We were the group that drove the stake through the heart of the love generation,” Alice Cooper has famously claimed. And it was drummer Neal Smith who did the pounding.
It was 1971, and the nationwide bad vibes doled out by the Rolling Stones-Hell’s Angels rock ‘n’ roll meltdown at Altamont two years earlier still had America spooked. The Vietnam War was raging; Watergate was brewing; riots, assassinations, and protests had taken their toll. People wanted to take it down a notch. They wanted to mellow out for a while. And what could possibly be mellower than John Denver, the Osmonds, and Dawn? Looking back, it was probably not the best time for a deafening rock ‘n’ roll band with an elaborate stage show that included boa constrictors, a hangman, giant robot monsters, and a simulated beheading. Good thing nobody told Alice Cooper. While Three Dog Night was happily introducing a bullfrog named Jeremiah, Cooper came careening out of Phoenix, Arizona on a cheap beer buzz screaming, “Welcome to my nightmare.”
Powered by one of the toughest bands ever assembled—guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and powerhouse drummer Neal Smith—Cooper took the country by storm, releasing hits like “I’m Eighteen,” “Under My Wheels,” “Be My Lover” and “Billion Dollar Babies.” From behind his massive, 20-drum Slingerland kit, Neal Smith had the best seat in the house. Now playing with longtime friend Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult, Smith took time from his successful, Connecticut real estate business to look back on his early days with Cooper.
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