Alice Cooper by Steve Demorest
Released in 1974 Author Steve Demorest from Circus Magazine writes an excellent book on Alice Cooper.
I would call this the best biography of Alice Cooper so far. Even better than Alice's own "Me, Alice" and Michael Bruce "No More Mr. Nice Guy". Although this isn't much of a behind the scenes bio it's more of the making of the albums. It tells you in detail almost every song on every album. It covers the very first "Pretties For You" all the way up to "Muscle Of Love" album which is the end of the original band.
This also includes some cool black & white photos of the band as well.

Billion Dollar Baby by Bob Greene
Hardcover released in 1974 paperback (shown on left) in 1975. This book was written by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene who toured with the band during Billion Dollar Babies Holiday tour of 1973. Greene was known to participate with his writing subjects. To give a first hand account of life on the road as a rock n roll star. Although Greene doesn't play any musical instruments he was involved in the theatrical aspect of the concert. He would come out at the end of each show dressed as Santa Claus as the band would beat him up on stage.

This was written at a time when the Alice Cooper Group was getting tired of touring and the break up of the band as it showed in this book. Although the band said at times they just made up stories you can't hide the tension & paranoia. I found this to be a pretty boring book. Alice mostly stayed in the hotel room watching tv & playing poker. He was very concerned about being poisoned so whenever he ordered whiskey he would always ask for a new bottle with an unbroken seal. The other members sounded fed up with touring and talked about things they rather do instead of performing.

I found it very depressing and was glad the tour was over myself by the end of the book.

Me, Alice by Alice Cooper and Steven Gaines
Released in 1975 this book is more like the first one by Steve Demorest only with sketcher details. With co-author Steven Gaines another writer from Circus Magazine. Alice talks about the making of his albums and drops a lot of celebrity names. I liked some of the stories he talks about such as being with Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Frank Zappa not counting the movie stars as well. But no real insight to the Alice Cooper legend.

Also Alice is known to stretch the truth or even tell a few fibs now & then so it's hard to know what's true & what isn't.

There are some good black & white photos in the book.

No More Mr Nice Guy by Michael Bruce with Billy James
Interesting to hear another view of The Alice Cooper Group as told by original guitarist and songwriter Michael Bruce. Released in 1996, Michael talks about the beginning and the end of the Alice Cooper band as well as his solo efforts. Co-writer Billy James is also a musician who is in Ant-Bee that collaborated with Michael Bruce and the remaining Alice Cooper band on his "Lunar Muzik" CD.

I respect Michael Bruce and he is one of the original members that put Alice Cooper on the map. This was a collaboration which not only one person could of accomplished. But I get the feeling Michael had a big chip on his shoulder when writing this book. Which I guess I could understand as being in a band that sold out arenas to then taking a break to try a solo career which didn't pan out. Then trying to get back into the band which he actually was shut out from along with the other original members to see Alice Cooper take all the accolades and rocket himself into fame.

There is another edition of this book which came out after Glen Buxton passed on. An added chapter telling of the last reunion with Michael, Neal and Glen playing down in Texas.

This book comes with a plenty of rare pictures as you can guess from one of the insiders of the band.

Now if Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway would write a book of their own that'll be interesting to read their escapades in The Alice Cooper Group.

The Illustrated Collector's Guide To Alice Cooper
by Dale Sherman
I would say one of the hardest books to put together is a complete listing of any artist. I found the book very informative although with some date errors but I still give Dale Sherman credit for taking on such a large task. I know it helped me out on some items I have and also used it as reference when creating this web site.
This book isn't a biography but talks you through each Alice Cooper album ever made with some interesting insights like what songs didn't make the final cut. This also gives you dates and lists every concert tour, single, books, films, tv appearances that Alice is on with detail information.
plus who performed on each album with some cross references as well.

There are some pretty cool black & white pictures along with a 12 page color section. Most of the pictures are scans of Alice memorabilia that would make any Alice fan's mouth drool.
A very good book to get if you are starting out or even a full blown fan of Alice Cooper like myself. I really enjoyed it.

Rock 'n' Roll Babylon by Gary Herman
An Alice Cooper mention in this 1982 book which talks about the rock n roll attitudes from the 50's to the 80's Punk era. There really isn't much on Alice just a few lines here and there but you have 2 large full page pictures. One is a nude Alice with his snaked wrapped around him which actually is 2 pages, 67 -68.
The other is on page 103, a group of people including a topless woman along with Alice and Stacia
from Hawkwind.

