Alice Cooper has won the Living Legend accolade at the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour award ceremony in London, the annual awards bash from Classic Rock magazine. He was presented with the gong, and a painting of himself, worth £50,000, by Brian May. The Queen guitarist was also a recipient on the night - the veteran act won two awards, one for Best Reissue for 'A Night Of The Opera', and a second, the Classic Songwriter Award, was presented to May and bandmate Roger Taylor.
Iron Maiden were also multiple winners - kind of. They got Album Of The Year for 'A Matter Of Life And Death', and their manager Rod Smallwood was presented with the VIP Award. Elsewhere, Def Leppard got the Classic Album award for 'Hysteria', Whitesnake were given Band Of The Year and Best DVD, Roadstar were judged Best New Band, and New York Dolls got Comeback Of The Year. The Metal Guru Award went to Ronnie James Dio, Phil Lynott got the Tommy Vance Inspiration Award and Event Of The Year was the Monsters Of Rock festival at Milton Keynes Bowl. I think that's everything covered, but for those who prefer their awards round ups in lists, here's the list.
Best New Band: Roadstar
Best Reissue: Queen - A Night At The Opera
Best DVD: Whitesnake
Event Of The Year: Monsters Of Rock At Milton Keynes Bowl
Comeback Of The Year: New York Dolls
Band Of The Year: Whitesnake
Classic Album: Def Leppard - Hysteria
Metal Guru: Ronnie James Dio
Album Of The Year: Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life & Death
Vip Award: Rod Smallwood (Iron Maiden manager)
Classic Songwriter: Queen
Tommy Vance Inspiration: Phil Lynott
Living Legend: Alice Cooper
Commenting on his awards and, I think it would be fair to say, participating in a little dig at Q magazine's recent awards bash, Classic Rock's Editor-in-Chief, Scott Rowley, told CMU: "In only our second year we have managed to attract some of the most influential and celebrated icons from the past 30 years of rock history. Let other magazines give awards to A-ha, Take That and Culture Club, Classic Rock magazine will continue to celebrate the true legends of rock'n'roll for many years to come."