School's Out
Alice Cooper
1972
Album Summary
School's Out is the fifth studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released in 1972. Following on from the success of Killer, School's Out reached No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 on the Canadian RPM 100 Top Albums chart, holding the top position for four weeks. The single "School's Out" reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 3 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles Chart and went to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart.
WikipediaI wasn't expecting the sounds of this album to be as varied as they are.
Initial thoughts as I started listening: Great week for short albums, I think this is 4 in a row that are about 35 mins. Love Alice Cooper, you know what you're going to get here. After actually listening: You DO NOT know what you're going to get here. That was a trip, after 2 fairly basic rock tunes to open this album went on a wild trip across musical theatre, blues, jazz, and an orchestral closer. I can see people being put off by this but I really enjoyed it, while it was all over the map there was still a cohesion to it, and the amount of creativity and talent that went in is on display big time.
School's Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track. But while the song became Alice's highest-charting single ever (reaching number seven on the U.S. charts) and recalled the brash, three-and-a-half-minute garage rock of yore, the majority of the album signaled a more complex compositional directional for the band. Unlike Cooper's previous releases (Love It to Death, Killer), which contained several instantly identifiable hard rock classics, School's Out appears to be a concept album, and aside from the aforementioned title track anthem, few of the other tracks have ever popped up in concert. That's not to say they weren't still strong and memorable; while such cuts as "Gutter Cat vs. the Jets," "Street Fight," "My Stars," and "Grande Finale" came off like mini-epics with a slightly progressive edge, Alice Cooper still managed to maintain their raw, unrefined punk edges, regardless. Other highlights included the rowdy "Public Animal #9," the mid-paced "Luney Tune," and the sinister, cabaret-esque "Blue Turk."
'Schools out' might be the hit record but 'Blue Turk' is the piece de resistance on this enjoyable album.
Very bluesy, awesome album with a different sound every song and high school themes. I love it.
Expected a cheesy glam rock stomper, based on the ludicrous opening title track, but was really surprised to get an album of great blues/soul/funk with some really great tunes and a lot of riffs and sounds that wouldn't be out of place in the 60s or 90s. Drifts towards cheese at points but holds together excellently.
This was actually pretty great! I thought of him as like an 80s artist, maybe for the makeup look etc, but this came out in 72 and is pretty classic rock oriented. Couple great songs and has a West Side Story twinge
Very surprising. Was not excited to give this a listen as I've grown up with (and every elementary school final day singing) "School's Out" and knowing some more of AC's hits, I did not expect the pleasantly *weird* variety herein. The track "School's Out" needs no review other than everybody knows it, it's silly fun, but honestly nothing like what's to come and the least-interesting song on the album.... ...horn-infested and more than a little creepy "Blue Turk" ...the West Side Story-ish "Gutter Cat vs The Jets" ..."Alma Mater" sounds like it was stolen from a Paul McCartney and Wings session. ..."My Stars" could (or should) have been a deep-cut on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (and frankly better than some of its throwaway tracks). Alice(the singer - as this was also the name of the band at the time)'s vocals are almost instantly recognizable - for better or worse - but aside from that I would not have been able to identify any of these as an Alice Cooper recording. Preconceived notions shattered. As a collection, the relatively short (37 minutes) length is perfect as it ends before it might get tiring. I almost can't believe I'm saying this but after 3 listens today I would listen to this again. 7/10 4 stars
Ok, I must be tripping because outside of the title track, this sound less like what I expected Alice Cooper to sound like and closer to an Amon Düül II record in spots. A proggy, psychedelic surprise.
Consistently unexpected song structures and proficient instrumentation redeem this record that would otherwise come off as a campy, kiddy halloween affair, similar to Alice Cooper's stage act at its most worn out. Plenty of great tongue-in-cheek moments to boot ("Grande Finale", "Alma Mater"). There's lots to like here even if it is sometimes insufferably whacky in a 70s "freak-out" sort of way. This is the type of record you'd hear spinning at an independently owned novelty shop.
I'll admit, I'm surprised this one got into the book over the previous 2 Alice Cooper band albums (Love It To Death and Killer). This isn't to say it's a bad album, far from it, I just find it weaker overall when compared to those two albums. School's Out the song is a classic though and should be heralded as a classic.
