Alice Cooper wants to erect a statue to the unknown chicken which kick started his career.

The singer and his theatrical shock rock band hit the headlines in 1969 when their audience at a show in Canada tore the live bird to pieces, and Alice feels proper tribute should be paid to the animal, whose bloodied body was thrown back at the group.

He said: “Here’s the kicker. The people in the first five rows were all in wheelchairs. They didn’t like the idea that the chicken could walk – that’s what flipped into my mind.

“And this was the Toronto ‘Peace’ Festival! I am seriously thinking of erecting a statue there; Monument to the Unknown Chicken. The noble bird that lost its life in the service of rock ‘n’ roll and gave Alice Cooper a career.”

Alice, 63, is not the only rocker to have had an encounter with animal slaughter at his show, as heavy metal group Metallica once recalled how one of their shows in Donington, England saw a fan shower the band with bits of recently-slaughtered pig.

Singer James Hetfield previously explained: “There’s mostly demo tapes, flowers, flyers, underwear, bras, and other crap that get thrown up there [on the stage].

“At one of the Donington shows, we had pieces of pig flying up. Someone had slaughtered an actual pig and brought it along, threw it up there.”