![\"Alice](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Alice-Cooper-1970s-Musician-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Alamy)<\/p>\n
Sun 12 April 2026 13:48, UK <\/p>\n
From the first moment that Alice Cooper<\/a> set his dastardly eyes on the public in 1970, it was evident that he had all the credentials to be a superstar. Cooper has always been a devilish figure and quickly made himself one of the most provocative rockers in history. It\u2019s no surprise that his favourite drummer was equally mischievous.<\/p>\n Cooper\u2019s brand of shock rock was captivating. It didn\u2019t matter if you liked him and his band or not; in the \u201970s and \u201980s, you\u2019d undoubtedly have an opinion on their every move and find yourself talking about them. This feature is his most arresting ingredient and is something that Cooper has always cherished above all else. Leaving fans with their mouths open was a key to his charm, and if there\u2019s somebody else who was accustom to the gasp of an audience<\/a>, it\u2019s his favourite drummer.<\/p>\n That emphasis on spectacle naturally drew Cooper towards performers who treated music as more than just sound. For him, the live experience was everything, and the ability to shock, entertain and overwhelm an audience in equal measure was a rare and valuable trait.<\/p>\n It\u2019s within that context that his admiration for certain musicians makes perfect sense. Rather than simply valuing technical precision, Cooper gravitated towards artists who brought chaos, personality and unpredictability to the stage\u2014qualities that blurred the line between performance and pure theatre.<\/p>\n The choice is an easy one for Cooper, who selected The Who\u2019s maniacal percussionist, Keith Moon, as the best to step foot behind a drum kit. It also helps that the two were ardent drinking buddies and both members of the infamous \u2018Hollywood Vampires\u2019 hedonism gang, which is now, of course, the name of the singer\u2019s supergroup alongside Johnny Depp and Joe Perry.<\/p>\n \u201cI think kids love mythology, and I think everybody loves the mythology of what happened in the \u201960s and the \u201970s,\u201d Cooper reflected on The Mistress Carrie Podcast<\/a>. \u201cIt was an insane period of time. When I picked Keith Moon, it\u2019s only because I could tell you a hundred stories, and Harry Nelson could tell you a hundred more, and Ringo could tell you a hundred different ones because he was that crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he was the best drummer of all time. I consider him the best stage drummer ever, Keith Moon,\u201d Cooper said about his old drinking partner. \u201cHe was doing things that other drummers couldn\u2019t even think about doing, and he was Keith Moon. But he was sort of insane in a really sweet way. He was the nicest person in the world. But it was like he\u2019d wear you out. In two hours, you\u2019d be worn out hanging with him.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Moon was a drummer, Cooper found great inspiration from The Who, and he\u2019d have given anything to swap positions with Roger Daltrey \u2014 which would have been quite the spectacle. \u201cThe Yardbirds were our band but The Who was what we wanted to be,\u201d the raspy-voiced singer once recalled.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to play with the Who at the Grande Ballroom<\/a> [actually the Grande Riveria] in Detroit, it held 3000, and we would play and The Who would play, and my drummer Neal Smith would always find out how many drums Keith had and add one! At one point they were both on stage with all their drums and Keith came up and played with us and there was 70 drums,\u201d Cooper glowingly remembered.<\/p>\n![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Keith-Moon-The-Who-Drummer-Drum-Kit-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/themes\/far-out-magazine\/img\/google-discover.svg\")
<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Alamy) Sun 12 April 2026 13:48, UK From the first moment that Alice Cooper set his dastardly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[16317,96,45584,128,9738,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-527072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-alice-cooper","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-keith-moon","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-the-who","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}