Alice Cooper is good mates with Gene Simmons, but that doesn’t mean he shares his views about rock and roll. You may recall one of the numerous internet firestorms sparked by the KISS bassist last year after he labelled rock music “dead”.
Now, in an interview with Music Feeds, Cooper assumed a position firmly on the other side of the rock and roll fence, and has named an unlikely Australian band as one of the genre’s recent saviours.
“I don’t believe what Gene said,” the godfather of shock rock said. “It’s one of those things where it goes through cycles.”
“One of the last great rock and roll bands was a band called Jet, from Australia,” he continued. “That band was really good. I mean, they were a bar band, a great bar band.”
The sudden show of solidarity for the Melbourne foursome, who called it quits back in 2012, may have something to do with the fact that Cooper is getting ready to pack his bags for an historic tour of Australia alongside the legendary Motley Crue.
Cooper points to radio’s obsession with pre-packaged pop stars as one of the major symptoms of rock’s ailing health.
“Music right now on the radio is just diva music,” he explained. “And I’ve got nothing against any of those girls, you know. I think it’s great. But it’s not rock and roll.”
Nonetheless, the guillotine-wielding frontman remains optimistic about the future of rock music.
“I remember a period of time in the late ’70s when Alice Cooper and Aerosmith and KISS could not get played on the radio because of disco,” he said. “I mean, we all continued on, and we made records, and they would play our ballads, but the radio only wanted to hear disco. And that’s what’s kind of going on now.”
If you want to see a current band Cooper does rate as rock and roll, look no further than last year’s Splendour In The Grass lineup.
“There’s another good band that’s in Ireland right now – 18-year-old kids called The Strypes. These kids sound like The Yardbirds and The Small Faces combined.”
The one-man horror show said he wholeheartedly believes that the next Alice Cooper, or KISS, or, apparently, Jet is out there, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re getting busy taking over the world.
“There’s kids right now in a garage with Fender guitars and amps, and they’re learning Alice Cooper songs and they’re learning Guns N’ Roses and they’re learning The Rolling Stones,” he said.
“So there will be a resurgence. Rock and roll’s not dead at all.”
You can catch Alice Cooper performing with Motley Crue on the Australian leg of their Final Tour this May.
Stay tuned for the full Music Feeds interview with Alice Cooper, where he talks about his new album with rock supergroup Hollywood Vampires, the potential for a Johnny Depp cameo during one of his Aussie shows, and the lengths he went to to keep Tommy Lee away from his guillotine.
