Alice Cooper says addiction left him unable to remember making three albums

Alice Cooper has opened up about the toll addiction took on his life and recording career, saying that he has only fragmentary memories of making three albums during one particularly difficult period. The singer spoke at an October 19 event in Glasgow promoting his memoir Devil On My Shoulder, with journalist Billy Sloan moderating the conversation.

Reflecting on his early-1980s drug use, Cooper explained how an initial belief that smoking cocaine would not lead to dependence gave way to serious addiction.

We always did a little coke in our nose. And then somebody came along and said, ‘You know, if you smoke it, it’s not addictive.’ And we’re, like, ‘Okay.’ And it’s the most addictive thing on the planet, and it totally takes your life away. You feel that euphoria, your whole body rush, and you’re pretty sure you can move mountains, whereas you really can’t do anything. I wrote three albums like that, and don’t remember recording them. I don’t remember writing them. I don’t remember touring with them. I remember little bits of it. But that was truly a scary period.”

People ask me all the time, they say, ‘If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be?’ And they would think that it would be that. But it taught me so much about myself, going through the alcohol and the cocaine addiction. Now, when I do talks with teenagers about drugs and alcohol, I can talk from a platform that if they say, ‘Well, what do you know about it?’ I say, ‘I used to get high with Jim Morrison, okay?’ And they’re, like, ‘Who?’

But I think it was planned that way. Now, 43 years later, I’ve never even had a temptation to have a drink or a drug, and I was the poster boy for that when it was happening, which I consider to be a modern-day miracle. Even the doctor said, ‘That’s biblical, that miracle, the fact that you’re not hiding things around the house.’ And I said, ‘No, I just have no desire to have a drink.’ Even in the most pressure situations, nah, that just wasn’t part of it.

The Glasgow appearance was part of a UK speaking tour supporting Devil On My Shoulder, published on October 8, 2026. The autobiography revisits Cooper’s life both as a performer and as the person behind his theatrical stage identity.

Upcoming shows:

• Friday, November 27, 2026 – Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood (Welcome To Our Nightmare), Las Vegas, NV, US
• Saturday, November 28, 2026 – Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood (Welcome To Our Nightmare), Las Vegas, NV, US
• Friday, December 04, 2026 – Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood (Welcome To Our Nightmare), Las Vegas, NV, US
• Saturday, December 05, 2026 – Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood (Welcome To Our Nightmare), Las Vegas, NV, US

Get your tickets by clicking here.