‘School’s Out’: Alice Cooper’s ‘National Anthem’
The Alice Cooper band’s ghoulish makeup and wild stage antics earned the group a lot of attention when they debuted in 1968. Lead singer Vincent Furnier — who later adopted the Alice Cooper name for himself — has said he dreamed the name up based on the idea of “a cute, sweet little girl with a hatchet behind her back.”
The group’s original lineup was Furnier, Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), and drummer Neal Smith, who told New Canaan, CT Patch, “When we had a successful album, we wanted to throw it back. We had a bad attitude — which is good for rock n’ roll. If another band had long hair — we had longer hair. We wanted to look more outrageous than anyone out there. We were really pushing the limits with our image. I loved it.”
In 1971, “I’m Eighteen” became their first hit, topped the next year by “School’s Out.”
In his book Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock ’n’ Roller’s Life and 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict,” Cooper explains how “School’s Out” was conceived.
