I tend to eulogize the passing of genre celebrities on a regular basis since the classics are dropping out like flies these days but it’s not often that I celebrate the births of horror’s finest contributors. I don’t know why that is. In spite of a love of all things ghoulish and gory, I’m actually a pretty chipper guy and only occasionally morbid and preoccupied with mortality. I knew it was George Romero’s birthday today. Just about every website vaguely related to horror is reporting this with glee. He’s a man who needs no introduction. Chances are if you’re a horror fan today, you’ve seen at least five of this guy’s movies and you’re an obsessed fan of three of them. Today, George is 70.
What I didn’t know and thanks to the lovely Lauren Oostveen I am now aware, it’s also Alice Cooper’s birthday today. He turns 62. This must qualify as some kind of high holy day for fans of horror.
This may be left up to debate but for my money, the entire existence of death rock and horror punk hinge on the proto-death of Alice Cooper. During the rise of Alice, hippies were reinventing rock and roll to be a sort of touchy feely love festival with a socially conscious bent. Can you blame them? Vietnam was bumming out the collective American experience and Richard Nixon was a fucking dick in the metaphorical sense. Detroit, though; that was where it was at. The fucking Stooges and The MC5 were plotting rock music along its logical evolutionary path but The Alice Cooper Band took it to grotesque new cavernous lows and Alice didn’t stop there. Horror didn’t have to be locked into a movie going experience or something you see on TV or in a comic book. You could express this in music, too, and Alice did it like no one else. His theatrical approach was absolutely pivotal in the crafting of heavy metal and glam rock.
So happy birthday George and Alice. You guys are my fucking idols and you were both born on the same day. What are the chances? Here’s some gory video of both dudes for your enjoyment.
