Alice Cooper w/ Brent James & The Contraband

Especially for younger listeners who weren’t around to hear “School’s Out” upon its original release, it’s difficult to think of Alice Cooper without remembering his cameo appearance as the benevolent American history teacher in Wayne’s World. That scene, in which Cooper eloquently explains the Algonquin origins of “mill-e-wah-que,” perfectly reflects Cooper’s savvy dual nature: There’s Alice Cooper the over-the-top musical demigod, whose shocking stage performance influenced the likes of GWAR and Marilyn Manson, and there’s Alice Cooper the camera-ready born-again Christian and VH1 television personality. That’s not to say that Cooper has gone soft with age; rather, it’s a testament that, like so many enigmatic rockers who followed him, Cooper has always had uncanny control over his public persona.