The book itself includes interesting stories of the other artist who seem to have a more in depth copy such as The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Bob Dylan, The Beatles to name a few. The size of this soft cover book is magazine size so there are a lot of good big black & white pictures.

Rock 'n' Roll Asylum by Headly Gritter
An Alice Cooper chapter which starts off this book of collective interviews. The subtitle of this book is called "Conversation With The Madmen Of Music" which is 320 pages of interviews with different artists. Alice's conversation is from page 8 to 24. Which talks about the beginning of the band, meeting with Frank Zappa, making of some of the hits. I found this a very interesting interview. This comes with a black & white picture of Alice from "From The Inside" Tour.
Also Alice is one of the three artists on the cover with Zappa and Lou Reed.

The book includes 17 artist in all such as Devo, Ozzy Osburne, Lou Reed, Tiny Tim, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa and Larry "Wild Man" Fisher to name a few.

Urban Legends of Rock & Roll by Dale Sherman
Author Dale Sherman must of gathered a lot of material from his previous book "The Illustrated Collector's Guide To Alice Cooper" to dedicate about 9 pages to Alice Cooper. Most of the artists are in shorter length. Dale Sherman shares with us 7 urban rock rumors of course they could of made a whole book of the Alice Cooper rumor mill. You have the famous "gross-out" contest with Frank Zappa. Alice stomped on baby chicks and killed puppy dogs on stage. Alice played Eddie Haskell on "Leave It To Beaver." An old lady died while sitting next to Alice on a plane. That last one was true but you have to read the book to find out what really happened on that flight. What was funny is the Marilyn Manson rumors which is an updated version of Alice rumors such as Manson took part in a "gross-out" contest with Ozzy Osbourne. Manson kills puppies on stage. Manson was the kid w/ glasses Paul Pfeiffer who played on "Wonder Years."
It's true history repeats itself.

Other artists in this book just to name a few are Elvis, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kiss, Eric Clapton, and many more. This is a good coffee table book. Really nothing but gossip although very entertaining. It's like a car crash in that you want to look away but can't help to take a gander.

Marvel Premiere 50th Issue
In 1979, from Marvel Comics, Stan Lee presents Alice Cooper From The Inside. Taken from the album of the same name by Alice Cooper and Bernie Taupin. This is the first time Alice ever made it into comic books and it won't be the last.

The plot written by Alice Cooper, Jim Salicrup, and Roger Stern. Artist Tom Sutton and Terry Austin with colors by Marie Severin. This was a onetime by Marvel Comics that illustrates Alice's adventures "From The Inside" with a humorist approach. It sort of reminds me of a MAD Magazine style humor. Including characters from the album such as Nurse Rozetta, Jack Knife Johnny, Millie and Billie. Also included in some panel backgrounds are wacky characters like Sub-Mariner, Hulk from Marvel, Archie, Popeye, Brutus and Wimpee among others. Of course there are some Alice references to some of his other songs like "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Elected", "Billion Dollar Babies" etc...

One page in this comic book gives you a brief history of Alice and the making of the comic book.

The comic book is funny and is well drawn. I have seen a few back issues at comic book conventions it's a good item if you can find it.

Rock 'n' Roll Comics
Issue number 18 from Revolutionary Comics brings the "100% UNAUTHORIZED MATERIAL" issues a different rock star each month. December of 1990 they bring us Alice Cooper with a more of here say story. I don't think they spend much on research other than gossip or what's in the tabloids. The artwork is pretty weak. Nothing compared to Marvel's stories of Alice. Just interesting to get since they put the time into creating an Alice issue.

The Last Temptation, Book I
1994, Marvel Comics and Alice come together once again for "The Last Temptation" a 3 part story. Which is also the release of one of Alice's amazing album of the same name. Alice collaborated with one of Comic's most gifted writer Neil Gaiman. Gaiman known for his Gothic writings of Sandman, Death, Mr Punch just to name a few comic books. Along with Illustrator Michael Zulli to bring "The Last Temptation" to the comic book public.
The first cover you seen on the left is just like the one on Alice's album which is done by Dave McKean who also worked with Gaiman on Sandman and other projects as well. This first book of three came with the Album. The cover below that one on the left is the one you would have seen on the newsstand in the comic book shop. Besides that both books are the same on the inside.
Dave McKean did all the covers in this 3 part story.

