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 |