Whether it was last day before: Xmas break, spring or fall break, or was last day of school... This album was rocked by everyone going to their cars. Not and was most students singing, there was teachers singing and it was the most nonchalant good bye but yet everyone felt equally included
-An incredible album -"School's Out" is in the uppermost echelon of songs that I just expect everyone to know/have heard. It's also a banger. Incredible opening riff, iconic and relatable lyrics, and the hilarious "We can't even think of a word that rhymes" lyric. -The rest of the album is super cool as well, with great instrumentals to back intriguing mini-story lyrics.
Alice Cooper au début des années 70, c'est un des meilleurs Rock qu'on aura jamais. On ne peut pas en dire autant d'Alice Cooper dans les années 80. Prefs: TOUT Moins pref: RIEN
Based on the only two songs of theirs played on the radio, my impression was that Alice Cooper's music was just light-hearted and a bit silly. Now I see why they are considered one of the greats, and I will no longer be missing out!
I went into this extremely familiar with the title track but never heard any of the rest of this album. “Schools Out” is such a classic that it makes me wonder why I’ve never heard of anything else on this album. Stir together guitar rock of the 70s and a generous helping of Broadway. Add bits of jazz and blues. Fold in marching band music and a trombone solo. Add generous helpings West Side Story. Blend. Bake into a deliciously wild and eclectic album. A genuine and wonderful surprise. I love it!
I made an "ew" face when this came up and now that I've listened I think my face should apologize. I loved it! These kind of rock-n-roll theatrics are totally my thing. I kind of wish I hadn't been looking at the lyrics because there was a very nice musical theater surprise awaiting me in the song Gutter Cat vs. (no spoilers). In addition to that one, I loved the jazzy Blue Turk, the epic My Stars, and the White-Album-esque Alma Mater. This was great unexpected fun. (But p.s. it's kind of cruel to assign School's Out homework to a college professor one week before the start of the school year.)
This album is so much more quirky than I imagined. I really liked it!!
I was led to believe (as a child of the 70s) that Alice Cooper was just too scary, and I'm a little upset to find that this album I've never listened to is magnificent and full of humor and musical variety. Even just the packaging with its model desk cover and panties album sleeve is celebration-worthy. Mind you, the title track has been a favorite of mine for years, and I should have suspected that the band was more fun than I thought (the lyric "We can't even think of a word that rhymes" has always made me laugh). Today I learned that "Alice Cooper" was the name of the band at this time as well as the persona of the lead singer. When a song about an alley cat segued into the "Jet Song," then went into the jazzy, meow-filled "Street Fight" my mind was blown. This album is taking me to incredible places. I don't even know how to begin describing "Public Animal #9" but I love it sooo much. "Alma Mater" is a wonderful closing to the school story. And then it's possible that "Grande Finale" is my favorite album closer of all time. Pow!!!
it's an album I'm very familiar with so this will be a bit wordy. This was the Last Alice Cooper album that I really liked all the way through. I was 16 when this album came out and the previous album, Killer, was even better. The early albums had some great guitars, bass and drums. Schools Out - classic, big hit Looney Tune - There's a guitar part in this song that sounds very much like "ooh that smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd which was released years later. Gutter Cat- love the bass intro and the overall musicality of the song and doing the west side story stuff was pretty clever. My Stars is a cool song, piano part is cool. Blue Turk is a really different but great song. Alma Mater - I still play the first seven chords to the song when I'm trying to tune my guitar. Overall I think it's a great album With a lot of catchy hooks.
that opening guitar riff is seared into my brain. it's one of the most iconic openings in all of music history! it's bangin', it's recognizable, it's lively. the riff was created by glen buxton, and it must be one of the most well known song intros. fun fact: the opening riff music notes are engraved on buxton's grave in clarion, iowa. truth be told, because "school's out" is such a classic and mind-blowing song, it overshadow rest of album. but with alice cooper as my favorite artist, i've listened to this album hundreds of times and i have such a soft spot for the rest of the album. the lyrics! alice cooper is one of my favorite songwriters, and too often i don't think he or the group gets their due. these lyrics are witty and enjoyable. some of it is dark in typical alice fashion. who doesn't enjoy the lyrics from "school's out"? this lyric from "blue turk" is actually one of my favorite lyrics ever: "tastes like roses on your breath/but graveyards on your soul." considering that the alice cooper group met in high school and this album is the group's second to last before their dissolution, this album reads like a tribute to their respective high schools in a musical format. so many of these songs are about school or reference cheating math tests. a song's title is even straight up "alma mater." i'm not sure if anyone could deny this is indeed a concept album. it isn't as tight as cooper's later solo albums but could possibly be the alice cooper group's most concept-y album. bob ezrin, notable producer of pink floyd, was definitely a contributor. "gutter cats vs. the jets" uses west side story (which uses the school theme as well), and of course the melody returns at the end of "grand finale." the final song of the album is even an instrumental!
