Shock rockers. That’s a term that we have associated with artists like Marilyn Manson and the legendary Alice Cooper, but as Cooper recently reveals, it is becoming more difficult to shock his audiences and he has decided to put more effort into improving the entertainment value of his live performances.

“You can’t be more shocking than cable TV. And this didn’t exist back when we were called shock rock,” Cooper concedes. He makes a good point. Although the shock rocker’s job has become more difficult since the introduction of cable and satellite television, the staggering amount of shocking material available on the internet has put just about any kind of shocking content you can imagine available at the click of a mouse. Including, but certainly not limited to, authentic videos of executions. It’s difficult to imagine many things more shocking than that.

Even though his ability to shock has been diminished over the years, Cooper seems to enjoy the challenge of coming up with new ideas to keep his fans engaged. “That’s the fun part of it … brainstorming this thing, going okay how does this work, how do we get from A to B here? What devices can we use? What haven’t we done?,” he says.

Although guillotines on stage may have been new to rock scene back when Alice Cooper decided to employ them and other macabre props during his shows, a lot of it has been done before. He’s obviously grateful for the famous friends he had during his early years whose approval convinced him he was on the right track.

With the likes of Groucho Marx, Mae West, George Burns, Fred Astaire and Milton Berle in his audience at one time or another during those years, Cooper readily admits that his act did not shock the vaudeville veterans. “They looked it and said `oh yeah, the guillotine, I remember the Great Waldini in 1912 did that in his show’,” says Cooper.  The approval that came from those veteran performers gave Cooper confidence and convinced him that he could be successful – something he has proven during his forty or so years in the business.

Beyond the stage, one thing that Alice Cooper likes to talk about is golf. It’s obviously a passion for the 61-year-old rocker. “I am playing ridiculously well right now. I’m about five under par for the last three rounds, but it’ll go away,” he reports. Not bad for a guy who says he just accidentally happens to be good at the game.

Alice Cooper is currently on tour with dates scheduled in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

For more check out The Blacktown Sun.