| "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[1] | |||||||||
| Length | 3:34 | |||||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. Records | |||||||||
| 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.[2]
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.
"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. The song reached #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 mono audio 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. A palm-muted guitar track is also much more prevalent at the beginning of the single version.
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.[3]
Contents |
Song in popular media
The song has been used in the movies Scream, Dazed and Confused, and Rock 'n' Roll High School.
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.[4] 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.
A cover is playable in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. 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.
Cover versions
Gwar cover
| "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" is a single by the band GWAR. It was the first release from their 2006 album Beyond Hell and is a cover of the 1972 song by the same name by Alice Cooper. 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.[citation needed]
Other covers
- 45 Grave in 1981, on the single Partytime (song)
- Grave Digger in 1985, on the album Witch Hunter
- Cretu and Thiers in 1988, a single by Michael Cretu of Enigma fame
- The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
- Demons & Wizards
- Kirka in 1986, on the album R.O.C.K.
- Krokus in 1986, on the album Change of Address
- Soul Asylum in 1998 for the movie The Faculty
- Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, Bob Kulick, Bob Daisley, Eric Singer and Paul Taylor in 1999 for the tribute album Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper
- Sevendust on the Licking Cream Single.
- Daphne & Celeste in 2000
- The Last Hard Men in 2001
- Mr. Bumpy during Karaoke Café on Bump in the night. The song was also sung briefly a few times by both Mr. Bumpy and The Boy in the episode Not A Peep.
- A*Teens in 2002, on the albums Pop 'Til You Drop and New Arrival - their version was a duet with Alice Cooper
- GWAR in 2006, on the album Beyond Hell
- Rob Zombie and Slash, live with Alice Cooper at the 2007 Scream Awards
- Jay Anderson Band in 2007, on the Laosy Lao LP
- Hideto Matsumoto with his first band Saver Tiger in 2003
- A cover of School's Out is a playable track in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
- Emily Estefan. In 2008, Gloria Estefan's daughter Emily made a cover of this song for her mother's tour in Europe.
- The Donnas in 2001 , on the album The Donnas Turn 21.(Japanese bonus track)
- Alien Sex Fiend on the album "The Legendary Batcave Tapes"
- Toyah Wilcox on the solo album "Minx" in 1989
Charts (Alice Cooper Version)
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 7[5] |
| Germany Singles Chart | 5[6] |
| UK Singles Chart | 1[7] |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 12[8] |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 6[9] |
| Ireland Singles Chart | 2[10] |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 9[11] |
| Australian Singles Chart | 22[12] |
References
- ^ http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:gvfrxcqaldte
- ^ Originally stated May 4, 2008; clarified as just a joke on June 3, 2008.
- ^ "spreadit.org music". http://music.spreadit.org/vh1-top-100-hard-rock-songs/. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
- ^ Staples Unveils Back-to-School Commercial Starring Alice Cooper; 'School's Out' - Or Is It - For Veteran Rocker in New Ad Campaign | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET
- ^ "Alice Cooper - Charts & Awards - Billboard Singles" Allmusic. Retrieved on August 10, 2009."
- ^ ""German Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" musicline.de. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ Jo Rice/Tim Rice/Paul Gambaccini/Mike Read (1979). The Guiness Book of British Hit Singles 2nd Edition. Guinesss Superlatives Ltd.. pp. 56. ISBN 09000424990.
- ^ ""Austrian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" Austriancharts.at. Retrieved on August 10, 2009."
- ^ ""Norwegian Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" norweigancharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Irish Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" irishcharts.com. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Dutch Singles Charts Search for Alice Cooper"" dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved on August 11, 2009."
- ^ ""Go-Set Singles Chart Page with "School's Out" Peak Position"" Retrieved on November 5, 2009.
| Preceded by "Puppy Love" by Donny Osmond |
UK number one single August 12, 1972 for three weeks |
Succeeded by "You Wear It Well" by Rod Stewart |
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