Alice Cooper Responds to Minnesota Woman Trying to Ban His Show

Back in the late 60's/early 70's when Alice Cooper was first getting going he faced a LOT of conservative backlash for his macabre songs and outlandish stage antics. As years have gone by though, people have gotten a lot more used to him and he is regarded as a pop culture icon by both young and old folks alike. However, it would seem that there are still fuddy-duddies out there even to this day who are still shocked by Cooper and would petition to have him banned from playing in their town.

The Southern Minnesota News reported on the efforts of Barb Church (fitting name given the circumstances), a North Mankato resident who went to city officials complaining about the Alice Cooper concert that will be taking place at the nearby Vetter Stone Amphitheater. In her statement she says:

“I’m to tell you here that I think Alice Cooper is going to be very similar to Hairball and Nelly. Having now looked up the lyrics … I don’t think it’s wise for our community to have to listen to foul language. I don’t think we have to listen to things about suicide.”

Church referenced the Nelly concert because she claims the noise level got to 110 decibels in her home.

Cooper had an amusing, yet still classy response to Church's outcry against his show. He made a Facebook post saying:

"Across the river from my #Mankato gig (June 9th, Vetter Stone Amphitheater, tickets on sale now) is a woman who hates the noise generated by shows. She says she experienced 110db at her home during Nelly's recent performance.

Now, noise of that magnitude would annoy me too. But sound doesn't travel that well over long distances, so 110db at her home, across the river... That doesn't sound like an accurate number unless the audience at Nelly's show had their spleens ruptured by the loudest show on record (encore!).

We carry decibel meters, and according to my audio guys 110db is a number you'd see inside the venue at the sound board, but the laws of physics dictate it would spread and dissipate over that distance.

110db at her house sounds like a stretch unless she happened to meter the concert sound while 1,000 cats were meowing in her home at exactly the same time...

That seems SUPER unlikely given the circumstances so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. I'm a "Nice Guy" after all. I guess I COULD have my snake swim over some earplugs... It's the least I could do."

Something I've always loved about Alice Cooper aside from his music and live performances is that he is incredibly witty, intelligent, and some times rather funny. The way he handled this situation not only shows him using his head, but also being respectful to the person causing a problem. Then again, considering how used to dealing with stuffy conservative old folks by now he probably has this kind of thing down to a formula. Regardless, good on him. I hope the people at that show have the absolute best time possible.