Alice Cooper (May 10 1973) Inside Alice

Alice Cooper Group
May 10, 1973
3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Publication

Rolling Stone

Date: May 10 1973 Country: United States Section / Pages: Cover Feature + Five‑Page

 Article + One‑Page Advert Author: Harry Swift Photography: Annie Leibovitz Title: Inside Alice

Overview

This Rolling Stone issue (No. 134) features Alice Cooper on the cover, photographed in close‑up wearing a pearl necklace — a striking image that captures his theatrical duality between menace and glamour. The five‑page feature, Inside Alice, written by Harry Swift with photographs by Annie Leibovitz, explores Cooper’s philosophy of chaos, confusion, and shock as art. The article traces his transformation from folk‑styled beginnings to the full spectacle of the Billion Dollar Babies era, detailing his fascination with surrealism, Salvador Dalí, and the psychology of performance. Leibovitz’s photographs — including Cooper reclining with Dalí, playing cards aboard his private F‑27 jet, and performing amid leopard‑print stagewear — form one of the most iconic visual records

of early‑’70s rock theatre.

Alice Cooper – Rolling Stone Cover and Feature, May 10 1973

“I love the idea of confusion. I think a valid point of art is chaos.”

Alice Cooper — “Inside Alice” opening spread, Rolling Stone, May 10, 1973. Text by Harry Swift; photography by Annie Leibovitz.

Alice Cooper with Salvador Dalí — Rolling Stone Feature Page 3, May 10, 1973. A surreal portrait of Cooper’s artistic influences.

Alice Cooper backstage and on tour — Rolling Stone Feature Page 2, May 10, 1973. Leibovitz captures the contrast between chaos and calm.

Feature Highlights

Cover: Alice Cooper portrait by 
Annie Leibovitz
Article: Inside Alice by Harry Swift
Photographs: Leibovitz captures Cooper with Dalí, on tour, and on stage
Themes: Shock art, American youth 
culture, and the psychology of
 performance
Advert: Neal Smith – Premier Drums (Selmer Magnavox
 Company)
Tone: Provocative, philosophical, and
 visually arresting

Design Notes

The layout juxtaposes Leibovitz’s cinematic photography with Swift’s dense, analytical prose. Together they construct a portrait of Cooper as both provocateur and philosopher — a performer who weaponized confusion and spectacle to challenge American norms. The accompanying Premier Drums advert featuring Neal Smith reinforces the band’s technical prowess within its theatrical framework.

The closing section of Harry Swift’s feature deepens the portrait of Alice Cooper as both provocateur and philosopher of American spectacle. It opens with vivid stage imagery — Cooper stalking amid dismembered mannequins and mock corpses while drummer Neal Smith thrashes behind a vast kit emblazoned with his name. The article frames this as a metaphor for post‑Vietnam America: a nation fascinated by violence yet desperate for catharsis through art.

Swift describes Cooper’s backstage routine in Detroit, where he jokes with his mother and manager Shep Gordon, reflecting on fame’s absurdity.

Neal Smith on drums during the Billion Dollar Babies tour, captured by Annie Leibovitz. The article’s closing section examines Cooper’s shock‑rock spectacle and its cultural impact, contrasting the band’s onstage chaos with Cooper’s offstage introspection.

“The whole idea behind Billion Dollar Babies was to make sick people look at sick things.”

He insists that his act is not nihilistic but satirical — a mirror held up to middle‑class repression. The text contrasts Cooper’s outrageous stage persona with his offstage calm, noting his politeness, dry humour, and self‑awareness. He discusses the Billion Dollar Babies tour’s theatrical ambition, explaining that the grotesque imagery was meant to expose hypocrisy rather than glorify excess.

Leibovitz’s accompanying photographs show Cooper’s band mid‑performance, fans screaming ecstatically, and the surreal aftermath of the show — a tableau of exhausted musicians and euphoric teenagers. Swift closes by arguing that Cooper’s genius lies in his ability to fuse horror, humour, and social commentary, making him “the most completely realized stage performer of his generation.”

Page 23: Premier Drums Advert

A full‑page monochrome illustration depicts Neal Smith, Alice Cooper’s drummer, surrounded by an enormous Premier drum kit rendered in expressive brush strokes. The caption reads:

“Neal Smith, Premier drummer with Alice Cooper.” Below, the Premier Selmer logo appears with the tagline “Division of The Magnavox Company.” The advert serves as both endorsement and tribute — positioning Smith as a virtuoso whose precision and theatrical flair matched Cooper’s stage chaos.

Neal Smith — Premier Drums Advert, Rolling Stone, May 10, 1973. Selmer Magnavox Company endorsement.

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