10 Bands That Have Musical Alter Egos

10. Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper

Before the real macabre shock rocker came out to play, Alice Cooper was a rock band first and foremost. No matter how much Vincent Furnier was meaning to play up the character, the band was still a democracy, notching up hits like School’s Out as a group effort alongside producer Bob Ezrin. The Alice character was starting to consume the live show though, and rock’s favorite anti hero finally came out to play in full on Welcome to My Nightmare.

Though every single album prior to this one did have the Alice Cooper name behind it, Nightmare is where we first saw the authentic Alice in action, taking all of the rock and roll dreams that he had with his band and turning them into something truly horrendous. Although the focus is still on rock and roll this time around, you can hear Alice reaching for something more ambitious, almost going into full on Broadway territory on ballads like Only Women Bleed or the soft shoe number Some Folks.

Alice is all about darkness though, and that scary element comes through on the best moments in this album, like the song Stephen talking about the little boy that’s trapped inside Alice’s mind praying to get out. Alice may have cleaned up his act off the stage, but whenever he dons the horrific makeup these days, you’re looking at the man bred out of the crypt.