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Let’s face it, no one really likes school. While it’s a rite of passage that all of us must endure at some point in our lives we’ll admit that sometimes the homework, tests and social situations can seem like too much to handle. Luckily these frustrations have also provided fodder for some of the greatest rock songs of all-time and in this column we highlight five of our favorite anti-school anthems. Don’t worry, we promise you won’t be tested on this material.
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Alice Cooper “School’s Out” (pictured above)
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Alice Cooper was reportedly inspired to write “School’s Out” after being asked ‘what’s the greatest three minutes of your life’—and next to Christmas morning, he thought of the final minutes of the last day of school. Supported by an iconic guitar riff and killer rhythm section, the shock king sings about how school isn’t just out for summer, it’s out forever. While we agree that education is important, as a teenager it’s literally impossible not to fantasize that lyrics to “Schools Out” could somehow become a reality.
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Pink Floyd “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2”
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Bob Ezrin produced by both Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” and “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2,” which makes it clear that in addition to being immensely talented, this dude really hated school. Correspondingly, the second part of this Pink Floyd opus sees a choir of children singing, “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control / No dark sarcasm in the classroom, teacher leave those kids alone.” If you think that Pink Floyd are just for your folks, think again. Although we do stand by the mantra that you shouldn’t get any pudding if you don’t eat your meat. That’s just common sense.
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Mötley Crüe “Smokin’ In the Boys Room”
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“Smokin’ In The Boys Room” was originally recorded by Brownsville Station in 1973, however the version that made an impact with teens all over the world was released by Mötley Crüe twelve years later. The premise for the song is simple: School has too many rules and that the only way to avoid every school’s smoking ban is to try to hide out in the bathroom. While this is still a classic track, the lyrics content sounds a little dated these days since you really can’t smoke anywhere indoors anymore. Still we get what Vince Neil is saying here and the video, which features Michael Berryman as principal, is still an enduring classic from that era.
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Bowling For Soup “High School Never Ends”
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Bowling For Soup may not be a household name like the other acts on this list but they make a pretty compelling argument with their pop-punk anthem “High School Never Ends.” Admittedly lines like “Nothing every changes but the faces, the names and the trends,” may sound pretty bleak but ultimately the song is also about how the popular kids most often end up beholden to superficiality while the weirdos end up playing in pop-punk bands and having way more fun. That said, we don’t condone everything that happens in this video… especially the part involving projectile vomit.
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Twisted Sister “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
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High school is full of pressure from making friends to dealing with the opposite sex and of course the inevitable task of trying to get into the best college. While “We’re Not Gonna Take It” may not be specifically about the school experience, it is about how at some point all of us get so fed up with the authority figures like teachers, parents and principles that the only solution seems to be teasing your hair, putting on some make-up and shoulder pads and doingy our best Dee Snider impression. If this song doesn’t get you inspired to rise up and speak out to whoever is trying to suppress what you feel inside, seek medical attention immediately.
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