Alice Cooper: I didn't mean treason vs. U.S.

ELECTION 2004
Alice Cooper: I didn't mean treason vs. U.S.
Shock rocker clarifies remarks about mixing politics, concerts

Posted: August 31, 2004
5:00 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily.com

Alice Cooper

Shock-rock legend Alice Cooper is now clarifying his "treason" remarks concerning rock stars campaigning for Democrat John Kerry.

He wants to stress the artists are committing treason against rock 'n' roll – not the United States, the government or the presidency.

Cooper was thrust into the worldwide media spotlight last week after the Canadian Press published comments from the 56-year-old rocker who said he was disgusted to learn the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, James Taylor and Dave Matthews were hitting the road for a series of concerts designed to help defeat President Bush.

"To me, that's treason," Cooper said. "I call it treason against rock 'n' roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics."

"When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I'd run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick," he added.

But since the story broke, Cooper says his remarks have been misconstrued and "blown way out of proportion," and he issued the following statement:

When I said that rock stars doing concerts for presidential candidates were guilty of treason, I clearly said treason against rock 'n' roll, meaning against the spirit of rock and roll, not against the president or the government or the USA. I said that people shouldn't vote for a presidential candidate just because a rock star says so, and that's true whether it's Bruce Springsteen or Alice Cooper.
I stated that 'If you are listening to a rock star in order to get your voting information on who to vote for, you are a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons.'
It's true what I said, that most of us dropped out of school to chase girls, drink beer, and play rock 'n' roll, and don't read the Washington Journal (which, by the way, doesn't even exist, so you see how much I know).
That doesn't mean we don't have opinions, and it doesn't mean we don't care about our country, or what's going on in the world. It just means I don't think our opinions should matter to anyone else.
We are lucky enough to have free speech in this country, and anyone – rock stars, movie stars, athletes – in the public eye should feel free to express their opinion. I love Springsteen, I mean who doesn't love 'Born in the USA' or 'Born To Run'?
But I do think that the rebellious spirit of rock 'n' roll doesn't mix well with political fundraisers and electoral campaigning. And that's what I meant when I said it was treasonous to rock 'n' roll. Nothing more and nothing less. Any attempt to read more into it than that is misguided.

In his original comments to the Canadian Press, Cooper slammed some of the music stars who are Kerry backers.

"When I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."