"School's Out" is a song first recorded as the title track of

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

fifth album ''Fifth Album'' is the fourth studio album (her 5th overall release) by American singer and songwriter Judy Collins, released by Elektra Records in 1965. It peaked at No. 69 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart''. The album featured a collecti ...

. It was released as the album's only single on April 26, 1972. "School's Out" was the Alice Cooper's biggest international hit and it has been regarded as the band's signature song and reached number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 3 in the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record chart in Canada; a n ...

, number 2 in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and reached the top of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Swiss metal band Krokus released a charting cover version in 1986.

Inspiration and writing

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 has also said it was inspired by a line from a Bowery Boys movie. On his radio show, '' Nights with Alice Cooper'', he joked that the main riff of the song was inspired by a song by

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

. Cooper said that guitarist Glen Buxton created the song's opening riff. The lyrics of "School's Out" indicate that not only is the school year ended for

summer vacation Summer vacation or summer break is a school holiday, school break in summer between school years and the break in the school academic year. Students are off anywhere between three weeks to three months. Depending on the country and district, staff ...

, but ended forever, and that the school itself has been literally blown up. It incorporates the childhood rhyme, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks" into its lyrics. It also featured children contributing some of the vocals. "Innocence" in the lyric " ... and we got no innocence" is frequently changed in concert to "intelligence" and sometimes replaced with "etiquette." The song appropriately ends with a

school bell The ringing of a school bell announces important times to a school's students and staff, such as marking the beginnings and ends of the school day, class period, and breaks. In some schools it may take the form of a physical bell, usually e ...

sound that fades out. Later performances saw Alice Cooper incorporate parts of the first verse of "

Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2 "Another Brick in the Wall" is a three-part composition on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera ''The Wall,'' written by bassist Roger Waters. "Part 2", a protest song against corporal punishment, and rigid and abusive schooling, features a children ...

", a song by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

(also about school, and produced by Bob Ezrin) into "School's Out".

Release and reception

"School's Out" became Alice Cooper's first major

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, reaching #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles chart and propelling the album to #2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 pop albums chart. It was the highest-charting single for the Alice Cooper band, and its #7 peak position was matched only by "

Poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

" among Cooper's solo efforts. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 75 song for 1972. In Canada, the single went to #3 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles Chart following the album reaching #1. In Britain, the song went to #1 on the

for three weeks in August 1972. It also marked the first time that Alice Cooper became regarded as more than just a theatrical novelty act. The

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

version of the song is a slightly sped-up narrow stereo remix of the album version with one major difference—the "turn-off" effect used upon the

and sound effects at the end of the album version is not used on the single version, allowing the school bell and effects to simply fade out. Some radio stations banned the song from their airwaves, stating that the song gave the students an impression of rebelliousness against childhood education. Teachers, parents, principals, counselors, and psychologists also shunned the song and demanded several radio stations ban the song from ever being played on the air. "School's Out" was ranked #326 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was named the 35th best hard rock song of all time by

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

and the song appeared on the TV show ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' in 2010. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' placed it as number 3 on its list of "The 20 best glam-rock songs of all time." In 2018, Ian Chapman and ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' have called it a " glam rock anthem." Nick Talevski has called it a "

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

anthem" on his book ''Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door''. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' named the song at tenth in the list "Gold Dust: Glam rock's top 10 singles."

Use in popular media

The song has been used in various movies including ''

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

'', '' Dazed and Confused'', '' Rock 'n' Roll High School'', and ''

I Love You, Beth Cooper ''I Love You, Beth Cooper'' is a comedy novel written by former ''The Simpsons, Simpsons'' writer Larry Doyle (writer), Larry Doyle. ''I Love You, Beth Cooper'' follows a high school graduate who confesses his love for a cheerleader during his va ...

''. The Season 4 premiere episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'', "

Kamp Krusty "Kamp Krusty" is the first episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 24, 1992. During summer vacation, the children of Spri ...

", features the song in which

Bart Simpson Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' ...

dreams that it is the last day of school and the students destroy the place. In 2004, the song was also used in a Staples television commercial for the back to school retail period in which Cooper appeared as himself.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Glen Buxton Glen Edward Buxton (November 10, 1947 – October 19, 1997) was an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist for the rock band Alice Cooper. In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him number 90 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guita ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

* Michael Bruce –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Dennis Dunaway Dennis Dunaway (born December 9, 1946, in Cottage Grove, Oregon) is an American musician, best known as the original bass guitarist for the rock band Alice Cooper (1962–1975, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021). He co-wrote some of the b ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals * Neal Smith –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, backing vocals

Notable cover versions

Krokus version

Krokus released the album ''

Change of Address Post offices and other mail service providers typically offer a mail forwarding service, commonly known as hybrid mail or virtual post office box services, to redirect mail addressed to one location to another address – usually for a given per ...

'' in 1986, which featured a cover of "School's Out". This version peaked at #67 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:School's Out (song) 1972 singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Alice Cooper songs Songs written by Dennis Dunaway Songs written by Alice Cooper Gwar songs Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Songs about school 1972 songs Warner Records singles