Welcome to My Nightmare: The Alice Cooper Story

by Dave Thompson

Alice Cooper is an American rock star whose career has spanned more than four decades.  With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, boa constrictors and baby dolls, Cooper has pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of hard rock designed to shock.

Drawing from exclusive and unpublished interviews with a variety of names and faces from throughout Alice’s career, the book follows Cooper’s tale from his life growing up as a preacher’s son in Arizona, through the early years of struggle in Phoenix and then Los Angeles, and then onto the rollercoaster ride that has been the years since then. Includes interviews with original bandmates Michael Bruce and the late Glenn Buxton, drummer Neal Smith, the late Frank Zappa, manager Shep Gordon and producer Bob Ezrin.  Includes tributes and recollections from many of the artists who call Alice an influence - from the Damned and the Cramps, to White Zombie and Gwar. Session players and songwriters who have made their own contributions to the Alice story recall their days spent with this Prince of Hell-raisers. Includes full discography and bibliography.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2012

About the author

English author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.

However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”

Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.

Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely horrendous unauthorised biography. It's just so poorly researched and I don't think anyone did some fact checking, as it is riddled with factual errors.

For instance, Alice's son is not named Damien, nor is he named after Alice's middle name (which is Damon). Thompson also mentions that Alice named his son "Damien Furnier" (to "fulfill his familial duty" and save the Furnier name), while in fact, Alice had changed his name years before the birth of his son. Thompson then continues to refer to Alice's son as "Damien" throughout the book, even mentioning the film The Omen and stating "what better name could there be for the son of Alice Cooper?" FYI, Alice's son is Dashiell Cooper.

He even got the time for the legendary meeting with Zappa wrong, which was obviously a typo, but did no one proofread this? It was 7 AM, not PM, which is essential for that legendary story.

Also, Alice did not write a song for 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', he did for 'Friday the 13th'. He did however have a cameo role in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Final Nightmare'.

And Rob Halford was not a guest musician on the 'Hey Stoopid' album...

It just goes on and on with mistakes like that.

Thompson just seems to value sensation above facts, which makes for a very frustrating and unreliable read.

The book does contain some nice photos though, so there's that. Too bad some of the captions contain factual errors as well (e.g. Alice did not give up on alcohol in 2001, but around 1983/84).

[Chele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject covered in a less-than-adequate (bland?) manner in a far from adequately edited book.
I'd like to read Alice's autobiography to reassure myself that the passionless creation portrayed here is not the real thing.

[Elso · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read and not typical of the many bio’s of rock stars. Alice Cooper for me all started from Welcome to my Nightmare - Vincent Price - Steven - Only Women Bleed. I remember at the time this album was the most alternate of my collection. I have and still do make reference to this album and Alice Cooper as one of the greatest artists - a must listen. Proudly boast I having all his records. Would like a vinyl box collection one day - who knows maybe that’s in the making.

[Rob Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a 70's classic rock fan this book is a great recounting of a unique era in rock 'n roll history. An in-depth account of Alice Cooper (the band) vs. Alice Cooper (the man). Great background and dispels many of the myths that were mostly untrue, but were encouraged to become part of the Alice Cooper act.

[Lena Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Äntligen läst ut den. Var nästan en plåga.
Var intresserad av personen Alice Cooper inte musiken. Att han blev pappa eller gifte sig med Cheryl behandlas i bisatser ock barnen foton på inte längre än en halv sida.
Tyckte det var en trist bok.
Rekommenderar den inte om man inte är intresserad av hur han planerade ock spelade sina turnéer och dylikt.

[Andrea Lupino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deluso. Seguo Alice Cooper da oltre trent'anni, ma questa opera biografica non mi ha entusiasmato e, anzi, l'ho trovata pure a tratti noiosa.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This particular Alice cooper biography is a re-read, unfortunately doesn't have a good reads review..so i have an excuse to add one. The only reason I remember this as a read before is cause during and after reading welcome to my nightmare, it inspired me to write "Devil Dances" and "From the Inside."

Of course as an Alice cooper fan, I know plenty about his public persona and some about his private (such as how he meet his wife, that his children were included on his stage show, two out of three children are also musicians in their own right and of course, his alcohol addiction/rehabilitation journey.)

