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Alice Cooper came to the 2019 BottleRock Napa Valley on a mission.
He wanted to set one of the wildest, weirdest world records imaginable — for the number of rubber chickens tossed at the same time.
Yeah, weird, right? But we are talking about Alice Cooper here, the great shock rocker. And there is a backstory that helps make sense of the whole world record attempt (which I’ll get into in a moment).
He needed to get just over a thousand rubber chickens thrown (again, at the same time) in order to set the record. So, BottleRock attendees were asked to help out and hundreds were given rubber chickens to throw at the stage Cooper shared with TV foodie/chef Andrew Zimmern and host Liam Mayclem on Day Three (Sunday, May 26) of the festival.
And an official from the Guinness Book of World Records was on hand in order to certify any new record.
Instructions are given about @alicecooper world record attempt at @BottleRockNapa @foodiechap @andrewzimmern pic.twitter.com/uIfhhrgBXP
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 27, 2019
If Cooper was successful, mind you, it would be the second Guinness World Record set at the 2019 festival — and the third overall in BottleRock history. Hip-hop star Snoop Dogg set one in 2018 and then chef Masaharu Morimoto set another on Day One of this year’s festival.
Eventually, it was countdown time and people (pardon the pun) winged the rubber chickens at the stage. Rubber chickens were flying high and low and everyone seemed to feel good that the record would be set.
Here's the attempt to break Guinness World Record @GWR at @BottleRockNapa with @alicecooper @foodiechap @andrewzimmern pic.twitter.com/QtHZlVJ4qS
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 27, 2019
Unfortunately, it was not to be. The attempt failed, reportedly because the official from Guinness could not certify that the rubber chickens were all tossed at the same time.
So, the old record of 1,013 rubber chickens tossed at the same time still stands. And, yes, the most amazing part of that record isn’t the number — but rather that there is indeed a record for such a thing at all.
Cooper, however, has reportedly promised to come back in 2020 and try again to lead a toss of 1,014-plus rubber chickens. And this time, folks will hopeful toss the rubber chickens at the same time.
Why rubber chickens? That’s a good question. It goes back to the now legendary chicken incident of 1969, when the Alice Cooper group was playing a festival in Toronto and a chicken was infamously torn apart by the audience.
You can hear Cooper explain the backstory to the crowd in the video below:
Legendary shock rocker @alicecooper explains the infamous chicken incident of 1969 to @BottleRockNapa audience. pic.twitter.com/RDV605eDPA
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 27, 2019
Mr @garthbrooks makes an appearance at @BottleRockNapa https://t.co/uKFYDNi9kI
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 26, 2019
VIDEO: @Neilyoung gets the plug pulled on him at @BottleRockNapa, as he hits curfew, but Young just keeps on rockin' in the free world (in silence, though). https://t.co/RbFecxflyg
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 26, 2019
The @imaginedragons front man Dan Reynolds apparently thinks @BottleRockNapa is located in Los Angeles. https://t.co/aNYTsqgXGm
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) May 26, 2019