Se sintio muy theatrical y el jets song!!! 😭😭😭😭 peed my panties right there. y en grand finale
Quite the unexpected journey but I loved every second and genre change.
sounded pretty fun on the first listen but I wanted to give it a second one just to be sure and it was really so much better once I was adjusted to it such a fun, weird, experimental album I get why a lot of people don’t care for it, but I thought it sounded really neat 9/10
I gave the last Alice Cooper album I was given a warm review because, fun. Obviously I'm familiar with the title track of this album but I'm going into it thinking "do we need more than one Alice Cooper album on this list"? Indeed we do! I guess I'd consider this to be a concept album? It is surely a weird wonderful ride. Five stars. Five very fun stars.
I think I'd say that this is a perfect glam rock with an edge type of album
4/9 Dude just makes great fucking albums. Standout Tracks: Gutter Cat vs. The Jets, Blue Turk, My Stars
Aprendí que Alice Cooper al principio era el nombre de la banda y luego ya el vocal se cambió legalmente el nombre. También aprendí (y me impresionó mucho) que son de la segunda ciudad más aburrida del mundo. Con todo y eso, el disco es muy buen rock setentero y destacan Blue Turk, Public Animal #9, y especialmente Grand Finale que para 1972 tiene unos arreglos de orquesta que nuestra generación pensaba que Metallica se había inventado.
Lo escuché un par de veces y perdió mi atención. Lo volví a escuchar a conciencia y mi primera impresión fue que no combinaban las canciones, en especial Gutter Cat porque parece más de... de... musical? Entonces cambió mi perspectiva. El disco es como un musical, un disco concepto aunque creo que no desarrolla como tal una historia sino que captura diferentes momentos de chicos que acabaron la preparatoria y que, según vemos en la canciones, no tuvieron los mejores desenlaces. Aunque quizá sea obvio esto, el darme cuenta me permitió quitarme esta expectativa de lo que "debería estar escuchando" y verdaderamente disfruté este disco. Dejando la alineación clásica de una banda de rock, las canciones incluyen metales y sintetizadores para crear una obra maestra. La primera canción, que es la más conocida y que da nombre al disco, nos encamina en una dirección engañosa de música sencilla y riffs pegajosos pero el resto del disco no es así. Las diferentes escenas que retrata cada canción están muy bien construidas, letras que no son obvias aunque con atención no son difíciles de descifrar y arreglos musicales extraordinarios. Al revisar las letras sí me pude formar la imagen que creo que buscaban expresar. Tracks: My Stars, Luney Tune, Public Animal #9
This album gets "most surprising" of the list so far. The titular track is great and fun, but also I've heard it 10,000 times. Track 2 and 3 were... not great. I was like "Okay, this is middle school boy music", which is fine, but I ain't in middle school anymore. Then we get the rest of the album! There's jazz, there's show tunes, there is a big fan finale. So much depth for a hard rock album. Most improved.
Rock and blues plus a theme that ties everything together what more could you ask for?
Fun and theatrical and West Side Story??? Also was confused for a while because I confused Alice Cooper with Alice in Chains before I looked it up lol
Primer apropament a Alice Cooper i bones sensacions. Un disc de rock conceptual al voltant dels dies d'escola i institut. Comença amb potència, amb un "School's out" impecable i efectiu, que ha vingut per quedar-se. Bon grapat de temes honestos i directes, ben executats i d'escolta agradable. Molt bona recta final del disc amb una secció de cordes sorprenent que esdevé un inmillorable colofó a l'àlbum.
La verdad me pareció mejor de lo que pensé que iba a ser. No creo que es algo que volvería a escuchar, pero en definitiva me la pasé bien. Está lol pues y tiene momentos moviditos y jazz-ish.... Blue turk fue la que más me gustó. Mood: pero es que si prefiero volver a la escuela
Way more interesting than I expected. Fun listen and the perfect length
There's more than meets the eye. I associated Cooper very much with metal and shockrock, maar this totally different. Pleasent surprise!
Veel beter dan ik had verwacht. Mooi en gevarieerd plaatje. Ga ik zeker vaker draaien.
