Alice Cooper is positively shocking

When I was born, Vincent Damon Furnier and his band were already working on their fourth album unleashed on us as Killer, so I was able to get on the Alice Cooper bandwagon quite late. I was turning eighteen when the destiny-changing Trash album was released. It was destiny-changing for Alice since it became one of the biggest selling records he ever made, a cornerstone of melodic American rock music, hair metal if you like boxes for your favorites, created with the signature help of Desmond Child. It was destiny-changing for lots of music lovers, mainly female ones, who started to listen to rock music because of the hits of the album (Poison, Bed Of Nails, House Of Fire, Only My Heart Talkin’) popularized by MTV. It was destiny-changing for me because indirectly, Alice introduced me to my later wife. Andrea was working at Hungarotex at that time, and her already metal head colleague, Bea, showed her an Alice Cooper video, and there was no turning back. She started to collect everything AC, she was there for the 22nd July 1990 Trash concert at the MTK Stadion, even obtained an A0 poster of the same show a few days later displayed in a small shop in Buda she passed by incidentally, and that poster became the centerpiece of her room. They started to organize Alice Cooper fan club meetings inviting local bands as well. With dignified dedication, they created poster designs, flyers, tickets, backstage passes; with parental help, they stenciled A3 posters and pasted them up all around the city at night. The second ACFC meeting was held in the Viking Club, where we met a few months later. For sure, the hands of Fate, aka Alice Cooper, shepherded me towards Andrea since we met on the release day of his album titled Hey Stoopid, and we live happily ever after. The Prince Of Darkness gave us lots of unforgettable tunes and memories in the past 30 years.

We bought our first car in 1995, and the opening track of the first Punto Tapes compilation cassette was Lost In America, the first single from The Last Temptation. When I have heard the advance copy of the album, I was mesmerized by the voice of Chris Cornell in Stolen Prayer and Unholy War. Being a dedicated Soundgarden fan, it was an instant crush on the album that measures up to the greatness of these two songs, and the concept album became my all-time Favourite AC album. There is something unspeakable greatness in the whole album, a spirit that keeps it alive. For years, I attributed this attachment to my love for Andrea, my admiration for Chris, the songs’ quality, and Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite writers I have met via this masterpiece.

The American singer and the British writer conjured the album’s story arc together during long walks and in-depth conversations about the plots and the characters. The brainstorming begat not only an LP but a three-piece comic book mini-series whose first part was released simultaneously with the album on 12th July. In my childhood, I was an avid reader and collector of comics. It started with the black and white two-page sequels of Rahan in the teen magazine called Pajtás, then came the French weekly journal de Pif and the German Mosaik in Hungarian published monthly. The bi-monthly Alfa magazine introduced Asterix and Lucky Luke to me with the brilliant translations of György Tímár. Music took over my time gradually, and as I immersed myself in my studies in high school, then at the university, I tended towards literature and philosophy. Neil Gaiman showed me that these two worlds are not so far away from each other; there are meaningful comics for adults, even there are stories you can tell more effectively via this relatively new medium than with words without images. Much later, I was fortunate enough to meet the beloved creator of the Sandman saga. On 4th July 2007, I was queuing for hours at the Sárkánytűz bookstore to have a few words with him and ask him to sign some of the most precious items of my collection. Because of the unexpectedly huge crowd waiting for a brief audience with his majesty, I missed the Heaven & Hell concert on the same day, but I do not regret it at all. To see his face when, after signing the lavish Charles Vess illustrated, first edition of Stardust, I presented the first part of The Last Temptation series already signed by Alice Cooper, was a special moment I cherish ever since, just like the brief meet&greet with the Prince Of Darkness in his hotel room in Budapest during the album’s promotional tour thanks to Laszlo Szuts, then marketing director of Sony Music Entertainment Hungary.

Writing this book of retrospection was a great curve of learning as well. Right until reaching this part of this chapter, I did not know that The Last Temptation was not only a classic horror story but a turning point in the life of Alice Cooper as well. The archetypal Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll artist sunk in the darkest depths of his alcoholism during this period. His life slipped away from his hands; even his wife, Sheryl Goddard, gave up on him after a seemingly indestructible relationship that started in 1976. She filed for divorce in 1983, and her act shook the master of shock rock so much that he entered rehab again and returned clean and determined before they terminated his marriage. And he remained sober ever since. Since his Last Temptation, Alice Cooper grabs all the chances to help his friends, fellow musicians to beat demon alcohol and get free from its grip. Fort here efforts he received the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award from MusiCares Foundation in 2008. Since his newfound sobriety, Mr. Cooper lives his life as a newborn Christian, and the gem of his efforts manifest in the Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Foundation that supply teenagers with an inspiring environment in their out-of-school free time to find their call, let it be music, dance, film making or any creative way of self-expression. Aside from these inspiring endeavors, Alice Cooper inspires me the most by standing by his word he swore to his wife he met in 1975 when the then 18 years old ballerina auditioned to become a dancer on the Welcome to My Nightmare tour, and he remains faithful to her ever since.

(Artwork by Csaba Mester)