Four months ago I featured the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2012, and this week I’ll continue my journey back in time by focusing on the Class of 2011. Seven inductees were named that year and I’ll cover each of them in alphabetical order.

First up is Alice Cooper, the heavy metal provocateur considered the “Godfather of Shock Rock.’ Cooper is the stage name of Vincent Damon Furnier, and also the name of the band he fronted for several years in the early 70s before he embarked on a decades-long solo career.

It was technically the band that was inducted into the Hall of Fame, though I suspect it was viewed as an honor for Cooper’s solo career as well. Bandmates Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith were honored along with their frontman.

The band members met while attending high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and they developed a flamboyant stage persona partly inspired by the surrealist artists they studied in class. They were signed to their first record contract by Frank Zappa.

As the 60s gave way to the 70s, Alice Cooper’s darkly humorous stage antics stood in stark contrast to the hippie-dippie peace and love movement. They scored their first hits with 1971’s ‘I’m Eighteen’ and 1972’s ‘School’s Out,’ their only top ten single.

As a solo artist, starting in 1975, Cooper scored a handful of other top 20 singles. He has recorded 22 albums since the band broke up.

How’s this for a coincidence? Fifty years after splitting, Alice Cooper has reunited and will release a new album as a band this Friday. The album features all of the original members minus Glen Buxton, who died of pneumonia in 1997 at just 49.