Poison was his last big hit, but it was 20 years, 8 albums, and 1 religious conversion ago.
What form of separation are you looking for and who are the rest? He’s a clever lyricist with a good ear for talent and good musical instincts whose always believed his fans deserve a full entertainment experience. In the realm of heavy metal he’s probably one of the most influential guys ever, there pretty much hasn’t been a heavy metal artist that picked up their instrument after 1975 who doesn’t list Alice in their top 5 influences. He’s dealt with topics lyrically that are so far out there that even Frank Zappa wouldn’t touch them, but he’s always kept a strong concept within the songs that his characters are, either bad people doing bad things or victims of bad people. Since his conversion he’s been open about his faith and always willing to discuss it, how he converted and why he converted. Even before he converted he had a history of helping younger stars deal with the excesses of life in rock, something that’s continued with the addition of discussions of faith since conversion.
What you, like many of his detractors, are missing is the difference between the stage character of Alice and the person. The stage character is a bad guy, the darkness within all of us, an expression of the thoughts that run through our heads that we don’t like. But that’s just a character he plays on stage, no different than any heavy played by any actor in a play or movie, we don’t think the person who plays the Devil in a production of Faust is a bad person, even if they’re method. Off stage Alice is a guy who quit drinking and drugs over 20 years ago, never cheated on his wife, believes in the divinity of Jesus, thinks rock stars should shut up about politics, and loves to golf.
Thanks for making me feel old! I remember buying the CD and playing it in my Mirage.
BTW: You do realize that Zappa himself discovered Alice Cooper, and produced "Pretties for You."
Still think that "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" is one of the greatest rock songs EVER.
>>”What you, like many of his detractors, are missing is the difference between the stage character of Alice and the person. The stage character is a bad guy,...”
If his offstage life is as you say, and that was his whole life, I would have no issue with him. BUT This post is all about SNEERING at a venue for not allowing a performance. SNEERING, since “because he has a theology degree, his performance must be OK.”
The performance is the problem. Unless he has changed dramatically, from what he was doing in the past, the performance is BAD. If the words he writes/sings, and the way he acts onstage, is indistinguishable from those artists who’s message is completely anti-Christian, hedonistic, drug-oriented, and just plain evil. why should sny follower of Christ call the performance anything but evil?
Is there any objective standard, which sets his performance apart?
DG