Book One starts off Act I: Bad Place Alone. Shows us Steven who is grown up since last time we knew him on "Welcome To My Nightmare". On a October day near Halloween Steven and his friends are walking home from school in their small town when they come across an old theater with Alice Cooper as The Showman trying to lure the teens into the show. Steven ends up going in as do to the pressure of his friends. As The Showman gives Steven a tour of the theater he meets Mercy who is his temptation. One of many in the this "Theatre of the Real" as The Showman introduces the first act of the show. As the curtain opens it shows a city scape and the theme of Alice's song "Bad Place Alone" is acted out on stage. The Showman entices Steven to stay with him in the theater which he would never grow old and there is no danger of being in a bad place alone. Steven leaves the theater to head home The Showman tells Steven he will always be with him.

As for the illustrations they are very good and shows some detail in a number of panels. It has a sort of pen and ink sketching with color. The splash page which is the two page illustration shows the abandon theater with details to the columns that give you that eerie feeling. I would say that Steven does resemble a young Alice or should I call him Vincent before he became Alice. This is a sort of good verse evil Alice.

The Last Temptation, Book II
Act II: Unholy War continues Steven heads home after his visit to the theater. During supper Steven asks his parents if they know anything of a Theater in this town. His father replies when he was Steven's age some guy ran a theater in town and doesn't remember details but says something about him stealing children. But quickly Steven's mother assures him that his father is merely telling a fib.

As Steven heads to bed that night he sees The Showman in his mother's appearance saying "I never stole any children. It was a fair trade. Anyone who came with me wanted to come. Just like you will." Steven just shakes it off to a terrible day and goes to sleep which The Showman appears in his dreams. Mercy appears in the dream as well to warn Steven not to trust The Showman.

The next morning on the way to school Steven walks by where the Theater no longer resides. At school images of The Showman appears on the faces of different people in class from his Teacher, Coach, Cafeteria worker, Janitor and even classmates as they all tempt Steven to join The Showman.

Book II shows some Alice trivia in the background mostly in the school. such as on the blackboard you see words written referring to Alice songs like 'My Stars", "Schools Out", "Guttercats vs Jets", "Public Animal #9". All these songs are from "School's Out" album. As for one of the students wearing a t-shirt that reads "Hey Stoopid" another album by Alice. You see a paper tacked on the bulletin board which looks like a profile of Alice as The Showman. Also one of Steven's friend is wearing a Wolf mask which reminds me of Alice's "Monster Dog" movie he made back in the 80's.
As for some other messages in this book you see Steven wearing a Spider-Man t-shirt. In the classroom during the Halloween class party there are students in costume as Spider-Man, Wolverine and one very Morpheus character from Neil Gaiman's Sandman stories.
Steven has the book titled "Something Wicked This Way Comes" on his desk which is the style of this story Gaiman and Alice both thought of as an influence in telling this tale.

The Last Temptation, Book III
Act III: Cleansed By Fire is the final of "The Last Temptation". It's Halloween night and Steven is leaving school wearing The Showman's make up aka Alice Cooper. Steven goes to the library to find any history of his town to learn if they ever had an old Theater. As Steven searches through the Microfilm Reader he notices a pattern on Halloween night up to 1900 a child is missing.
It usually is every five years but Steven notices there are some cases of it being less than five years. Then Steven finds a story dated as far back as October 31, 1884 The Spaulding Memorial Theatre was burned to the ground and they found human skeleton bones to be less then fully grown. Steven goes to the Theater which appears again and it's marquee reads "Grand Finale! Starring Steven, Who Is Just A Little Boy!" Zombies are all outside the Theater waiting to go in. Steven enters the Theater knowing The Showman's plan of collecting children so he can continue on with his Theater. Steven gives a suggestion his life for the freedom of Mercy but The Showman reveals Mercy isn't real. Steven doesn't believe The Showman and starts to reveal to him that if the Theater isn't real you don't need real flames to burn it down again. Steven thinks of a "ghost-flame" as the Theater starts to be engulfed in flames. The Showman yells out that he would have to start all over again to assemble those children as the Theater goes up in flames.
As Steven and Mercy are outside Mercy reveals The Showman was telling the truth of her being made up as she fades away. Steven heads back home with The Showman appearing in the mirror saying he's just a reflection away.

Excellent story and I'm sad that "The Last Temptation" album didn't get the recognition it deserves. This would of made a great animated story or even a musical on stage. But I would of preferred an animated movie.