Shock supremo Alice Cooper is heading a legendary line-up at a concert to celebrate great rock music of the past.

Best known for his Hammer horror stage shows, the guru of gothic rock will join Roger Daltrey, Paul Young, and others, at the Royal Albert Hall to perform hits by The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, and many more.

Playing at the Royal Albert Hall: A long-term ambition

But if the audience is hoping for a rousing rendition of School's Out, complete with his customary chemist counter's worth of black make-up, they'll be disappointed.

The British Rock Symphony concert, complete with full symphony orchestra, will be far too grandiose for that.

But Alice says it will allow him to fulfil a career-long ambition: to perform at London's most high-brow venue.

He says: "I've always gone to the Albert Hall to see other people play and said 'some day I'm going to do this' - it's as classy as I'm ever going to get."

These days 51-year-old Alice is altogether a much more sedate version of his apocalyptic former self. He loves his kids and, whisper it if you dare, has a rather unseemly addiction to golf.

"I play golf every day. I love it. I love the idea that Lou Reed plays golf and Iggy and Metallica - it's addictive, golf is the new drug," he enthuses.

Shock-proof shows

And while Alice Cooper concerts are still not exactly events your granny would sleep through, they are rather less hair-raising than before.

Gone are the guillotine, gallows and electric chair that sent a generation diving under the duvet. Instead, Alice has gone to the showground for inspiration.

Alice Cooper: CNN took the shock factor out of his shows

"The Alice Cooper Rock and Roll Carnival looks like a side show in a carnival. To me there has always been something really warped and sick about the people who work in carnivals," he says.

"It's really the most bizarre kind of place where you really do not want to go on your own. There's a really X-Files feeling about these people."

Alice still does about 60 shows a year and covers most of the hits such as I'm Eighteen and Teenage Lament '74. Some fans, then, might be confused by the change of approach.

Alice explains: "I realised a long time ago that my show wasn't as shocking as CNN. Reality is much more scary."

What's more, he dismisses any suggestions that his band, or those who have followed in its footsteps, can be blamed for inciting events such as the Columbine school massacre.

"What rock album was Hitler listening to? What movie did he just see? Evil is evil and music is music and 99.9% of kids know the difference between reality and showbiz. You can't go around blaming rock bands for people's sickness," he says.

But scratch beneath the forbidding exterior and you'll find that Alice Cooper was never really that scary in the first place.

Rock roots

Born Vincent Furrnier, the son of a clergyman, Cooper loved school and was good at sport.

He joined a band which became Alice Cooper - who apparently was a 17th century witch. Vincent became Alice and took on the shock-rock mantle out of a love of all things theatrical.

And the ultimate story in the Alice Cooper legend, the one where he bit the head off a chicken on stage, never really happened.

"During the show somebody through this chicken on stage. I took the chicken and threw it back into the audience," he recounts.

Roger Daltrey: An inspiration

"I figured it would fly away but it got torn to pieces and somebody threw the pieces back on stage."

Still it hardly seems to matter. Whichever way you look at it, there have been enough stories, hit records and bands inspired by Alice Cooper to grant him legendary status.

And, not one to hide his light under a bushel, Alice would be the first to agree.

Nonetheless, he grants that he may never have reached such heights without the music they'll be playing at the Royal Albert Hall.

"I learned a lot of my music from listening to Townsend songs and I was probably very influenced by the Kinks, The Who and The Yardbirds. I took a different direction, but my roots were in those bands."