Alice has been on BBC1's 'top' music show a couple of times. The first was on July 13th 1972 performing 'School's Out'. The performance included 20 members of the 'School's Action Union' who were given free tickets. This performance caused moral watchdog Mary Whitehouse to call for the band to be banned. She had: "the gravest concern over the publicity which has been given to Alice Cooper's record 'School's Out'. For weeks now 'Top of the Pops' has given gratuitous publicity to a record which can only be described as anti-law and order. Because of this, millions of young people are now imbibing a philosophy of violence and anarchy. This is surely utterly irresponsible in a social climate which grows ever more violent."

Whitehouse's comments made all the newspapers and TV reports, pushing the single to #1. Alice reportedly sent her some flowers to say thank you.

To avoid having to show the same performance again when 'School's Out' remained at No. 1, the band organised a montage video of footage from the famous Hollywood Bowl show, including the camel that Wolfman Jack rode onto the stage. This appears to have been shown on August 24th.

On the event of its 500th edition (circa early 1974), various pop stars made cameos to wish the show well... The Coopers were shown singing 'Happy Birthday', all dressed in sailors suits. Unfortunatly this footage has never been seen again.

The next time he was on the program was May 19th 1994, promoting the 'Lost In America' single. They pretty much built the show around him. He did have his snake with him... it even introduced the show - "hello, I'm Alice Cooper's snake, and this is TOTP". Between other acts there was a bit of a routine with the presenter of the show (Bruno Brookes)... Alice put the snake on his shoulders, later Alice asked where the guy had gone, saying they could only find his shoes, the presenter then appeared with torn clothes, etc. Finally, Alice sang his single, with info appearing on the screen that he's sold 30 million albums to date.

In July 2000, while over here to tour 'Brutal Planet', Alice recorded four tracks for sister show 'Top Of The Pops 2'. So far only 'School's Out' and 'Elected' have been transmitted, the other two songs being new tracks from the album ('Blow Me A Kiss' and 'Gimme'?)


Here's a list of all Alice's appearances on the show according to the BBC (and whether the show still exists):
["Disc" denotes that the song was played without an appearance i.e. over end titles or with dancers]

Title

Date

Presenter

Type

Archived?

School's Out

13th July, 1972

Jimmy Savile

Performance

Yes

School's Out

20th July, 1972

Noel Edmonds

Disc

No

School's Out

27th July, 1972

Tony Blackburn

Repeat Performance

No

School's Out

10th August, 1972

Ed Stewart

Repeat Performance

No

School's Out

17th August, 1972

Jimmy Savile

Repeat Performance

No

School's Out

24th August, 1972

Jimmy Savile

Promo Video

No

Elected

12th October, 1972

Noel Edmonds

Promo Video

No

Elected

19th October, 1972

Tony Blackburn

Disc

No

Elected

26th October, 1972

Jimmy Savile

Promo Video

No

School's Out

28th December, 1972

Noel Edmonds, Tony Blackburn

Repeat Performance

Yes

Hello Hooray

1st March, 1973

Tony Blackburn

Promo Video

No

No More Mr.Nice Guy

27th April, 1973

Noel Edmonds

Disc

No

No More Mr.Nice Guy

11th May, 1973

Kenny Everett

Disc

No

Teenage Lament '74

7th February, 1974

Tony Blackburn

Disc

No

Poison

27th July, 1989

Mark Goodier, Simon Parkin

Promo Video

Yes

Poison

3rd August, 1989

Steve Wright, Jenny Powell

Promo Video

Yes

Poison

17th August, 1989

Nicky Campbell, Anthea Turner

Promo Video

Yes

Poison

25th December, 1989

Bruno Brookes, Jakki Brambles, Gary Davies

Promo Video

Yes

Hey Stoopid

27th June, 1991

Simon Mayo

Promo Video

Yes

Lost In America

19th May, 1994

Bruno Brookes

Performance

Yes