'School's Out' Has Been Out For 50 Years- How Do You Rank It Among The Alice Cooper Group Albums?

I tend to view the Alice Cooper Group more as a great singles band than an album band, so I'm not sure how I'd rank them. Welcome to My Nightmare is my favorite 1970s Cooper album, but that's post-AC Group, isn't it? School's Out stands out to me for the misspelling of both the first and last names of Stephen Sondheim in the credits for "The Jet Song."

 

Funny, my count is seven Alice Cooper GROUP albums:

1969 - Pretties For You
1970 - Easy Action
1971 - Love It To Death
1971 - Killer
1972 - School's Out
1973 - Billion Dollar Babies
1974 - Muscle Of Love

Even if you want to count their Greatest Hits album, that still only totals eight. If you also want to include the later album by the Alice Cooper Group without Vincent Furnier (under the band name 'Billion Dollar Babies') which is almost as nonsensical as including Alice Cooper SOLO albums in a count of Alice Cooper GROUP albums - especially when the OP is asking about Alice Cooper GROUP albums and also the post you responded to said "Alice Cooper was the best American hard rock band of the 70's.") that's still only 9 albums.

Actually it seems quite a few people in this thread are either ignoring the actual question posed in the OP (and thread title) or they have no idea that the Alice Cooper band broke up after 'Muscle Of Love, at which point Vincent Furnier stole the band's name for his solo career.

 

Altogether oo-key

 

...and then proceeded to create an album better than any of the ones by the "Alice Cooper GROUP."

My initial answer in this thread limited it to only OG albums, but my next was in response to hard rock bands and when Alice Cooper went solo he still had a band, he didn't play all the instruments. This arguing of semantics is kinda silly, especially since Bob Ezrin stayed on board. Am I supposed to say The Pretty Things were just Phil May solo after Dick Taylor left him as the only original member in 1969? If so, then like Alice, Phil's first solo album Parachute beat everything before. Is it only because the band name became known as his name that some big distinction is being made? Still silly considering it was way back in 1971 when "she asked me why the singer's name was Alice."

Double funny, 1969 wasn't part of the 70's. So if it is best 70's American hard rock band and album-wise 6 against 6, honestly, BOC would squeak out the win.

 

So I guess that means in your opinion NO ALBUM is a solo album unless the leader/singer plays and sings every single note on it him or her self?

I suppose that also means that you think a group where everybody shares in the creativity, decision-making and profits of the group is the exact same situation as a solo singer hiring a bunch of randos to basically do as he says and strictly on a non-profit participating, salaried basis.

Well OK then

The difference is quite real and definable and hardly just a question of "semantics". You're the one trying to redefine terms to claim that a "group album" is the same thing as a "solo album", not me. I believe and accept that there is a difference in definition between an album made by a real band of equals, and one made by a solo artist (who makes all the decisions and pockets all the profits) with the assistance of a bunch of salaried employees who's jobs are to do what they are told to do without question, and you want to claim there is no difference.

Where in the title of the thread or in the OP did it specify that everyone should leave out the first Alice Cooper album from their ranking because it came out in 1969? I certainly didn't see it!

...but even if that were the case, the fact remains that 'Pretties For You' IS most definitely, and inarguably an Alice Cooper GROUP album, while everything after 'Muscle Of Love' IS NOT.

 

Huh? That wasn't in response to the OP but someone else, and you even quoted the statement I was responding to. Very confusing.

Otherwise it appears you have a beef with Vincent. Okay, but notable how OG blurs into solo Alice so smoothly you'd have to know the history to not know Cold Ethyl isn't from the same band who just did Muscle of Love.

 

Nah, Welcome To My Nightmare was not better than any of the original Cooper gang albums. More commercial and professional than the first two certainly, but easily bested by 3-6. However I'd say that starting with The Last Temptation, he's made a few albums that are at least on par with the best of the original group albums.

 

Killer, then Love It To Death. School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies can fight over 3rd place.

 

I'm a huge fan of Dirty Diamonds, and his Y2K material was always worthy.

However, even with the sizable "if it isn't OG it sucks" movement, Welcome to my Nightmare is essentially evenly rated with Love it to Death, Killer and Billion Dollar Babies on RYM, and well above School's Out/Muscle of Love. So my statement really isn't that controversial.

 

I never said it was controversial, I just don't agree with it. WTMN was the first Alice Cooper album I ever sold, after I heard the original group albums I just lost interest in it. I notice that while Alice's tour setlists vary wildly, they don't tend to include much from WTMN. LITD, Killer and B$B have several perennials. The OG albums are still the bedrock of his reputation, and "School's Out" is still his signature song.

 

the album was quite appropriate for many...love it.

 

Ok, but would you agree that Welcome to my Nightmare was the best concert? Cyclops, giant toothbrushes, human spiders, dancing skeletons.....oh my.

If I'm going to prolong this I might as well dive in.

