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Rating: When rock takes on a tint of horror…
1965 Phoenix – Arizona: seventeen-year-old Vincent Fournier has been waiting all afternoon for his parents to leave. Now he is alone. He can finally listen to the 33 RPM 'My Generation' by The Who, bought a week before but never heard. The members of the band he secretly plays in, the Earwings, had spoken very highly of it. He places the needle on the vinyl and, after making sure once again that no one is home, slightly raises the volume. And he loses himself in that sea of sounds. If only his father, a puritan preacher, had seen him…
He can't take it anymore. His parents are just stupid bigots. He wants to escape from that place. Become famous like the Beatles. He wants to get back at his parents by being outrageous. Rage rises, engulfing his entire body. He needs to let off steam. He decides to go make some noise with his friends. As he walks, he wonders: "Will I become famous?"
'School's Out' (1972) will prove to be for Vincent Fournier (who will change his name to Alice Cooper) the work of his definitive establishment as a star. At the time, he was still the leader of the band that bore his stage name. Their music was hard rock characterized by Alice's sharp voice, which showed he could dominate the stage, violent and theatrical (inspired by b-movie horror). In the following decades, many bands have honored this artist, including Motley Crue, Guns n' Roses, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, and Marilyn Manson (the latter has been considered by some as Alice's successor, but Cooper did extremely important things in the history of hard rock, while Manson at best made tough-guy albums for spoiled kids who lounge in front of MTV).
The cover, openable as per '70s tradition, transformed into an old school desk and inside was a yellowish slip, the singer's old report card. The title track was a success at the time, Alice's first to enter the Top 10. The song is energetic hard rock characterized by excellent riffs from a rather heavy guitar and children's choruses singing:
"No more pencils no more books no more teacher's dirty looks Out for summer out till fall we might not come back at all School's out forever school's out
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 School's Out (03:30)
Well, we got no choice
All the girls and boys
Makin' all that noise
'Cause they found new toys
Well, we can't salute ya
Can't find a flag
If that don't suit ya
That's a drag
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Well, we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer
Until fall
We might not go back at all
School's out forever
School's out for summer
School's out with fever
School's out completely
02 Luney Tune (03:43)
I slipped into my jeans
Lookin hard and feelin mean
I took a spit at the moon
It's all in this luney tune
Just a little insane
A couple shots, I can't feel no pain
Hey, where have I been?
And who are these scary men?
Is this all real?
Is this all necessary?
Or it this a joke?
Many know I don't regret at all
They locked me up for good
Pinned me against the wall
I can't find the exit
I quit lookin for doors
I stole a razor from the commissary
I just couldn't take it no more
I'm swimmin in blood
Like a rat on a sewer floor
No longer insane
Just part of this crazy dream
03 Gutter Cat vs. The Jets (04:40)
I went out cating, pussyfootin' around
'Till the break of dawn found me knocked out flat on my head
Some feline Kitty waved her tail my way
I just had to stay, I couldn't get the blood off my hands
She made my eyes bug out
Her tail stand up
And I ain't even in heat for a month
(Meow)
House cat
You really got it made
Sleepin' all night
A purrfect delight of day
Some feline beauty
Waved her tail my way
And I just had to stay
I couldn't get the blood off my bed
She made my eyes bug out
Her tail stand up
And I ain't even in heat for a month
(Meow...mrreow...meow! Meow! Meow!)
Some bad cats from 4th Street come down to our alley
Well we say that's cool, but just stay away from me and my boys
Eyes clash and claws slash and green-eyed fur goes flyin'
Midnight, Catfight, Neckbite, Die
When you're a Jet
You're a Jet all the way
From your first cigarette
Till your last dyin' day
When you're a Jet
Let 'em do what they can
Little boy, you got friends
You're a family man
The Jets are in gear
They're always well-respected
You're never alone
When company's expected
You're well-protected
Here come the Jets
Like a bat out of hell
Somone gets in our way
Someone don't look so well
When you're a Jet
You - Stay - A - Jet
(Pow!)
06 My Stars (05:49)
My stars
So far
No one's callin me home
Space brain
Vagabond
Living on my own
Come all ye faithful
You know all you people should come to me
I'll make you arms work
And I'll make your legs work
I'll make you see
Ladada dadada dadada dadada da da dum
Whoa, yeah
Well I swear by the air
I'll be made to breathe
You'll pay very dear for this banishing deed
The power alone stored in my little hand
Could melt the Eiffel Tower
Turn the Sphinx into sand
Oh no
Thar she blows
Spreadin crazy news
All night
Cannonball
Loves to light the fuse
And everyone blows up and nobody grows up to fill
Dad's shoes
But that doesn't matter cuz no little boys really wanted to
I stared at the squall line
I stared at the fault line
I see a funnel black there
I think I see a crack there
Landscapes alive
And it's movin my feet
All I need's a Holocaust
To make my day complete
07 Public Animal #9 (03:54)
Me and G.B.
We ain't never gonna confess
We cheated at the math test
We carved some dirty words in our desk
Well now it's time for recess
Old man waitin by the monkey bars
Tradin all his ball cards
And they promised him a gold star
And they told him he could go far
Hey Mr. Bluelegs
Where are you takin me?
I'm like a lifer
In the state penitentiary
If I keep my nose clean
I won't get my eyes shined
But I'm proud to be
Public Animal Number Nine
License plates are runnin
Out of my ears
I'd give a month of cigarettes
For just a couple of lousy beers
Or even a bottle of
Real cheap wi-hine
But that's the price you pay to be
Public Animal Number Nine, Number Nine
Hey Mrs. Cranston
Where are you takin me?
I feel like a lifer
In the state penitentiary
She wanted an Einstein
But she got a Frankenstein
Yeah, I'm proud to be
Public Animal Number Niiiirrrrrgh
Public Animal Number Nine
Public Animal Number Nine
Public Animal Number Nine Nine
Public Animal Number Nine Number Nine
Number Nine Number Nine
Number, Number Nine Animal Number Nine
Public Animal Number Nine Nine
Public Animal Numbergh Niiiirrrrrgh
Public Animal Nurrrgh Nirrrgh
Errrrrrrrrrrrgh
Public Animal Number Ni-yine
Public Animal Number Ni-yine
Public Animal Number Number Nine Nine
Public Animal Naaaaaaaagh
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