Alice Cooper Remembers the Chaotic Chicken Incident and the Unexpected Call He Received From His Label After

While sharing his love for genres like hard rock and heavy metal, Alice Cooper routinely shocked fans with his elaborate concerts. Spending over 60 years on the stage, the musician learned the importance of crowd control. Throughout a concert, Cooper often used pyrotechnics, electric chairs, fake blood, and even dueling swords to entertain his fans. Selling over 50 million albums during his time in the spotlight, The Rolling Stone Album Guide considered him one of the most “beloved heavy metal entertainers.” And recently, Cooper recalled the time he threw a chicken into the crowd expecting it to fly. 

During A&E’s Biography: Alice Cooper, the star remembered performing at Toronto’s Rock and Roll Revival Festival back in 1969. Although it was slated as a peace and love festival, Cooper witnessed the crowd violently kill a chicken that he threw from the stage. Unknown to Cooper at the time, chickens can’t fly. “You have to remember I’m from Detroit.”

Taking fans on a trip back to 1969, Cooper said, “I had never been on a farm in my life. It had wings, it had feathers, it should fly. I picked up the chicken, and I flung it into the audience figuring it would fly away and somebody would take it and take it home and call it Alice Cooper.” He continued, “I threw it out there, and it fell straight down into the audience. The audience tears it to pieces. It was the peace and love festival. They tear it to pieces and throw it back up on the stage. So there’s blood everywhere. Feathers and blood.”

[RELATED: “A Troubled Man for Troubled Times”: Alice Cooper Says He’s Running for President (Again), Watch His Campaign Video]

Alice Cooper Gets A Call From His Label After Chicken Incident

Getting a call from Frank Zappa, Cooper explained to his label’s boss that a chicken died during the performance but thankfully, it wasn’t from him. And although the rockstar believed himself on the verge of getting in trouble, he noted, “He goes, ‘Don’t tell anybody. They love it.’ He says, ‘It’s everywhere in the press!’ I immediately went, ‘Perfect.’ The chicken story then became huge. Who is this monster who would do this at a rock show?”

Captivating the news cycle, Cooper laughed, “I didn’t have to do anything. They were inventing their own Alice Cooper myth. People were just discovering Alice Cooper, and I was just discovering him, so we were all doing it at the same time.”

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)