Music legend Alice Cooper says rock 'n' roll shouldn't be political — and leftists blast the 'School's Out' singer as 'out of touch'

Music legend Alice Cooper has turned heads in recent years not simply due to his ghoulish theatricality on stage but also for certain beliefs of his that are decidedly un-rock 'n' roll.

Primarily it's Cooper's faith in Christ and ministry-mindedness that have had some of his fans scratching their heads. A few years back he recorded a video that called on members of the Evangelical Covenant Church to come to Phoenix for a denominational conference and to check out his Solid Rock teen ministry at the Rock at 32nd Street Church.

And who knew Cooper was best friends with ... Glen Campbell? Yup, he sure was. In fact, after Campbell's 2017 death, Cooper opened up about their unlikely friendship and their shared Christian faith.

Now what?

Still going strong at age 74, Cooper surprised — and some might say put off — some fans after going on the record in the last week by declaring that rock 'n' roll should be "anti-political."

Oops.

“When my parents started talking about politics, I would turn on the Stones as loud as I could," he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. "I don't want to hear about politics, and I still feel that way."

He added to the outlet, "I don't think rock 'n' roll and politics belong in the same bed together, but a lot of people think it does — because we have a voice, and we should use our voice. But again, rock 'n' roll should be anti-political, I think."

Cooper also told the outlet that his show is "designed to give you a vacation from CNN, you know what I mean? I'm not preaching anything up there, and I'm not knocking anybody. If I do a thing like on 'Elected,' which we would always do during the elections, and I’d bring out Trump and Hillary to fight, and both of them would get wiped out! That's what was funny about it. If you're in the political theater, you’d better be able to take a joke. So, that’s OK. I don't mind the satire of it, but I don't ever go up there and tell you who to vote for."

Pushback

Well, as many of them are wont to do, a number of leftists didn't take kindly to Cooper declaring that rock should be free of politics and ripped him for it on Facebook:

• "Alice Cooper can go back to golfing and using music as a nicey nice gothic entertainment moment," one commenter said. "Otherwise we need people who put their money and iZod shirts on the line for all sorts of injustice."
• "Art should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," another commenter declared. "Clearly this rich septuagenarian is too comfortable."
• "Cooper is out of touch," another commenter wrote. "The fact is some of the best songs are influenced by politics."
• "Alice is a hardcore conservative Christian, so not at all surprising he said something so ridiculous," another commenter noted.

But others seemed to have a handle on where Cooper was coming from.

"Write songs about whatever you want, but outside of the art people should only be able to guess or assume what the artist actually believes," one commenter added. "Once you open that door, you lose half of your audience. These days society cannot handle differing opinions like it use to."