Gather round, kiddies, Cooper’s Class of Character is now in session!
The original Prince of Gore, Alice Cooper, has a couple things to say to his tour co-headliner, Marilyn Manson, and they sure are some great points of advice! Cooper explained:
“We have a lot in common in the fact that we both play characters. We both created a couple of monster characters. What we talked about on my show was, how do you deal with that character against your real life? It’s so overpowering – does it ever take over? I’ve had a lot more time to work with Alice, so I know when to be Alice and when not to be Alice. I told him it’s very hard to maintain a character 24 hours a day, and there may come a time when you have to divorce yourself from the character just so you’ll like the character.”
He remembers his early days in the industry:
“I thought I had to be that character all the time – and it nearly killed me. I’m trying to drink with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and those guys, and they’re professionals, and I’m like 18 years old. That’s when I realised I have to allow myself to be me. Then I really appreciate playing the character of Alice. I don’t know how long you can maintain one character 24 hours a day without having some kind of a break. That’s just something you have to learn. I didn’t know my limitations until I got to the point where I got to a near-death experience and then I started going, ‘Now I know where Alice ends and I begin.’”
Following his reminiscing, Cooper explains how impressed he was after meeting Manson:
“He’s very smart; he’s got good insight. We and Rob Zombie are three of the people that created characters we had to deal with, our bigger-than-life mythological character. And me being that character for 40 years gave me a little more insight into it. I might handle it differently than they do, but I can at least show them where the thin ice is.”
Amazing words from a true legend. Rock on!
