Posted on 03/05/2021 6:29:29 PM PST by nickcarraway
Alice Cooper argued that Gene Simmons’ famous comment about rock being dead applied only in a business sense and that, artistically, the genre was “where it should be.”
Kiss member Simmons made headlines in 2014 when he claimed that rock music had been “murdered” by technology and attitudes in the modern world. “Some brilliance, somewhere, was going to be expressed, and now it won't, because it's that much harder to earn a living playing and writing songs," he said at the time.
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In a recent interview with NME, Cooper countered Simmons’ statements. “I would like him to do my taxes," he explained. "He's a businessman, and business-wise, it’s valid. But I guarantee you, right now, in London somewhere, in garages, they're learning Aerosmith, they're learning Guns N’ Roses – a bunch of 18-year-kids are in there with guitars and drums, and they are learning hard rock.”
He added that he believed the same thing was taking place in the U.S. “In some ways, rock ’n’ roll is where it should be right now," he noted. "We’re not in the Grammys, we're not in the mainstream. Rock ’n’ roll is outside looking in now, and I think that gives us that outlaw attitude. And I think that’s very good for rock ’n’ roll, ‘cause that’s how rock ’n’ roll started. We were all outlaws at the time, and then we became mainstream.”
You can watch the interview below.
Alice Cooper on 'Detroit Stories' and why rock and roll isn't dead Subscribe to Ultimate Classic Rock on
Cooper asserted that the rock genre “started and never ended” and that the roots of newer styles of music could be traced back there.
He said that, through all those changes, “the Rolling Stones were still the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith was still Aerosmith, Alice Cooper was still Alice Cooper. We survived those things because guitar-driven hard rock is the only thing that will still be going 30 years from now, 40 years from now. And I think music will go all over the place, but you're gonna find those hard-rock bands still there.”
Read More: Alice Cooper Says Rock Is Not Dead, It’s Where It Should Be | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-cooper-rock-not-dead/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
“As long as people like her continue to support Biden,”
Alice Cooper (a man) didn’t like to mix music & politics. Although he supposedly supported Bush. He like Dolly Parton doesn’t want to lose part of his fans, by being political.
And Alice is a golfer.
I think back when we were in high school. You always knew on Monday morning, half the students would be wearing the T-shirts of the band that played that weekend. You knew every student’s favorite band, argued about who was the better guitarist, or drummer.
I still laugh because one of my friends, was the most hardcore fan of REO Speedwagon, always wearing their T-Shirts, and then, Hi-Infidelity came out, and they became a “chick band”, and he vowed never to listen to them again, he felt betrayed....we took our music seriously, lol!
I think the newest rock record I still listen to fairly often is Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”, and that was back from 2007.
https://www.youtube.com/c/alterbridgeofficial/videos
I live on rural MO so all we get is new country, old country, Christian music, old pop and classic rock. If I drive to St Louis, I can hear new pop but no new guitar driven rock. Even my sister in FL says she listens to new rock but talks about 10-20 year old stuff like Stone Temple Pilots.
The girls in my middle school class were always arguing over who was better: Prince or Michael Jackson. Us guys just stayed out of that argument. I remember that like it was yesterday. Ha ha
It seems to me people in the UA quit going to shows in the USA before covid, or at least a large % did. A lot of “widely obscure” semi-popular cool rock acts seem to tour in Europe and overseas mostly, and hit the 3 biggest cities or so in the US maybe. But yeah, there hasn’t been a ‘live show covid rebellion’ coming from a bunch of rock acts, at least that I’ve heard about.
FReegards
Well, I don't know about that, but country sure ain't.
I think my newest ‘regular rotation’ is Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats—Wasteland. From 2018 I think.
Freegards
So No More Mr. Nice Guy!
I just don’t see Alice Cooper as a democrat. He’s too smart.
Music videos killed rock. I love old videos of concerts by Deep
Purple, CCR, Styx etc... They were filmed pre-MTV and are great, even if the sound is not up to today's digital standards. I did like some stuff by Disturbed , Greta Van Fleet and Black Keys, but I know I will not be around in 30 years to see if they stand the test of time. I doubt they will. But, I know that Rock from 40 years ago has stood the test of time. Maybe it was the times, maybe it was the new sounds and the new drugs, maybe it was us. Whatever it was, music videos seemed to coincide with the decline in Rock.
You make a valid point. I guess I only differ in this regard: I started to play by learning the Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, John Mayall; later Hendrix, Clapton, etc. I've been playing that stuff more or less continuously for 50 years. For me, it never gets old, once I learned to improvise solos and interpret rather than copy.
OTOH, these days when I want something to do, I go back and find something I never learned then, and get it under my belt. Recently it was Ritchie Blackmore's solo in Highway Star, something that was beyond my skill back then, but now I have a decent shot at it. :-) Why learn it? I'll probably never play it in one of my bands, but no matter -- it's a good exercise and it stretches me, it's an item of personal expansion. And improvising in that particular quasi-classical mode is kind of fun.
All that said, hearing (good) new stuff is great, and I agree with you that it also can be a useful stretch.
Alice Cooper,
I was 18 when He sang;
“I’m 18!”
yep, playing to an image and flash cuts rather than the audience.
Indeed we did. And we did argue -- Beatles vs. Stones, Beatles vs. Monkees, Dave Clark Five vs. Herman's Hermits, .... I was something of a Beatles purist up through Sgt. Pepper and felt betrayed when they went all goofy after that, although Abbey Road was a masterpiece.
As a guitarist early on I craved Cream and Hendrix, it's always been electric blues-rock for me. Still is.
You pulling legs? Alice is a male & all around good guy. He played golf with our own JackelopeBreeder and Goldwater, Jr. I’d be very surprised if he supported Biden.
bookmark
Playing old stuff like that for me, is defeating my purpose to always advance my playing ability and knowledge of an instrument and of music in general. I get my kicks by learning a new technique or style. For example, lately I've been kind of fixated on learning and playing jazz chords and progressions on guitar and bass, something that I probably didn't have the skills to do a while back. Now it's gotten much easier and it's great to play new and different chords and explore. In a short while I'll probably get a little tired of jazz chords and I'll move on to something different, but I'll always keep the best parts of the music at my disposal to pull out and play when I get in the jazzy mood.
I'm rambling now...
Any way, Freegards! Like you, I go waaay back to the day. I started playing at 12, over 50 yrs ago.
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away”...
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