The nightmare never ends for Alice Cooper -- and for him that's a dream come true.

It's been 30 years since the former Vincent Furnier unleashed his snake-toting, makeup-clad, shock-rock alter-ego on the world, forever changing the face of modern rock with his Broadway-style theatricality. Along the way, he also managed to pen enough classic songs -- Eighteen, School's Out, Billion Dollar Babies, to name but a few -- to fill the recently released box set The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper.

Just don't call Alice Cooper a classic rocker -- at least not to his face.

"I don't live in the past," Cooper told The Sun recently from his Phoenix, Ariz., home. "I'm not some nostalgia act. I'm not ready for that yet.

"I've got two albums that I'm working on right now with all-new material. I've got (this) tour coming up, that I'll be on for four or five months."

In fact, Cooper -- who brings his extravagant, horror-rock stage show to the Walker Theatre next week -- says he feels more of a kinship with modern acts like Rob Zombie or The Offspring than his '70s counterparts.

"I love The Offspring's Americana," he says. "The Offspring, I think, is one of the most clever bands out there. I like Ben Folds Five. I love Rob Zombie's last album."

Oddly enough, one artist he feels a connection to is also the one he inspired the most -- Marilyn Manson. But if Alice doesn't seem the proud papa, Marilyn hasn't exactly been the dutiful, son, er, daughter, er, whatever.

"I've heard him say complimentary things about me and I've heard derogatory things. But the truth is, I don't think Marilyn has a history yet," Cooper says. "After three or four albums, then I would sit down and know he's going to be here."

Indeed, Cooper says he knows how tough it is to be a music fan these days.

"It seems like all the bands I like break up. I loved Jane's Addiction and I loved Soundgarden and, all of a sudden, they're gone. It's hard to give anybody allegiance anymore. To me, if they put four or five albums out, then I start to think they're viable. I'm tired of getting burned."

At least fans don't have to worry about that from Alice -- he may fry in the electric chair every night, but he always comes back to life the next day.