NPR is the last thing I think of when I think of Alice Cooper but NPR indeed thinks of Alice Cooper. Recently, Vincent Furnier (aka. Alice Cooper) talked with NPR and discussed the origins of the name “Alice Cooper” among other things. Alice never gives a bad interview and this one was a really great one. Here’s an excerpt of the NPR interview:
Vince Furnier’s first stage costume was a BEATLES wig. He and some buddies from the Cortez High School cross-country team in Phoenix entered a talent show in 1964, doing their impression of the Fab Four. They went over so well that they cut a record the following year. They called themselves the SPIDERS, and Furnier says they really took their stage image seriously.
“There was a giant web behind us. We wore all black,” Furnier says. “We didn’t just show up and stand up on stage, we appeared on stage.”
And that became a key to the band’s success. They headed for Los Angeles and a name change.
“That was the point where I said, ‘Let’s not be obvious. Let’s not call ourselves the Tarantulas. Let’s go the other way. Let’s go for something that sounds like a little old lady,” Furnier says. “I said, ‘Alice Cooper,’ and that just kind of stuck.”
Read the entire interview here.
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