📰 Shock‑Rock Legend – Feature : Sep 1969

Shock‑rock legend? The night Alice threw a chicken – and shock rock legend was born. Alice Cooper Group performed at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival on September 13, 1969, a one‑day, twelve‑hour festival packed with 50s and 60s legends and one very out‑of‑place psychedelic freakshow from Arizona. The chaotic chicken incident, sparked when a live bird was tossed onstage and hurled back into the crowd, ignited the mythology that would follow the band for decades.

The bill featured Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Chicago… and John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s surprise debut as the Plastic Ono Band (with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and Alan White) – their set became the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.

But the moment everyone remembers?

Alice, mid-set, grabs a chicken that had wandered onstage (thrown by the audience, probably), hurls it back into the crowd thinking it could fly… and the audience tore it apart. Next day the papers screamed “ALICE COOPER BITES HEAD OFF CHICKEN AND DRINKS BLOOD!” Frank Zappa rang up: “Don’t deny it – it’s the best publicity we’ll ever get.” The urban legend was born.

One chicken, one riot, one headline – and shock rock changed forever.

(Also filmed by D.A. Pennebaker for Sweet Toronto and revisited in the 2022 documentary Revival 69: The Concert That Rocked the World.)

The bill featured Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Chicago… and John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s surprise debut as the Plastic Ono Band (with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, and Alan White) – their set became the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969.

But the moment everyone remembers?

Alice, mid-set, grabs a chicken that had wandered onstage (thrown by the audience, probably), hurls it back into the crowd thinking it could fly… and the audience tore it apart. Next day the papers screamed “ALICE COOPER BITES HEAD OFF CHICKEN AND DRINKS BLOOD!” Frank Zappa rang up: “Don’t deny it – it’s the best publicity we’ll ever get.” The urban legend was born.

One chicken, one riot, one headline – and shock rock changed forever.

(Also filmed by D.A. Pennebaker for Sweet Toronto and revisited in the 2022 documentary Revival 69: The Concert That Rocked the World.)

In 2014, the label Applebush released another version of this concert with the title Nobody Likes Us under the moniker of The Alice Cooper Group. This is the first known release to feature the whole concert speed corrected, correct song titles, and chronological track listing. Guitarist Michael Bruce advised how to name and to arrange the titles correctly