'We emulated Alice in ways. He was a big inspiration to us.'
('Behind The Make-up' TV Show)

"Alice was a big influence on us [Kiss] because he was one of the few guys in the rock business at the time that was wearing makeup and I remember going to see the 'Billion Dollar Baby' tour and Paul (Stanley) and I snuck up close to Madison Square Gardens to get a good view. Obviously, he was a big influence on us as were other groups like The Who who was also another theatrical rock group. We pretty much just decided we were going to take it one step further."
(Heavymag, 2017)

"I've always admired what Alice did. Loved the toons and loved Ezrin's production. But in all honesty, I never got to see Alice perform until the early 90's. But, it's a small world and everything that's out there has some sort of influence on what you do."
(From email to fan)

"I still remember him walking down the stairs when the show began (Madison Square Gardens, 1973) with 'Hello Hooray' and it was godlike. The crowd was just going crazy... What Alice was doing was perfect for him and I wanted to do my version of that."
Peter Criss: "Paul and Ace literally ran all the way down the stairs to be right at the front of the stage. That's how impressed they were. I'll never forget."
(Nothing To Lose: The Making Of Kiss)

Alice and I were in Seattle on a promo juant in the late 80's. There was a creepy looking guy who kept following us around with an intense look on his face. He kept giving us tapes and stuff of his band. We looked at it and said "Yeah, right". Of course it was the singer of Alice in Chains was indeed a big fan.
(Brian Nelson, August 1996)

James Randi: "I ran into [Woody Allen] at a newstand on a Monday morning in Denver. I asked the lady at the newstand when the latest issue of Time magazine would be in. She said "This gentleman is also waiting for Time magazine" and she motioned to Woody Allen who was standing against the wall. He looked over and nodded at me and then stared. I had met him a few years before in New York a couple of times before he was the Woody Allen. He recognized me and asked me what I was doing in town. I mentioned I was with the Alice Cooper show. He got excited and said "Oh!" Then he looked around and asked "Is Cooper staying in the hotel?" I told him he was and asked if he'd like to meet him. I wrote down Coops room number, which was very confidential, and gave it to him. He just wandered away thanking me. Later that night at the arena, Alice came up to me and thanked me for sending Woody Allen up to his room. He said "I'm going to be in his next movie!" I asked how that happened. He said Woody Allen took him out to the set where he was filming and shot a scene that day with Alice standing by the side of the highway. That movie was "Sleeper". If you see the movie, you'll see him standing beside the side of the highway thumbing a ride. No one ever noticed it. It is a very brief and unrecognizable cameo. It is a bit of inside knowledge. I don't think he was even credited."

"I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter."
(Rolling Stone, January 26th 1978)

"Alice Cooper! Hey! The King. He's one of my heroes since I was a kid. Without Alice Cooper…..my favorite band as a kid was the Alice Cooper band. One of the top 3 bands. “Love It To Death,” “Killer,” “Billion Dollar Babies,” classic stuff. Alice Cooper is definitely one of the most important and brilliant showmen, along with Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Iggy, Johnny Thunders, whatever. Alice Cooper is the best. Nobody has done what he has done and he's a major influence on me. I totally love Alice and then on top of everything else, he's the sweetest guy you would ever imagine meeting. It's almost like you get disappointed when meeting him because you think he might be a little bit nasty or something! I love the guy. Alice Cooper can do no wrong. Alice Cooper rules."
(Metal Sludge, 2004)

I know a girl who is friends with the creator of the Crow (O'Barr). She told me that he acknowledges that the Crow was meant to be a hybrid of Alice Cooper, Robert Smith and Nikki Sixx.
(Brian Nelson, August 1996)

O'Barr has also denied the influence, but it's just too close to believe it's completely incidental.

Blackie Lawless (Wasp) and Gene Simmons were in attendance when Alice played Los Angeles on the 'Nightmare Returns' tour. Blackie was given tickets but no backstage passes. HA! Gene basically did a "I'm Not Worthy" to Alice and now that I think of it, I actually have a recorded letter to Alice from Gene stating how much he owes to Alice.
(Brian Nelson, November 1996)

Blackie Lawless used to use Alice quotes verbatim and claim them as his own witty prose
(Brian Nelson, July 1995)

"This was back in the days before security was really tight at shows. At 16 or 17 years old you would show up before the show and help the road crew move cases around so they wouldn't throw you out. It was the Killer tour, and I stood about six feet behind the gallows when they hung Alice. I could see the whole thing, how it was being done, seeing the whole magic trick unfold. And at 16 years old I was gaining much more than a magic trick, I was looking at the owner's manual of what would go on with my career down the road."
(Loudersound, 2016)

Boston based Extreme are rumoured to have asked Alice to appear on their 'Pornograffiti' album. Alice declined, saying the band weren't big enough. The album proceeded to go multi platinum. Extreme's track "Mr President" mentions Alice by name.

