| "School's Out" | ||||||||||
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7" single |
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| Single by Alice Cooper | ||||||||||
| from the album School's Out | ||||||||||
| A-side | "School's Out" | |||||||||
| B-side | "Gutter Cat" (aka "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets") | |||||||||
| Released | 1972 | |||||||||
| Format | 45" | |||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||||||||
| Length | 3:34 | |||||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith | |||||||||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin | |||||||||
| Alice Cooper singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"School's Out" is a 1972 title track single released on Alice Cooper's fifth album.
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.[1]
The lyrics of "School's Out" indicate that not only is the school year ended for summer vacation, but ended forever, and that the school itself has been 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". "Etiquette" has also been used to replace the word.
"School's Out" became Alice Cooper's first major hit single, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart and propelling the album to #2 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart. In Canada, the single went to #3 on the RPM Top Singles Chart[2] following the album reaching #1.[3] In Britain, the song went to #1 on the UK singles chart 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 version of the song is a slightly sped-up mix of the album version with one major difference - the "turn-off" effect used upon the school bell 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.
In 2004, "School's Out" was ranked #319 on Rolling Stone'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[4] and the song appeared on the TV show American Idol in 2010.
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The song has been used in the movies Scream, Dazed and Confused, Rock 'n' Roll High School and I Love You, Beth Cooper.
In 2004, the song was also used in a Staples television commercial for the back to school retail period in which Alice appeared as himself.[5] A young girl with black hair, obviously disappointed that school is starting soon, says, "I thought you said 'School's out forever.'" Alice (who's pushing a shopping cart full of her school supplies) replies, "No, no, no ... the song goes, 'School's out for summer.' Nice try though." (However, the lyrics to the song do include the phrase "School's out forever" as well as "School's out for summer.")
The title of the first Degrassi movie comes from this song
The Simpsons episode "Kamp Krusty" had an excerpt of the song's refrain used during Bart's dream sequence with the destruction of Springfield Elementary on its last day of school before summer vacation, and in the episode I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can, Principal Skinner sings his own version - "School's back in session, let's begin our lesson!"
A cover is playable in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. A master track is available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5. In addition, the message "School's out forever!!", extracted from the song, can be seen on LED scrolling panels on the "Battle of the Bands" stage in the game's precursor, Guitar Hero II.
A live cut of the song is available as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band 2.
In the series Everybody Hates Chris in an episode when Chris gets revenge from the school bully and the police are outside the school, the song is played.
At the beginning of an Alvin and the Chipmunks VHS called "Alvin and the Chipmunks - School's out for Summer" the song is covered by the chipmunks. The lyric "School's been blown to pieces" was changed to "school's ancient history".
In 2007, the popular MMORPG RuneScape, chose the song 'School's Out' for the title of the new music of the new random event, "Surprise Exam!".
In the direct-to-video animated movie Superman: Doomsday, Toyman says "School's out forever!"
The song was used in the 2009 Arby's commercial.
Cooper performs the song as the closing act of his episode of The Muppet Show where he dances with various large Muppet monsters who gleefully act out his lyrics, including causing numerous explosions.
The song was also performed in the finale of the ninth season of American Idol by Idol contestants and Cooper himself.
| "School’s Out" | ||||
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| Single by Daphne & Celeste | ||||
| from the album We Didn't Say That! | ||||
| Released | 21 August 2000 (US) | |||
| Format | CD Single | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Phantom Sound/Visi | |||
| Daphne & Celeste singles chronology | ||||
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Female pop duo Daphne & Celeste, released a cover of the song in 2000. The chorus is based on Alice Cooper's hit of the same name, and some other elements of that song have been retained, although much of the song is "original", in a pop-rap style. The single is remixed from the version released on their album We Didn't Say That!, removing a prominent synth line from the chorus, among other more minor changes. The B-Side, 'Camp Song', is the only non-album D&C track available.
| "School's Out" | |||||||
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| Single by Gwar | |||||||
| from the album Beyond Hell | |||||||
| Released | 2006 | ||||||
| Format | promo CD, digital single | ||||||
| Recorded | 2006 | ||||||
| Genre | Crossover thrash | ||||||
| Length | 3:23 | ||||||
| Label | DRT Entertainment | ||||||
| Producer | Devin Townsend & Cory Smoot | ||||||
| Gwar singles chronology | |||||||
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"School's Out" was also covered by the band Gwar. It was the first release from their 2006 album Beyond Hell. It was released as a digital download through services such as iTunes and eMusic, and as a promotional CD sent to radio stations. The band has stated in several interviews that they had not intended on recording a cover song for Beyond Hell, but the record company insisted that they do a cover that might get some airplay, and would be accessible to a wider audience than their first choice for a single, "Eighth Lock".
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 7[6] |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart | 3[2] |
| Germany Singles Chart | 5[7] |
| UK Singles Chart | 1[8] |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 12[9] |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 6[10] |
| Ireland Singles Chart | 2[11] |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 9[12] |
| Australian Singles Chart | 22[13] |
| Preceded by "Puppy Love" by Donny Osmond |
UK Singles Chart number one single August 12, 1972 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "You Wear It Well" by Rod Stewart |
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