Posted on 01/03/2015 10:13:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
My homepage is UltimateClassicRock.com.
(Don’t judge.)
On December 27, one of their headlines blared, in all caps, “Why Alice Cooper Doesn’t Believe in ‘Celebrity Christianity’”.
I thought: What year is it?
“Born again Alice” is old news.
Back in the “emerging church” 1990s, when Protestants were trying to get hip (again), a rash of magazines appeared. Critics called them “skate park outreach” and they all had semi-tough names like Relevant and Relate. (And lots and lots and LOTS of U2 stories…)
In one of them, I read an interview with Cooper, in which he unequivocally took the standard-issue evangelical line that Mother Teresa’s good works wouldn’t necessarily get her into heaven. I’ve never been a cheerleader for the late saint, but his dogmatism rubbed me the wrong way.
That said, I never stopped liking him, and his music.
In my punk days, Alice Cooper was an “old” band it was still OK to like. (That’s the topic for another, longer column, though.)
Right now, an interview Cooper gave to HM (a Christian music publication) in the spring is suddenly getting picked up all over the place.
It seems to have started at the DC Beacon, who, shall we say, over-enthusiastically claim:
Although he became a Christian in the 1980s, apart from brief comments in some interviews the 66-year-old singer has always been guarded about his faith until now. But in a frank interview with a Christian music magazine, he spoke at length publicly for the first time about his love for God and reluctance to become a Christian celebrity.”
That other music (and Christian) outlets are taking DC Beacon‘s claims about Cooper’s faith being breaking news is pretty strange.
Cooper’s interview with Relevant (or whoever) was hardly brief, as I recall, and I know I’ve read similar ones.
And then there’s the not so small matter of last year’s widely-discussed, warts-and-all documentary about the musician, Super Duper Alice Cooper.
That’s not a big deal. It’s nice that Cooper’s Christianity is getting some attention.
And let’s face it, it’s an irresistible story:
Son of a preacher man remakes himself as a glam, proto-goth — the “Gothfather,” perhaps? He turns into a drug-addled rock god whose antics onstage and off are the stuff of legend — then sees the light, gives up booze and takes up golf.
But I can’t possibly be the only one who feels like they’re trapped in The Twilight Zone or Invasion of the Body Snatchers while reading “the news” these days.
Does anyone else find themselves constantly wondering, “Er, doesn’t everybody know this already?”
(And if they don’t, then we’re in way bigger trouble than even I realized.)
Seriously: We really need a new name for, well, “the news.”
PINGAROO
There was a rumor back in the ‘90s that he visited our little Baptist church on Maui when he vacationed in the Islands. Not sure if it’s true or not...
One has to be cautious when a celebrity suddenly gets religion.
I remember when Larry Flint became “religious” for a short while back in the 1970s, but would not give up his publication of porn.
Then he got shot, and reverted and became an extremely vile person.
RE: One has to be cautious when a celebrity suddenly gets religion
In Vincent Damon Furnier’s (AKA Alice Cooper ) case, he has been a Christian for a few decades.
The curious thing is this.... The legend is that the name “Alice Cooper” came from a session with a Ouija board, largely chosen because it sounded innocuous and wholesome, in humorous contrast to the band’s image and music.
How can you be a Christian and still use the name taken from an Ouija Board?
Beat me to it.
“In one of them, I read an interview with Cooper, in which he unequivocally took the standard-issue evangelical line that Mother Teresas good works wouldnt necessarily get her into heaven. Ive never been a cheerleader for the late saint, but his dogmatism rubbed me the wrong way.
That said, I never stopped liking him, and his music.”
This author has it backwards.
His music and stage show and schtick were terrible.
The above piece of theology about good works is not.
I don’t know much about Cooper except that his music, stage show and image were pathetic and more importantly that we all need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
A lot of us can know Christ but still not be very good role models for others and being, for example, a celebrity Christian may provide more stumbling blocks than benefit.
Cooper himself has said the Ouija board story is about as true as the story about him biting the head off a chicken.
It must be fun to invent a puff piece for a magazine and have everyone repeat it for 40 or 50 years....lol
His wife is a very strong Christian as well.
You can see some of his interviews on youtube. He sure sounds sincere.
Thanks, guys.
Unfortunately, my mom generously gave me her stomach flu.
I’m extremely sick.
Alice will see God, some day.
Wish I had his quiet, joyous confidence and faith.
Y’all are gonna have to argue Alice, pythons and dogs without me until this misery abates.
Of course he's in the news for religion. The left figures that if they are going to burn they want everyone to burn with them.
There's still time for them to avoid that.
Unlike Flint, Alice Cooper didn’t ‘suddenly’ get religion. It’s more like The Prodigal Son coming home to his upbringing.
Proverbs 22:6 New King James Version (NKJV)
“6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Having been around it all my life, and watching Christian ‘Celebrities’ crash and burn - I’m glad that Alice has that stance of not wanting to be one. I saw many fall because of the Pride of Heart from the status.
That was quite the Christmas present. Enjoy...
The reality was even parodied in Depp’s version of “Dark Shadows”.
Barnabas, speaking of Alice Cooper; “Ugliest woman I’ve ever seen.”
In the beginning, people showed up expecting to see a blonde folk singer.
The handicapped people in the front row of the concert tore apart the chicken and Frank Zappa counseled the horrified Alice to not deny it, as “any publicity is good publicity”.
There are videos of what actually happened.
Why it’s even still a question is beyond me.
A gift that keeps on giving.
:-\
How can you be a Christian and believe that an Ouija board has the devil lurking inside it, guiding your hand? Lucifer, old scratch, Beelzebub from Hasbro.
LOL,, Run for the hills. Dude, its a parlor game that generally only works on idiots.
In before the hushed story,,,”one time when we were young, we asked the board,,,,”
Come on over and we’ll drink whiskey and watch the Legend of Boggy creek. That’s a scare there. Especially when he grabs that guy on the throne, right through the window.
“Chickens have wings, I thought it would fly away.”
The story that I heard was that his band at the time was experiencing too much competition from folk-singing types, so he changed the name to something that people would think was a folk-singer. I’ve never heard of the Ouija board story.
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