How Frank Zappa Helped Alice Cooper Become the Rockstar We Know and Love Today

In the late 1960s, a decidedly horrible show at the Cheetah Club in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood led to the Alice Cooper Band crossing paths with the legendarily eccentric Frank Zappa. The latter artist had recently started two record labels, Bizarre Records and Straight Records. As their names might suggest, Bizarre was originally supposed to house the most avant-garde in Zappa’s roster, while Straight Records would be more commercial.

The plan failed to take shape as Zappa had intended. Bands that likely deserved a Bizarre placement ended up on Straight. Nevertheless, Zappa’s record label helped establish the careers of several artists who would go on to define the stranger corners of 1970s rock, including Captain Beefheart, the GTOs, and, of course, Alice Cooper.

How A Lousy Gig Turned Into A Net Positive

Before Alice Cooper was, well, Alice Cooper, there was the Alice Cooper band, fronted by Vince Damon Furnier, who would later go on to adopt his band name as his stage name. Consisting of art majors who had a deep admiration for surrealist artists like Salvador Dalí, the Alice Cooper Band created bizarre psychedelic rock that didn’t necessarily go over well at standard music venues around southern California.

One fateful night, the Alice Cooper Band performed at the Cheetah Club in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood. They cleared the room in a matter of ten minutes, which, for most artists, would be considered a tremendous failure. But fortunately, music manager Shep Gordon was one audience member who stuck around. Gordon believed the band’s ability to affect a crowd that night could be turned into a strength. The manager landed the band an audition with Frank Zappa for his new record label. Zappa had told the band to meet him at 7:00, which the green musicians took to mean 7 a.m.

In a 2024 interview with Livewire, Cooper recalled showing up to Zappa’s home bright and early, the entire band clad in chrome outfits. The band cycled through six songs, all two minutes or less. “Frank sat there listening, and he goes, ‘I don’t get it.’ And I said, ‘Is that good?’ And he says, ‘Oh, I’m going to sign you because I don’t get it. Where are you guys from, San Francisco?’ I went, ‘No, we’re from Phoenix.’ He goes, ‘Now I really don’t get it.’”

Frank Zappa Helped Alice Cooper Develop Rockstar Reputation

After the Alice Cooper Band landed their record deal with Frank Zappa, the band began playing larger shows and developing their reputation for their shocking on-stage antics. One such incident happened in 1969 when newspapers began reporting that frontman Alice Cooper had ripped off the head of a live chicken and drank its blood on stage. In reality, someone had thrown a live chicken onto the stage. Not knowing what to do, Cooper threw it back into the crowd, incorrectly assuming that the chicken would fly. “I threw it in the audience, and the audience tore it to pieces,” Cooper recalled.

Zappa called Cooper after the show to ask the frontman if he had really done what the newspapers claimed. After Cooper had assured him that he hadn’t actually killed a chicken, let alone drank its blood on stage, Zappa replied, “Well, whatever you do, don’t tell anybody you didn’t do it.” Indeed, just like that, the Alice Cooper Band solidified their place as one of the most ghastly bands of the decade.

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