So weird and so over the top. Alice Cooper was totally somewhere else with his music. I liked it a lot.
Alice & his band were still trying to find their sound at this point but really hit a sweet spot with the title track and a few others. Their music was always more interesting with visual accompaniment but at the same time, what an exciting journey
Overall good, I'm not really a stadium rock fan but it's a good album! I could have done without the loud hissing at the end of My Stars, and the sexual undertones of Gutter Cat vs. The Jets, both minor things though.
Was not in the right brain space yesterday to give this one it's dues. Listened to a couple tracks, and of course it's good! It's Alice fucking Cooper!
title track brings back memories of playing guitar hero in like 2007 or 2008. this song is so good. look at the gap in streaming numbers between this song and the other album tracks. on song number 2, yeah this is perfectly listenable for me. singer's voice is super nice and music is interesting enough to keep me interested*. song 3 has so many little things i love and cool switch ups and it kind of sounds like a song from a musical lol. oh next song does as well. oh it's just an interlude. lyrics aren't that idiotic or if they are, fittingly so, i'm satisfied. i'm having a great time actually. i was in a little bit of a weird mood but thankfully this album was a lot of fun so it wasn't affected by that. it's also nice and short. it's an easy 4 baybe. *rereading before posting, i'm leaving that sentence as it is to show how tired i am haha
Was so weird when I was just listening without looking at the tracklist and suddenly there's a cover of Jet Song from West Side Story 😂 I was pleasantly surprised by this. Obviously I knew the title track and it's always fun, but the rest of this album was better than I expected it to be. Really enjoyed Blue Turk (very jazzy with juicy instrumentation) and Alma Matter
Good album. Didn't expect that from Alice Cooper. (7/10) Favorite Tracks: School's Out, My Stars
De la seva primera época daurada, és el disc amb menys hits instantanis. Fora del tema titular, la resta són 'album songs', però això no les fa menors. Tot el contrari, és un dels discos d'Alice Cooper on més es pot tornar a descobrir nous matissos, des dels aires jazzístics de 'Blue Turk' al rock punyent de 'Gutter Cat vs the Jets', passant pel dramatisme d''Alma Mater'
Классный экспериментальный альбом по меркам того времени, переслушал бы в компании.
Pretty good album. Alice Cooper is one where I'd like to listen to and get into his music a little more. 1RS
I'm partial to "Killer", but this is still a great album. I was never a fan of Uncle Alice's move to concept albums that bordered on Broadway shows, but this one only skirts that style. Already in my library.
A carnival of musical styles that has much more range than the lead single suggests.
None of the deep cuts are as good as the stone cold classic title track, but Alice Cooper has a goofy theatrical sense of humor that made this album a pleasure to listen to.
Somewhere between a 3 and 4… but I’m feeling generous. Not as heavy as I was expecting.. some pretty eclectic stuff on here. It’s good.
I know this album but first time listening from start to finish. Alice Cooper is great.
Not what I expected when I saw it was Alice Cooper. Very diverse and well done lyrically
Enjoyed this one. Lots of good tracks, not so much a fan of the Westside story rendition and a few other parts were annoying but for the most part a good album
Pretty interesting and not at all as hardcore as I expected from Alice Cooper. Some nice acoustic work even.
Dès les premières notes, on s'aperçoit que la prétendue Alice est en fait un homme. On se sent dès lors bien honteux d'avoir jugé l'artiste sans le connaître. Et celui-ci ne manque pas de nous prendre à notre propre jeu en démontant notre pensée binaire. Tout est passé en revue: les jouets roses ne sont pas que pour les filles et les bleus pour les garçons ; une fille peut très bien porter un jean et un garçon une jupe, etc... En bref, un album dérangeant mais nécessaire.
Kinda hard to talk about rock legends without Alice Cooper, I think. Solid album too.
While Alice Cooper (person) may have been the first to introduce horror and gore imagery into rock&roll, it should not be forgotten that early 1970s Alice Cooper (band) was one of beauty and variety. Interestingly, moments on this album (Alma Mater) remind me of McCartney's early solo work.
Brought back great memories of a 16 yo guy..still fun although my tastes have changed and after listening again pretty decent album..love the fact that he is also a scratch golfer…rock on Alice
Liked two of them. My Stars and School's Out. My Stars is fire. I like guitar solos and chorus.
This album was so much better than I anticipated. There were rock songs, nods to musicals (not my fave but an interesting take), and even a brass send off.