“Arizona needs a good heavy metal governor,” said Alice Cooper on February 28, 1988, several days after announcing his run as governor of Arizona. “It’s a rock and roll state. They just don’t know it. It’s a very closet rock and roll state, and they’re ready to break out. They just need a guy like me in there to push them a little bit, that’s all.”
Cooper continued, “I’m probably much more trusted than anybody there. These people know where I’m coming from. They look at me. They see my shows. They know it’s gonna be a bloodbath.”
Neither Democrat, nor Republican, nor anything in between, Cooper always had another party in mind for his gubernatorial campaign. It was the Wild Party, one he created when he released his Billion Dollar Babies classic “Elected” in 1972. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100, prompting Cooper to continue his presidential and other campaigns over several decades.
To back his Wild Party campaigns, Cooper also had the perfect slogan: “A troubled man for troubled times.”
“I’m definitely a write-in candidate,” said Cooper during his gubernatorial run. “Hey, I’m a native. I’m a registered voter. I represent the Wild Party, and I even have a campaign slogan: ‘Alice Cooper: A Troubled Man for Troubled Times.”
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“No More Pencils, No More Books”
By 1988, Arizona Governor Evan Mecham was impeached after being in water for obstruction of justice, misuse of government funds, and filing a false statement, which left the door open for Cooper’s run.
“It never ceases to amaze me how these men are whitewashed as soon as they’re in the public eye, but it wouldn’t be the same with me,” said Cooper in a 1988 interview. “Everyone knows that I’m dirty old Alice from the start. If I became governor, the people would know what I’m like right from the beginning, which would make a change.”
Cooper’s 1988 campaign was not his first, since he had been jokingly running for president since 1972. Continuing with his ‘Troubled Man for Troubled Times” slogan, in 2016 Cooper even made some campaign promises, including: Adding Lemmy [Kilmister] to Mt. Rushmore; no more pencils, no more books; and a ban on taking selfies, except on a designated National Selfie Day.
“Alice Cooper is tired of the rhetoric, the mudslinging, the media frenzy,” read his 2016 candidacy notice. “Keeping his snake in his cage and the guillotine in storage, he is putting people before career. Alice Cooper wants to be ‘Elected.’”
“Alice for President”
In 2024, Cooper rebooted his run for the presidency, complete with a campaign video and an updated website, Aliceforpresident.com.
“I’m Alice Cooper, and I’m a troubled man for troubled times,” Cooper reminded voters in the video. “I have absolutely no idea what to do, so I should fit right in.”
Phony campaigns aside, Cooper has been close-lipped about his personal political views and even remembered sitting between John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, arguing about politics and thinking, “I don’t care.” Cooper said he prefers not to mix music with politics but prefers more humanitarian efforts.
“I don’t like to mix politics and rock and roll,” said Cooper. “I don’t look at Bono, Sting, and Bruce Springsteen as political. I look at them as being humanitarian. I’ll contribute to anything humanitarian. Helping people who can’t help themselves. But when musicians are telling people who to vote for, I think that’s an abuse of power. You’re telling your fans not to think for themselves, just to think like you. Rock and roll is about freedom, and that’s not freedom.”
Cooper added, “I want my shows to take you as far away as possible from politics. It’s supposed to be an escape from the world we’re living in.”
Photo: Michael Putland/Getty Images
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