Alice Cooper – School’s Out

Music video by Alice Cooper performing School’s Out.
(Alice Cooper – School’s Out from Alice Cooper: Trashes The World concert. The concert was filmed in Birmingham, England, December 1989, during Cooper’s tour in support of his commercially successful album Trash.)
(C) 1990 Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

“School’s Out” – Single by Alice Cooper from the album School’s Out
B-side: “Gutter Cat”
Released: April 26, 1972
Label: Warner Bros.
Songwriters: Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith
Producer: Bob Ezrin
Charted No.7 in US, No.1 in UK, No.3 in Canada, No.5 in Germany

Cooper has said he was inspired to write the song when answering the question, “What’s the greatest three minutes of your life?”. Cooper said: “There’s two times during the year. One is Christmas morning, when you’re just getting ready to open the presents. The greed factor is right there. The next one is the last three minutes of the last day of school when you’re sitting there and it’s like a slow fuse burning. I said, ‘If we can catch that three minutes in a song, it’s going to be so big.”

Cooper wrote this song with his guitarist Michael Bruce. At the time, “Alice Cooper” was the name of the band, not just the lead singer, and all members contributed to their songwriting.

The School’s Out album opens like a school desk and contains a pair of paper panties. This is the kind of added value you just don’t get with CDs or digital media.

This song is especially popular in the UK, where it topped the chart for three weeks. It was buoyed by the protests of an activist named Mary Whitehouse, who railed against corrupting influences in Britain, like Benny Hill and the movie A Clockwork Orange. Cooper sent her flowers to thank her for the publicity.