10 Most Insane Controversies In Rock And Roll Music

Every band that has ever tried to shock the people in order to get them to pay attention owes their entire career to Alice Cooper. Around the same time that people like Frank Zappa were coming out with wild and zany music that was meant to catch the ear of the public, Alice's appeal was almost entirely visual in the beginning, with some of the most outlandish performances in rock history. They couldn't get arrested in the early days though, until literal foul play went down during one of their shows.

Having a golden opportunity to go onstage between John Lennon and the Doors at a festival, Alice went all out for their show, which culminated in a final song where they would open up feather pillows and blast CO2 around the arena so everyone in the room was covered. Everything seemed to be going according to plan until Alice noticed that a chicken had found its way onto the stage. Being the city boy that he was, Alice was none the wiser and threw the chicken into the crowd, where the audience tore the thing to pieces and threw pieces of its entrails onstage.

Though this made for a frenzy with animal rights groups at the time, this was the real boost that Alice needed to cross over, becoming just the kind of loathsome figure that he was always destined to be. He may have looked like he most hated man in America at the time, but there's a fine line between being hated and actually becoming loveable in the spotlight.