About the time Eminem was born, Vincent Furnier was putting the dark side of Detroit on the map. Born February 4, 1948 as Vincent Furnier, a minister's son, Alice Cooper was the original Detroit shocker. Happy number 55, Alice!

When young Mr. Mathers was still crapping his diapers, Alice was singing about dead babies and the joys of necrophilia. His stage show had more depictions of executions and woman beating than you could shake a stick at.

Eminem has it over Alice in terms of a narrow kind of authenticity. That is, we all about half expect Mathers to go nuts and kill his wife/ex/whatever-the-hell they are now, just like his songs. Whereas, no one ever expected to literally have police catching Alice acting inappropriately in a mausoleum. You could say that Eminem is more "real," or you could say that Alice has reflected his personal experiences through a more rarified artistic prism than the sometimes dully literal psychotic diary entries of Eminem.

One thing sure, though, Alice Cooper has it all over Eminem as a songwriter. Eminem has mayble half a dozen songs to which you might give the benefit of the doubt. Alice Cooper, on the other hand, has a couple dozen classics. From the wife battering guilt of his scandalously empathetic "Only Women Bleed" to the terrorist defiance of "School's Out," Alice and his partners were songwriting SOBs. Then, of course, they also created the ultimate anthem of a guy really properly ENJOYING his adolescent angst, "I'm Eighteen." Don't forget to check out the Welcome to My Nightmare DVD, originally a theatrical release documenting his primetime stage show, at the height of his legendary showmanship.

Any y'all what are attracted to Eminem, but would really like something with more musical meat on the bones owe it to yourselves to dig into some classic Alice Cooper. For your introductory listening pleasure, you might LOOK for some of these classics:

"I'm Eighteen"
"No More Mr. Nice Guy"
"Only Women Bleed"
"Welcome to My Nightmare"
"Desperado"
"Teenage Lament '74"
"The Man with the Golden Gun"
"Go to Hell"
"You and Me"
"Muscle of Love"
"Poison"
"Elected"