Pretties for You - Nearly every other song is a weird snippet, not bad but odd. Nobody Likes Me would have been the highlight.
Easy Action - Getting closer but still not there, some fat in the instrumental passages. The quieter tunes are the best songs.
Love it to Death - Hard rock album, his voice can get shrill for me on this one.
Killer - Great album, stuffed with great songs, but IMO the title song is not one of them. It ends with a long whimper (followed by a few seconds of the scariest sound on Earth.)
School's Out - More a concept album, only the title track, Blue Turk or Gutter Cat are pluckable highlights.
Billion Dollar Babies - Again, stuffed but never been a Sick Things/Mary Ann fan.
Muscle of Love - I love it, but yeah Crazy Little Child doesn't do much and some rockers maybe aren't incredible (but others are.)
Welcome to my Nightmare - Concept, rockers, his greatest ballad, Vaudeville, Vincent Price and most significantly some of the creepiest moments on an Alice Cooper album during the Steven trilogy. Great opener and closer too. Hard for me to pick the weak link, maybe Department of Youth just because it doesn't seem to fit the theme. Also Cold Ethyl > I Love the Dead/Refrigerator Heaven

 

I've never seen the concert. I have heard a grey-market recording of the tour and I have to admit, it did sound great. As an album, I agree the Steven suite contains some of the creepiest moments on an AC album but frankly, I think it is more atmosphere than songs. I've never thought that "Steven" is a great song. I compare it to "Killer", which I find equally creepy and disturbing, but more rocking and catchy. For me, the real weak point of WTMN is "Some Folks." That's the song that finally made me get rid of the album. I played it one afternoon and I got to that "Baby, baby, come on and save me, save me", and I said, "This is CRAP!" And then I listened to Easy Action.

I've since made my peace with WTMN, but I still consider it to be a remarkably weak album in proportion to how significant it is in Alice's career. Generally I find the whole first season of Alice's solo career (from Nightmare to From The Inside) to be disappointing - too slick, often seemingly a couple of good rock tunes each album amidst some MOR adult contemporary nonsense. I do like Alice Cooper Goes To Hell though and consider it better as an album to WTMN.

 

So great. If only the singer wasn't slurring every word, but he dances pretty good considering. Also I think that is Sheryl 27 minutes in. Cyclops is 47:30.

Also, I think Steven is his absolute best gothic song. Some Folks will turn off some folks.

 

Flush The Fashion and everything that came before it is good/great, except for Goes To Hell, Lace & Whiskey and From The Inside which are mostly bad/terrible. That said, Killer, Love It To Death and Billion Dollar Babies are my favorites — but School’s Out is great as well. I really love Flush The Fashion — Alice Cooper’s last good album.

 

I love Flush the Fashion too, but Alice's last good album?? Have you ever listened to The Last Temptation?

 

I will defend “Goes To Hell” and “Lace And Whiskey” (largely recorded at the same sessions) to the bitter end.

I consider both of them to be fascinating, entertaining, alcohol-fueled little gems that are equal parts creepy and cheesy.

And of course “Welcome To My Nightmare” (both album and tour) are absolutely brilliant.

(apologies for going off topic)

 

1. Killer
2. Love It to Death
3. B$B
4. School's Out

School's Out is really tied with Billion Dollar Babies for me. It was the last album before starting the slide into Alice Cooper schtick with B$B - it retained a bit of "scary" Alice as opposed to "show biz" Alice.

 

I love Goes To Hell (and prefer it to WTMN) but I find Lace and Whiskey to be pretty shaky.
I always hear a lot of praise for "From The Inside" too but it doesn't really do it for me either.

Besides a track or two each, I don't go too much on Flush, Special or Zipper either, and man I have tried.

Dada is excellent though, one of the best Alice solo albums for sure.
Great to see "The Last Temptation" getting some love too.

 

I like Love it to death, Killer, BDB and Muscle of Love more than Schools Out.

 

Actually, I really shouldn't have said FTF is his last good album (I haven't heard his work from the last 30 years) -- the last AC album I listened to (or tried to listen to) was Trash and/or Hey Stoopid. I more or less gave up after AC started churning-out generic heavy metal, wherein he became a parody of the Alice Cooper character; recycling the make-up (a way of hiding his aging face) and comic-horror. Flush The Fashion is the last AC Cooper album I really like.

That said, this album cover might be the most embarrassing, and easily the dumbest album-title in his collection . . .

 

Correct. My bad on the order of the albums

VP

 

The only albums I am fully familiar with and care enough about from the original band are the following in this ranking order:

1. Killer
2. Billion Dollar Babies
3. School's Out
4. Love It To Death
5. Muscle Of Love

 

Even as someone who liked Alice Cooper (Love It To Death and Killer, mainly), not putting them ahead of Springsteen, Petty, The Ramones, ZZ Top, Chicago, Van Halen, Heart, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan and about 30 others as far as 1970s American rock bands go. And while Neil Young is Canadian, the Crazy Horse guys are American. So I'll take their 70s work, too. But Alice is an extremely nice man. I met him once ... while he was playing golf.

 

Killer
Billion Dollar Babies
Schools Out

Top 3 for me.