Alice Cooper recently shared how The Who’s song “My Generation” inspired his own music. The 77-year-old rock legend talked about his career, his journey to sobriety, and the creation of his famous 1972 hit, “School’s Out.”
Cooper explained that hearing “My Generation” helped him understand what makes a song an anthem. He believes that great songs resonate with listeners across generations. “An anthem is something that a 16-year-old kid can hear 100 years from now and think, ‘Oh, he’s talking about me!'” he said.
He took this lesson to heart when writing “School’s Out.” Cooper wanted to capture the excitement of the last day of school before summer vacation. “We thought, if you can capture the last three minutes of the last day of school, that would be a joyous song,” he recalled. The result was “School’s Out,” which became a defining glam rock anthem in the early 1970s. The song was even inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2015.
Born Vincent David Furnier, Cooper is a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer who continues to perform. He has shows lined up in Las Vegas for March. In a recent interview, he opened up about his sobriety, which started in 1983. He used to drink whiskey and Coca-Cola and joked that he was the “Dean Martin of rock ‘n’ roll.”
Despite his past, Cooper believes staying sober hasn’t hurt his rock image. “I’ve never once had anybody come up to me and say, ‘Wow, what a wimp,'” he said. He emphasized that rock ‘n’ roll is more about attitude than substance use. “You don’t have to be drunk or high to be a rocker,” he added.
