Alma Mater

Hey Zoo Freaks, the Zoo Crew just dropped the needle on a real deep cut that sneaks up on you – Alice Cooper's "Alma Mater" from the School's Out album. This one isn't the full-throttle blast of the title track with the schoolkids chanting and the bell ringing freedom; instead, it's that rainy-day farewell that hits you right in the gut with nostalgia and a little bit of that "don't forget the Coop" ache. You can almost picture the gang leaning against their bikes after the last bell, watching the bus pull away, feeling that mix of "finally, we're out" and "man, what happens next?" Neal Smith wrote this one, the only guy in the band who went to Camelback High while Alice, Glen Buxton, and Dennis Dunaway came out of Cortez. They argued about throwing in North High too, but figured two schools was already enough for one bittersweet ballad. It breaks your heart to leave, the lyrics say, and you feel it in the way the bravado leaks away by the end – "How do you like that, they finally let me out of school..." with that real melancholy grin, like the best days might already be in the rearview even as you're celebrating the escape.

Alice has talked about how the whole School's Out album was them tapping into their youth, the gangs in black leather jackets with switchblades and hot cars, not the crime stuff of later years, just that tough-city energy. In interviews he's recalled wanting to capture the last three minutes of the last day of school, that slow fuse burning before the bell, the joyous release. But "Alma Mater" flips it – it's the after, the alone with a beer, old friends saying goodbye, the rain falling like tears searching for the sea. There's that wild story about the snake they put down little Betsy's dress, and Miss Axelrod, the science teacher at Cortez, not being too impressed. Alice always said he loved high school, owned the place as the class clown, the dark side of Ferris Bueller who could keep the class happy if the teachers just gave him B's. Elementary was different, but high school was his feeding ground. The rain sound at the start? That came from a fizzing tablet of Bromo Seltzer. And the whole thing closes with that bittersweet "remember the Coop" feeling, the bravado slipping as he realizes he's bidding farewell to the best days. Every May or June, the title track becomes the national anthem over school loudspeakers worldwide, but this deep cut is the one that sticks with you when you're looking back.

Now, how did this wild character get started? The man born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, in Detroit, son of a preacher, moved to Phoenix with the family when he was around 13 because of his asthma – the dry air was supposed to help. He was a natural performer even then. After seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, he and some fellow lettermen from the Cortez High track team put together a Beatles parody for the talent show in the cafetorium. They called themselves the Earwigs – a different bug, like beetles – and wore scuzzy wigs from Woolworths, singing spoof lyrics. It hit big with the crowd, and that taste of it got them serious. They became the Spiders, gigging at local teen clubs, then the Nazz for a bit until they found out another band had the name. By 1968 they'd landed on Alice Cooper, a wholesome-sounding name that clashed hard with the villainous black clothes, heavy makeup, and theatrical chaos they were brewing – the opposite of what you'd expect from some sweet little old lady down the block making cookies. Some stories say it came via Ouija board, a reincarnated 17th-century witch, but Alice has laughed that off as the mystical version that stuck. They moved to Los Angeles, got signed by Frank Zappa after an early-morning audition that woke him up with crooked pictures on the wall, put out Pretties for You and Easy Action, but things weren't clicking. Critics called them the worst band in L.A. So they headed back toward Detroit, soaked up the high-energy from the Stooges and MC5, and with producer Bob Ezrin found that guitar-heavy hard rock sound that broke through on Love It to Death with "I'm Eighteen." From there it was full shock-rock theatrics – the snake, the guillotine, the electric chair – and School's Out cemented the anthem status.

You Zoo Freaks can dig deeper into all this on the official Alice Cooper website, where the School's Out album page lists "Alma Mater" right there alongside the hits and the Grande Finale. Catch the latest from the man himself over on his Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts – he's still out there with the Attic tours and the stories. And if you want to hang with other fans who keep the deep cuts and the archives alive, check the active SickthingsUK Facebook group, tied to one of the biggest fan resources out there. Spinning this one on THE ZOO always brings those freeform nights back, the vinyl crackle and the road stories from the Zoo Crew. It's that perfect mix of the rock 'n' roll rebellion and the hippie heart that knows when to slow down and remember where you came from. Next time the rain starts falling, crank it up and don't forget the Coop.