"School's Out" by Krokus

Song#:  2750
Date:  06/07/1986
Debut:  85
Peak:  67
Weeks:  7
Genre:  Hard Rock



Pop Bits:  This Swiss band finely gained enough of a US audience to make their seventh and eighth albums go gold. It was good news for the band and for their label Arista. Of course it came at a cost because the label smelled money and pushed the band for a new album with songs that could hook a larger audience. This resulted in the band's ninth album Change of Address. To introduce the LP, this cover tune (see below) was issued out as the first single. It made the Pop chart and hung around for a few weeks, but it didn't get very far. Oddly, it didn't even reach the Rock chart. A second single failed to do anything and that left the album peaking at #45 and missing out on the gold sales mark. This would be the band's last single to reach a US chart. They would go through several personnel changes over the years and remain very popular in Switzerland where they scored a series of #1 albums.

ReduxReview:  Cover tunes are fine, but the artist has do something to make it their own. Otherwise, why bother? I can hear cover tunes most any night of the week by solid bar bands, so you'd better bring something to the table if you are expecting me to actually buy your remake. Sadly, Krokus does nothing to or for this track. It was a bad choice to begin with because the dang thing is still played a bazillion times near the end of every school year, so why mess with a classic that you will never outdo? Plus, the timing of this release was too late. Schools had been finished by June. This should have been out two months earlier if they were going to capitalize on the song's theme. Even then, it still would have been a tough go at rock radio because the original was the yearly standard and it was going to take something awesome to get ahead of that one. Bad timing and bad choice. I can't say it's a totally crappy remake, but it is not very good. The band added nothing special to the song therefore it just falls flat. Thud.

ReduxRating:  3/10

Trivia:  This is a remake of a song originally recorded by Alice Cooper in 1972. At the time, Alice Cooper was still considered the band's name even though leader Vincent Furnier had already adopted Alice Cooper as his stage name (and legal name as well). The song and it's associated album of the same name were the first Top 10's for the band. The single made it to #7 while the album went to #2 and became a platinum seller. The classic rock radio staple has been covered by many artists, but Krokus is the only one to reach the Pop chart with a version.

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