ALICE COOPER: 'I Always Used To Laugh At KISS'

The Canadian Press reports:

Thirty-five years ago, parents tried keeping their kids away from him.

Today, Alice Cooper is like comfort food. But he says there were always boundaries even he wouldn't cross.

"I've never used bad language in my show," says Cooper. "I've never used nudity, anything like that. To me, if you have to do that, you aren't clever.

"I always used to laugh at KISS. My joke for them was, 'When you guys can't think of anything to do, you just blow something up.' "

Cooper is far from bitter. He can headbang to ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON and SLIPKNOT like anyone else, knowing they just took his shtick and amplified it by 10.

Now 58, he loves his status as rock's gruesome grandfather, taking any and all rip-offs as a compliment.

He also knows better than to mess with a classic. The same garish props and effects from his legendary 1970s concerts are still a mainstay, only now there's a tongue-in-cheek charm to it.

"I kind of go with what the audience wants," he says. "If they want the guillotine, you got the guillotine. If they want the straightjacket, it's right there.

"It works now as pure entertainment and as tradition, almost. The audience still loves to see it. You still love to see the guy on the tightrope. It's like, certain things never grow old.

"It's the spectacle of it now (that people like). In the '70s, it was shocking 'I'm not letting my kids go see a guy cut his head off on a guillotine!' anymore. That's not going to be shocking because you can turn on CNN and see a real guy get his head cut off by terrorists. CNN has become much more shock value than Alice Cooper or Marilyn Manson."

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