Sylvester Stallone is a pretty big fan. In the movie "Cobra", his girlfriend asks him what is middle name is and he embarrassingly tells her that it is "Alice"
(Brian Nelson, March 1997)
[Actually, Stallone's characters first name is Marion, he says he always wished it was something cooler. The girl asks what he would have liked his first name to be, and he says "Alice".]

The new issue of Architecture magazine has a feature on Sly Stallone's home. There is a photo of his living room and if you look carefully, you will find a framed picture of Stallone with Alice and Shep displayed on a table.
(Brian Nelson, November 1997)

During the Rolling Stones' 'Steel Wheels' tour, when playing 'It's Only Rock'n'Roll', they showed various rock legends on the screen behind the band. One of them was Alice. Alice saw the show and was 'thrilled'.

The Stones went to go see Alice Cooper in the early 70's ('72 I guess) and they had gone down to soundcheck. They were all walking around asking all of these questions like, "Now, why is that you have a gallows on-stage?" Shortly afterwards, Mick started wearing blue mascara on a stage that had a giant inflatable phallus installed in it.
(Brian Nelson, December 1997)

Alice went to the U2 concert last night (9th May 1997 Tempe, AZ). When he went into their dressing room, the band gave him the "We're Not Worthy" routine. And, during the show, they performed snippets of 'Hello, Hooray' and 'Welcome To My Nightmare'. They're big fans.
(Brian Nelson, May 1997)

Michael Jackson never would have wound up using Vincent Price if Alice hadn't done it. Michael was quoted in several articles in the 70's about being an Alice fan. Of course, he did not acknowledge Alice concerning 'Thriller' although did say something to Alice directly when they saw each other at the Grammys at the time.
(Brian Nelson, December 1998)

In 2017 Jackson's daughter Paris appeared on 'The Tonight Show' proclaiming her love for Alice after meeting him backstage at a show. "I was telling him, 'I love you so much, I've always listened to you, I grew up loving you' and I was close to tears. I'm crying thinking about it — he's amazing. So, I like really weirded him out, but he was really nice about it."

Ted Nugent: "None of my maneuvers in my career has ever been an act. Alice Cooper can be separated from Vince in that he puts makeup on and he becomes a character. I think that should be applauded. He does it excellently and it takes a lot of talent and vision and creativity to accomplish an Alice Cooper. I have great respect for Alice both as Alice Cooper the entertainer and as Vince my friend, just the normal white man on the street. He is a gifted guy."
(Ted Nugent, Gungames Magazine, November 1999)

"I'd say the most fun tour was the earliest tour supporting Alice Cooper in 1972. We really learned a lot from touring with Alice. He really invented the blending of theater and rock and roll."

On reports that Alice Cooper is taking his young daughter on-stage, dressed as a faux-Britney, and mock-beating her up. "Oh, well, that's really nice. I just have to laugh [things like that] off. I find it interesting that people find me so interesting."

"I was really into Alice Cooper and the Detroit groups, I saw Alice Cooper's first UK gig at the Rainbow (in London). That was the best concert I'd ever been to."

"I have always thought of Alice Cooper as a latter day Screaming Lord Such. That is as good a compliment as I can give to anyone. The world would be a poorer place without him. "

In the Dec. 11th 2003 Rolling Stone Magazine Alice gets mentioned in a side bar. In listing James Hetfield's top ten favorite albums, "Welcome to my Nightmare" comes in at number 3

"When you listen to 'Billion Dollar Babies', I mean the production of those records is flawless, incredibly musical. It was much deeper musically than people allowed for."

"When I saw Alice I said 'this is what I want to be! This is what i got to be!!!'"

"Alice Cooper's a very dear friend of mine, a nice guy! Lovely guy!"

"They're not ripping me off. I ripped someone else off--Alice Cooper! He inspired me, absolutely. When I saw him in '75, 'Welcome To My Nightmare' tour, the way he came across, even though he wasn't wearing much, made him unreal. I felt like if I could reach up on stage and touch him that he might just disappear. He had some magical effect on me. I knew if I ever got a band together myself I would definitely use makeup, because I knew the effect it had on me. It has a cool visual effect--if these new bands want to wear it I'm sure the fans will appreciate it.

