Alice Cooper’s favourite song by The Beach Boys
The musical taste of Alice Cooper may come as a surprise, considering the fact he is known as ‘The Godfather of Shock Rock’. But the fact that Cooper grew up around the time that rock and roll became popular and dominated the airwaves is primarily the reason that he loves the likes of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
It’s the Beach Boys that seems to stick around in Cooper’s head, though, and the California band wrote the kinds of songs that took the sound of surf-rock and reappropriated it for widespread commercial success. It’s an amusing notion to think of Cooper, dressed up in his gothic garb nodding along to the sound of the Beach Boys’ slick-backed open-shirted rock.
There is one song that sticks out for Cooper from the Beach Boys catalogue, ‘I Get Around’, as stated in a feature with Louder Sound. Discussing his first experience listening to the Wilson Brothers, Cooper said, “When the Beach Boys came along, I was living in Arizona. I was just at that age when everything they said in that song was what I wanted to do. Y’know, I wanted to hang out with my buddies, show off your car, try to pick up girls. Of course, you’re never gonna do any of that stuff until you’re, like, 17 or 18.”
He continued: “But when you’re 14 years old, that sounds like the greatest time in the world. The Beach Boys had such a fresh sound. And every teenager totally got it. A lot of their records were very Chuck Berry-oriented. Y’know, you take Chuck Berry on the bottom and put the Beach Boys’ vocals on the top – and wow.”
In another feature with Rolling Stone, Cooper explained how the Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds heavily inspired The Beatles. “Paul McCartney once said that The Beatles would not have made Sgt. Pepper had they not listened to Pet Sounds,” Cooper said. “Pet Sounds was their inspiration for doing Sgt. Pepper. And Brian Wilson was the total genius – there are two or three guys in our business that are considered saintly or considered maestros.”
Going on to name those “maestros”, Cooper said: “Frank Zappa was one, Brian Wilson was another, Lennon/McCartney. Those guys were beyond explanation. [Wilson] had so much music in his head that it was just – I think it drove him fairly insane. There was so much music.”
Cooper then gave the biggest praise to Wilson, comparing him to one of the most important musicians of all time. “Of course, you had the same thing with Beethoven, and they were all a little off on a personality level,” he said, “but Brian Wilson just kept doing song after song that would just make you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s so good.’ Pet Sounds is one of those albums that is flawless. It’s another flawless album.”
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