Keith Richards – he lived that life until it killed him, which was too bad.

“But I’m so happy the Hall of Fame nomination was for the original band.”