School's Out

For my kids, today is that most sacred of days, the warm-weather version of Christmas morning – The Last Day of School. And while Christmas has many hymns to its glory, but The Last Day of School has only one: “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper.


"School's Out" stormed the charts in 1972, immediately becoming a youth anthem. It perfectly captures the feeling of the final bell ringing and the explosion thorugh the front doors to two months of town pools, ice cream trucks, hot dogs, lawn sprinklers and Kick the Can.

For all his mascara and outrageous onstage theatrics, Cooper is one of the most sober-minded people in music. After giving up drink in the 80s, he became a 4-handicap golf addict with a sharp business acumen. Mike Myers' 1992 Gen-X masterpiece Wayne’s World spoofed his bookish offstage manner brilliantly.


A few years back in Esquire, Cooper, who was born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, said that he came into the music business around the time Hendrix, Joplin and Mr. Mojo Risin' were hard-living rock gods — until it killed them. Cooper wanted their type of magnetic stage persona, but wanted to leave it on the stage and live a normal-ish life off it, so he came up with the concept of Alice Cooper. He had a string of hits in the 70s and 80s and retains a devoted fan base to this day.

While researching this remarkable piece, I learned several things about Alice Cooper which I will top-line for you here:
• Alice Cooper is the name of a 17th-century witch
• "Alice Cooper" was originally the name of the band, not the singer, but the singer took it for his own use when the band broke up
• The Alice Cooper band consisted entirely of teammates from Vincent’s high school cross-country team in northern Phoenix
• The band was originally signed by Frank Zappa
• Groucho Marx and Mae West were both admirers of Alice Cooper's stage show, featuring electric chairs, boas, baby dolls and a guillotine – they saw it as a descendant of vaudeville
• Alice briefly dated Raquel Welch in the 1970s
• Alice Cooper's favorite band of all time is The Yardbirds
• In a 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bob Dylan (who also TCB’d Welch) stated, "I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter."
• My daughter Alice was not named for Alice Cooper, but for Ann B. Davis' character on The Brady Bunch

Okay, that's enough learning for today kids – School’s Out!

“School’s Out” The Muppet Show, 1978


Summer Extra Credit: "I'm Eighteen," 1971