Alice Cooper once tried to persuade squeaky-clean Muppets star Kermit The Frog to sell his soul to Satan, promising that his "friend" could "guarantee to make you a rock star".
Looking back on the offer in a new interview with NME, Kermit laughs off the incident by describing Cooper as "a kidder", but reviewing the original 1978 footage, it's clear that the celebrity amphibian was somewhat shook by the exchange.
Cooper appeared on episode 307 of the hugely-popular Jim Henson-conceived TV show, broadcast in November '78, and opened the show with a performance of Welcome To My Nightmare, the title track of his first solo album.
Events took a darker turn after Kermit offered the shock rocker his congratulations on the performance, stating, "Oh, it must be great to be a rock star."
"Oh. Would you like to be a rock star?" Cooper asks, pulling what is revealed to be a contract from beneath his cloak, and suggesting that this is entirely possible if Kermit signs the document.
"I have a friend that runs a service," Cooper reveals. "He could guarantee to make you a rock star."
"Yeah, well, when I said I wanted to be a rock star, I was sort of half kidding," Kermit responds, somewhat nervously. "I'd like to be an astronaut too."
"Well, then, just cross out the word 'rock star' and write in 'astronaut'," Cooper suggests.
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When an increasingly anxious Kermit frets about the potential cost that might be involved in securing such a deal, Cooper responds by saying that it will cost, "Not a penny. Just your soul."
"I'm sure I didn't hear that," stammers Kermit, visibly unsettled.
In his new interview with NME, the frog looks back on the encounter with Cooper with good humour.
"He is such a kidder," Kermit says. "Scary, but funny."
"Usually when we work with a guest star, they have to get used to all the strangeness of being around the Muppets, being surrounded by various frogs, pigs, bears and monsters," he continues. "But Alice felt right at home from the start. It was like he was one of us… which, if you’re reading this Alice, I mean it as a compliment.
"I did go golfing with Alice Cooper once," Kermit adds. "But after he mistook me for a divot and stomped me down into the turf with his golf shoes, we decided to play pickleball instead."
Watch Cooper's iconic performance of Welcome To My Nightmare below:
