That's true. We didn't dare go out dressed like Alice Cooper. He might have been seen as a little gay by the homophobes that were around in that time.
Of course it was different by the time Kiss came around. People would wear their makeup and would try to breathe fire like Gene Simmons to their own peril. I may have mentioned it either here or on another forum, but one kid breathed fire for an English project and almost blew his face off (he did singe his eyebrows some). He got an A.
