Alice Cooper bringing his shock rock to National

It can't be easy being Alice Cooper, the originator of shock rock, in 2009.

With an audience inured to shock thanks to movies with sky's-the-limit body counts, the realities of wartime and the anything-goes nature of the Internet, the man who was practically an outrage generator in the 1970s knows he has his work cut out for him.

"I was seeing more and more on television that I couldn't compete with," said Cooper, speaking from Erie, Pa. "In other words, when you see 9/11 on television, and you see people actually getting their heads cut off, and people getting hung on TV, it's become pretty shocking to watch that on TV. And I keep saying, 'What could I, and Marilyn Manson and anybody else, do to compare with that?'"

Although shock and controversy have been key elements of his act, Cooper has always infused his stage presence with humor, regularly lifting his presentation and songs from mere ghoulishness to satirical commentary and introspective theater.

"If there is a piece of business in the show that shocks somebody, I'm a little surprised. But I think all good humor comes when what happens is you do something that they're not expecting. A good joke is usually a punch line you weren't expecting to happen. And with the stage show, it's the same way. It's got to stay clever."

As Cooper's notoriety grew through the early'70s (during which time the singer assumed what was originally the band's name), so did a catalog of classic rock songs that guaranteed his longevity, including "School's Out," "I'm Eighteen" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

With various career rebirths during the following decades, Cooper's legend grew while new fans embraced him, and performers such as Marilyn Manson paraded his influence.

Cooper is aware of fans who come to see him repeatedly, and he is committed to ensuring that the experience is fresh and vital with every tour.

"When we did this show, I said let's take everything and do it upside down and backwards. Let's start with 'School's Out' instead of end with it.

"Let's kill Alice on the fourth song. And then let's kill him again on the ninth song, and then let's kill him again on the 15th song, and then one more time just for good measure on the 24th song," he said. "This one is definitely fringing on the point where, if you look away from the stage, you're going to miss something. I just kind of made it hellzapoppin'."