I became an accidental Alice fan thanks to year 10 dance class in highschool, after a trio meant to be dancing to footloose turned into a duo forced to make up a dance routine to "schools out", ever since 2009 i had been a fan. In 2011, his song "I gotta get outta here" became my reason to survive (since 2011 I've been suicidal free! 🥳). In the same year, I had used his album "Along came a spider" as inspiration for an assignment/story that's called "The one that got away." Than in 2021 I got my first tattoo, which of course turned out to be Alice Cooper using "Welcome 2 my nightmare" album as an influence.

Okay..so..this book isn't a re-read, turns out i had made an attempt at reading it a few years ago, with a bookmark stuck between pages 10 and 11.

If biographies are done right, you end up learning more about a celebrity than any ounce of interviews or magazines can give you. Like I didn't know that Alice almost died when he was a child due to burst appendix left untreated for a short while and how it changed his physical appearance.

It's interesting to read that Alice (i assume band?) Thought was woman as sex objects. They can ran corporations and be sex objects. How woman's lib is just horny dykes. It took for Alice (the man formerly known as vincent) to get married and have two daughters for him to completely change his perception on how he publicly viewed woman.

I love how this talks about the famous four albums that Alice refers to as his "black out albums.", the four that he never remembers working on/releasing due to falling of his sobriety. As a fan who has listened to "Flush the Fashion" , "Zipper catches skin", "Dada" and "Special Forces", I think those albums are quite interesting in the story telling ascept. Visually yes you can see that Cooper wasn't okay but lyrically he seems fine. Those four albums feel very early Cooper-eqsue rather than a man who lost his short run of sobriety.

Reading about Alice's film career is wild. Most musicians turn their name towards good projects that end up with audiences around the world loving them. Alice usually followed films that seemed so indie that even the indie film lovers would think their bat💩 insane. Though with the exception of Wayne's World, I feel like i need to find his films and watch the wild film journey he takes his public persona on.

I loved reading about the making of "Brutal Planet", for me that's one of the hard to find Cooper albums. Released in 2000, it deals with hard to sit through topics and doesn't shy away from them either. Recent years made me think Alice was embarrassed by the album cause he very rarely mentions it, especially since climate wise we're still dealing with topics like war, senseless shootings and violence against woman. But reading about it in the book, he wasn't embarrassed but rather cautious about topics that wasn't on his go-to topics but Alice Cooper felt as if he needed to say something in June 2000.

Ooh, that explains "the eyes of alice" album. I personally find that one and some songs from Dirty Diamonds as my least favourite albums. When I hear Eyes of Alice Cooper, it feels very early Alice and something 20 something year old Alice would do, not 50+ year old Alice would do. But learning that the album was supposed to be his return to the band era, that actually makes a lot of sense now.

Overall reading this was needed. It gave me further insight into a man who I see as my own "personal jesus", a musician whose seem/done just about everything and a human being who found his solace with loved ones.

This biography is more about the journey of the Alice Cooper persona than it is about the personal life of Vince Furnier.

[T.I.M. James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not read many biographies, but there are a few on my shelf waiting… but of the few I have read this is by far the most lacklustre. The book is presented as a biography of Alice Cooper, but not the man, rather the band or so we are told. If you want to read about Alice the man, then read Golf Monster where he tells his own story.

This is a look then at the formation of a group that shook the music world to its foundations, blasted through the early seventies climbing to the heights before tearing itself apart under the pressure put upon them by the music industry, by the lifestyle they chose to led and many other contributing factors.

It should have been epic, and yet the way it is presented is a nearly bland manner, a simple progression of the band coming together, punctuated by quotes, mostly taken from magazines and articles of the time, not from conversation with those who lived it.

Furthermore, the tale contradicts what has been told by others in other biographies and formats. Now there is more than a slight possibility that Alice (the man) remembers events slightly differently to the way they happened. Although a songwriter, he is a storyteller as well, and is not only likely to change facts to tell a good yarn but the past is a long time ago and he was living a hard, fast life. But it has to be said that many of the facts that Alice has always told are told again in the recent Super Dooper Alice Cooper Blu Ray and match up with a lot of what Shep Gorden says in his own Super Mensch release.

