Alice Cooper's former presidential aspirations don't seem as ridiculous now as they did four years ago.
Cooper once proclaimed that he could "do nothing as well as [politicians] can do nothing." And now in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century, it's the Godfather of Shock Rock preaching unity while elected leaders are still dwelling on division.
Speaking to Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke of his latest single, "Don't Give Up," Cooper says the song's lyrics were partially rewritten to more aptly reflect current events.
"One of the lines is, 'Hey, you've got 7 billion brothers and sisters all in the same boat,'" Cooper says. "When you think of it, in the '50s and '60s, anytime you saw a movie about aliens invading the world, Russia, China, America, everybody was on the same side against that enemy. Well, that's what this is now. Everybody in the world is on the same side against this virus."
The song's music video depicts Cooper spinning on a three-dimensional globe among images of fans from all over the world. He says his team got more than 25,000 submissions, depicting fans of every race, color and creed.
It's proof that despite the ridiculous things you see and hear in the news, we're all in this together.
"It's the first time I've ever seen that happen," he said.
Beyond "Don't Give Up," Cooper is preparing another new album, Detroit Stories, which is a return to his roots in one of America's great music cities.
"It's finished and it rocks," Cooper said. "I mean, Detroit as always been the home of hard rock. New York always had its sound. L.A. had its sound ... San Francisco ... Detroit was always hard rock. It was Iggy Pop & the Stooges, the MC5, [Bob] Seger, [Ted] Nugent, Alice Cooper — we were sort of the hard rock capital there. So I thought I should dedicate an album to Detroit because it's a bit of the outsider city."
Keep up with Alice Cooper on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates on a Detroit Stories release date.
Listen to the full Out of the Box interview in the player above.
Here's the official music video for Alice Cooper's "Don't Give Up":