School's Out - Alice Cooper (1972) 5/14/21

The question posed to Alice Cooper was this: "What are the three greatest minutes of your life?"

He had two answers. Number one: The anticipation you feel three minutes before opening your presents on Christmas morning.

Number two: The slow burning excitement of the last three minutes of the last day of school.

Alice figured there were plenty of Christmas songs about the former, but if he could come up with something about the latter, it would be huge.

He did...and it WAS! In fact, "School's Out" easily became a "Great Song of 1972."

It was released as a single from the album of the same name, and became a Top 10 hit in 8 countries, including #1 in the UK, #2 in Ireland, #3 in Canada, and #7 in the US!

This happened in spite of the fact that teachers, principals, counselors, psychologists and other education officials all over the world demanded that radio stations ban the song--for obvious reasons. Some stations complied...but as everyone knows, if you ban something, demand becomes even greater. :-)

Hence those stellar chart positions.

In the years since, "School's Out" not only became Alice Cooper's signature song, it racked up quite a few kudos:

#326 on Rolling Stone Magazine's "Top 500 of All Time."

#5 on VH-1's list of the "Best hard Rock Songs of All Time."

#3 on the UK's Guardian Newspaper list of the "Best Glam Rock Songs of All Time."

It's also worth mentioning that up until "School's Out," Alice Cooper was considered a "novelty act." Never again.

"School's Out:" A "Great Song of 1972!"

(Personal note: I graduated high school in '72. You better believe our class could identify!) :-)