Despite being about the band Alice Cooper it breaks away when the band splits, and seems only to give lip service to the other four members of the group. It briefly mentions the formation of the Billion Dollar Babies Group, their first album and the reason it vanished into obscurity, but it does not really talk about the bands solo projects, the problems that beset Michael Bruce’s first solo album – which is superb, Dennis Dunaway’s various projects over the years, and indeed how Neil Smith continued the rock n’ roll dream while becoming a real estate agent at the same time. It also misses out on the entire battle Glen Buxton faced with his demons, just giving the end of a tale, how he became a farmer distanced from every part of his rock past. There are whole life times to be told, and we get Alice’s.

Or rather we get a skimming over the top, basically told through record releases and tours, with the might-have-beens. There is much more that could have been told and for what it was purported to be the book misses it all, mostly telling stories that have been told before, in a different way in a manner that is as close to bland as is possible.

One of the biggest and most interesting omissions comes (and in many ways it is understandable) when it talks about Alice’s relapse into alcoholism. It is a story that has been told before, and one that Alice seemed to use as a lesson, that to a recovering alcoholic even a sip of wine can be enough to relapse completely. But Alice recently revealed that he stumbled into replacing the alcohol addiction with a drug addiction, something that he talks about quite frankly and painfully on Super Dooper Alice Cooper. Even if this is something that is being misremembered on Alice’s part (I’m sure it isn’t) it is something that needs looking at.

There are some stories that are told that are new, especially toward the end and these do make interesting reading, but as a whole I feel the book misses the target it set for itself and could have been so much more.

[Elin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first biography I've ever read. It was really cool, actually! In the beginning it was kind of slow, because I already knew all that about his religious ties in the family, and how he moved around a lot as a child. The fun part started when the band that formed on a whim in high school started trying to get signed. So many ups and downs. I felt really tiny there for a while, because the author listed all the bands they were up against that were really cool and popular in the 60s when they started out - and I knew maybe 1/4 of them... But the most interesting part was that while this biography treated Cooper's musical career it also told the story of how the musical industry has changed from the 60s all the way until recently. I'm young enough that I don't know any specifics of what the industry was like before the new millenium, but it seems like then and now are lightyears apart. I love how Cooper's managed to stay with the times, like he still keeps the feeling from the original band, but the tunes change with the times. I'm really looking forward to reading his other biography as well!

[Chrissie Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Between radio, video and friends' older siblings, I feel as though I've lived with Alice my entire life, so it was a joy to read a book about his> life, and what a marvelous book this is. My copy came from Amazon UK (it's published in the US in the fall) but it was worth the extra expense; I own a couple of author Thompson's books, so I had faith it would be enjoyable, but it went far beyond that. Filled with laughter, shivers and yes, a lot of "OMG I cant believe he did that" moments, once you start reading it's very hard to put down, because you have to find out what excess Alice dreamed up next.

I especially enjoyed the section on my own favorite period - the run of albums that took him from "Lace and Whiskey" to "Special Forces"; filled with new information and some great insights, these chapters show us the nightmare behind the nightmare. Alice's struggles with alcohol are very sensitively painted and never does the book dip into sensationalism or purple prose. Recommended to anybody who has ever loved the Coop.

[Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an old school fan of Alice Cooper, I could hardly wait to read this. His previous bio, ME, ALICE I recall as being a great read, but it is out of print and selling for $300 on eBay. I don't THINK so. Also, Bob Gruen's WONDERFUL memoir, BILLION DOLLAR BABY sells for ungodly buckage. Why that one has not been reissued I haven't a clue. I loaned out my copy in the 80s and never got it back. WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE is well written by British musicologist Dave Thompson. There wasn't too much here that I didn't already know about the Coop, but it was still quite fun.

[Tan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big Alice Cooper fan, this book was really difficult to finish, it is not written by him, such a great career written so boring.

[Alexandra Agnrud · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantastiskt rockhistoria som bokmässigt startar sömnigt men vartefter åren går blir mer levande och intressant.