Welcome to Whose Nightmare? The Alice Cooper Personae and the Presentation of Self

Alice Cooper's offstage descriptions of his admittedly fictive onstage persona have changed over time, complicating the relationship between the fictive and the literal. Drawing from Erving Goffman's dramaturgical approach to social interaction, this study looks at the relationship between the personae of Alice Cooper, his audiences, and interpretations of musical and theatrical symbols. This article argues that Cooper has constructed two mutually supportive front regions—one that looks like a front region (the concert stage), and one that looks like a back region (the media stage)—and that symbols of the former may be interpreted by information stated in the latter.