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Musician Alice Cooper poses with his boa constrictor in the press room after being inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the 2011 induction ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, USA, on March 14 2011. Image Credit: EPA

Alice Cooper came into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a friend - a boa constrictor.

The theatrical rock band with a lead singer who takes the same name was inducted on Monday into the Hall of Fame. His class includes New Orleans piano maestro Dr John, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Leon Russell.

Cooper wore a blood-splattered shirt and also brought schoolkids along to sing School's Out. It all seemed appropriate for a band that inductor Rob Zombie said invented the rock show.

"We've always been a hard rock band. We just wanted to decorate it a little differently," says Cooper.

The work by the inducted artists will be celebrated in perpetuity at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.