Alice Cooper, also known as the Alice Cooper Group or the Alice Cooper Band, was an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964. The band consisted of lead singer Vincent Furnier (who adopted the stage name Alice Cooper), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and Neal Smith (drums). The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows.
The Alice Cooper band was one of the few glam rock acts to achieve mainstream popularity in the United States, rising to fame in 1971 with the hit single "I'm Eighteen", from their third album Love It to Death. Success continued with the US top 10 and UK No. 1 single "School's Out", from the album of the same name, in 1972. The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their next album Billion Dollar Babies, which topped the album charts in America and Britain and spun off three UK top 10 singles. The supporting tour broke box-office records previously held by the Rolling Stones. The band split up in 1974, but Vincent Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a successful solo career. In 2011, the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
History
Formative years: The Spiders
In 1964, 16-year-old Furnier, then a student at Cortez High School, was eager to participate in the local annual Letterman's talent show, so he gathered four teammates from his high school's cross-country team to form a group for the show: Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, John Tatum and John Speer. They named themselves the Earwigs. They dressed up in costumes and wigs to resemble the Beatles, and performed several parodies of Beatles songs, with the lyrics modified to refer to the track team: in their rendition of "Please Please Me", for example, the line "Last night I said these words to my girl" was replaced with "Last night I ran four laps for my coach". Of the group, only Buxton and Tatum knew how to play an instrument—the guitar—so Buxton and Tatum played guitars while the rest mimed on their instruments. The group got an overwhelming response from the audience and won the talent show. As a result of their positive experience, the group decided to try to turn into a real band. They acquired musical instruments from a local pawn shop, and proceeded to learn how to play them, with Buxton doing most of the teaching, as well as much of the early songwriting. They soon renamed themselves the Spiders, featuring Furnier on vocals, Buxton on lead guitar, Tatum on rhythm guitar, Dunaway on bass guitar, and Speer on drums. Musically, the group was inspired by artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, the Doors, and the Yardbirds. For the next year the band performed regularly around the Phoenix area with a huge black spider's web as their backdrop, the group's first stage prop.
In 1965, the Spiders recorded their first single, "Why Don't You Love Me". The single's B-side track was the Marvin Gaye Tamla Records hit, "Hitch Hike". The single was released by local record label, Mascot Records, owned by Jack Curtis, a concert promoter who also owned the Stage 7 teen club which later became the VIP Club where the Spiders were the house band. At the VIP Club the band supported bands including the Lovin' Spoonful, the Yardbirds, Them, the Animals, the Kinks and the Byrds.
In 1966, the Spiders graduated from high school and after North High School footballer Michael Bruce replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar, the band released their second single, "Don't Blow Your Mind", an original composition which became a local #1 hit, backed by "No Price Tag". The single was recorded at Copper State Recording Studio and issued by local micro-imprint, Santa Cruz Records.