Alice Cooper Recalls Bizarre Sing-Along With Iggy Pop and Brian Wilson

As rock star get-togethers go, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop's late 70s meeting with Brian Wilson has to be one of the most surreal.

According to Cooper what started as a chance for a spot of hero-worshipping ended in bizarre fashion with the Beach Boys leader playing the same children's song repeatedly for an hour until things got too weird, even for the two rock upstarts.

Speaking to Contactmusic, Cooper recalled, "It was about 1978 or something like that. Iggy and I were sitting there waiting -- you know it was Brian Wilson one of the great writers of all time -- and he sat down at the piano and starts playing 'Mama's little baby loves shortnin shortnin, mama's little baby loves shortnin bread.'"

The shock-rock veteran continued, "He goes, 'No this is the greatest song ever written', dead seriously. We were two little kids, we go, 'Umm OK. Why is that the best song?' 'I don't know it's just the best song ever written.' That's like [Sir Paul] McCartney telling you that because you go, OK -- I guess you're right."

It's an incident Wilson remembered in his 'autobiography' -- co-written with Eugene Landy -- 'Wouldn't it Be Nice: My Own Story.'

"With me singing lead, I got Alice to repeat "mama, mama, mama" and Iggy to chant "shortnin', shortnin', shortnin'. Thinking something was up my sleeve, they enjoyed this bizarre situation for about fifteen minutes. But after an hour of singing 'Shortnin' Bread' they realised that either I really was as off the deep end as rumour had it or I was having fun at their expense."

He concluded, " In truth, it was a combination of both. Either way, they left. 'This is too much for us,' Iggy said. 'Too damn weird.'"
Watch the Making of the Beach Boys' 'Wouldn't it Be Nice'