PENNEBAKER HEGEDUS FILMS

Alice Cooper and band’s first performance, organized by his friend Frank Zappa, at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in 1969.

“We played the Toronto Peace Festival with John Lennon, Yoko Ono and The Doors. While we were on, somebody from the audience threw a chicken on stage. I’m from Detroit, I’m not a farm kid. I figured a chicken had wings, it’ll fly away. So I took the chicken and threw it and it didn’t fly. It went into the audience. Blood everywhere. The next day, everybody’s reading, ‘Alice Cooper rips chicken’s head off, drinks blood.’ Zappa called me. He said, ‘Whatever you did, keep doing it.’ To this day, wherever I’m booked the ASPCA is usually there, too.”

— Alice Cooper