"I'm a big Alice Cooper fan. I have been all the time. I think one of the good things that Alice is doing… It's great when you can think clearly enough to express yourself musically on how your thought patterns change and how you think. And if you can do that in a way that's still entertaining, then you've succeeded. And Alice succeeds in doing that. There's a lot of artists who try to put over their thoughts and words in music and it's thunderingly boring. But Alice is one of those who can do it in a very entertaining way."

"At the risk of being redundant or stating the ridiculous, traveling with Alice Cooper in the early days of ZZ Top was just outrageous. It was wonderful. His passion for extremes within the realm of show-biz flair was really inviting, and he taught us quite a bit."

Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols) is known for being vocal about all of the bands that he hates, and has very little respect for most bands. He has said time and time again that one of the few artists he respects is Alice Cooper. He auditioned for the Sex Pistols by doing a version of 'I'm Eighteen'. (source: DVD - The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols documentary). Lydon also provided the foreword for the 'Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper' Box Set and he's included in 'Super Duper Alice Cooper'.

Jello Biafra and The Melvins originally got together for their collaboration because they were mutual Alice Cooper fans (and they cover 'Halo of Flies' on their album: "A few years ago Jello saw us play a cover of the Alice Cooper song 'Halo of Flies' and that was an awakening for him of what we were doing," Melvins guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne says. "He finally got it... We went into this [project] with a mutual appreciation for Alice Cooper." (Rolling Stone)
"I went through a big Alice Cooper phase, which was probably a major influence on my writing style later, especially after 'Plastic Surgery Disasters'." (Biafra Interview, Juice Magazine)

"What is shock-rock without Alice Cooper? I lack the proper words to fully explain how extremely vital he has been for the whole genre of rock and roll, really. But also speaking from a context where I guess we are also a theatrical shock-rock band, we wouldn't have been here had it not been for Alice Cooper." (Tobias Forge, Rage Australia TV Interview)

"I remember I was living in California - I was about 20 and the word on the street was that Alice Cooper was looking for a guitar player. I was a huge Alice Cooper fan, so I said, 'I got to get a demo in tonight.' And I sat down with my little four-track recorder, and I recorded 'The Attitude Song,' I improvised the bass part, I just put a groove down, and I basically improvised the bass part, and then I built guitars on top of it. And the goal was to kind of show off weird guitar playing, that I think would've been attractive to Alice Cooper, but it was the Vai way. So I wrote 'The Attitude Song,' and it was called 'The Night Before,' because I wrote it the night before I sent in the demo." [2020]

"When I was a kid, he was my main go-to for music for a big period of my life. I just loved the theatre in it, he’s an incredible songwriter and Alice is just a cool guy. We used to just sit and listen to his music and do everything we could to get a ticket to go see his show which we could never go see back then because I was too young. All of the sudden, when you get a call from him, it’s, like, ‘Really?’ Then it’s like you’re going to give this guy everything you’ve got. I’ve had some great encounters with Alice. He’s fantastic.” [2018]

"We never met before (the Budapest 2007 show when they performed together) and much like when I got to meet David Bowie, it was not a disappointment whatsoever. In fact, it was almost like 'Wayne's World'. He invited me into his dressing room and he was full blown Alice Cooper with makeup and a cane. I was nervous. It actually made me sweat a little and I know that he had a problem with me in the past. He's got some religious opinions now that really don't coincide with me. He actually met my friend Rudy, the magician, on Halloween and they had a long talk. He gets it now for some reason, in a way he didn't before. He asked me to come on stage and sing a song. I was kind of petrified and didn't know what to do about it. The song that I would want to sing out of all of them is 'Eighteen'. It's my favorite one and that just so happened to be the third song in the set. I managed to pull up to the stage while the first verse was already playing, because the stage was a van ride away. He didn't know I was coming. I said I really appreciate the offer and I'm very honored but I'm going to be too freaked out to do it. I would just rather watch the show. Then I said, you know what, **** this man! When is this ever going to happen again? That's what you have to say from now on. So I run up there. He didn't know I was there and I started singing. No one knew what was going on, no one knew I was there. I'm glad it happened, it was great. I was happy because it wasn't like we rehearsed it. I could care less if it was perfect, it was fun. It was a dream come true and we both enjoyed it.
I came off the stage, went back, and was putting on the rest of my lipstick and everything. He came into my dressing room and had on a bloody decapitation white shirt from a show and he said he thought I was great. He said, "Don't be surprised if I come on stage with you during the show," in a very Alice Cooper voice. Somebody just said that maybe it should be 'Sweet Dreams' because no other song in the set would really work. He came up and started singing it. It was surreal. One of those moments you don't really know if it's happening. I never really know what's happening if it's real anyway but that's the good thing about being me."
(MansonUSA.com, January 2008)