Dennis Dunaway Talks Revenge of Alice Cooper, “School’s Out,” and Detroit Memories Ahead of DTE Show

As a lifelong Alice Cooper fan, it’s hard to put into words how surreal it is to sit down with Dennis Dunaway, co-founder, bassist, and songwriter of the original Alice Cooper band. For decades, Dennis has been part of the backbone of some of rock’s most unforgettable songs — including School’s Out, I’m Eighteen, Under My Wheels, and Be My Lover.

Now, with Alice and the surviving original band members back together for the new project The Revenge of Alice Cooper, Dennis is reminding us why this band helped shape the very DNA of shock rock and hard rock as we know it. With Alice and Judas Priest hitting Pine Knob (DTE Energy Music Theatre) on October 2nd, the timing couldn’t be better to celebrate both the legacy and the renewed fire of this group.

And make no mistake — Dennis still has stories that will blow your mind.

Dennis laughed when I shared with him a Loudwire stat that School’s Out has been played live over 3,000 times.

“Are they counting how many times I’ve played it in my sleep?” he joked.

But then he took me inside the origin story of the anthem that still rattles classrooms, football stadiums, and arenas around the world.

“Oh, that one’s just, well, first of all, I’m 18. We needed a hit single,” Dennis explained. “We were at Warner Brothers, and we were talking to one of the record people. They had the charts on the wall of song popularity and all that. And we said, okay, we’ve got to write a song for an 18-year-old.”

That thinking led to I’m Eighteen, a huge breakthrough. But the band knew they needed another anthem.

“Then we decided, oh, the excitement of that final school bell. I remember looking at the clock, tick, tick, tick. And when that bell went off — the excitement, you know. We all went to high school together. We could each throw a rock and hit each other’s school.”

The magic came together when Glenn Buxton added the unforgettable riff.

“It’s the only song we wrote where I felt for sure this is going to be a hit. Bob Ezrin felt it too. We worked line by line, the whole band, and at one point we were stuck. Finally, I said, wait a minute, we’re the kids at the back of the class. We can’t even think of a word that rhymes. That’s where it came from.”

That off-the-cuff line, born from pure teenage spirit, helped shape what is now one of the most iconic songs in rock history.

When I first heard about The Revenge of Alice Cooper, I’ll admit — I thought it might be a fun side project, a reunion for old friends. But track for track, the record hits like classic Alice: Black Mamba, Wild Ones, One Night Stand. These aren’t retreads; they’re fresh and ferocious.

Dennis said the chemistry was immediate:

“Bob decided the four band members should go out to Phoenix, to the Solid Rock Teen Center Alice and Cheryl are a big part of. We should just go in the studio and see if we could get it back together. But man, we walked in and there was no needing to get it back together. It was just… there. Same thing as always. The joking around, but everybody knowing their job. Everybody’s got ideas for every song. Black Mamba happened right then. It wasn’t a song until we did that.”

The guest list even brought chills. “Robbie Krieger was a pleasure to hang out with,” Dennis said. “We’ve known each other since ’67. We figured Glenn Buxton would’ve played his spoon slide on Black Mamba. Glenn and Robbie were friends, and nobody plays slide like Robbie. That opening slide he does still sends chills up my spine.”

For Detroit fans, hearing Dennis reminisce about the early days here is pure gold.

“I remember we were doing so many shows in the Midwest we ended up in a dive hotel way out on Gratiot. The MC5 and the Stooges — oh my God, we had to up our game. You can’t do a ballad in Detroit. They’ll run you out of town on a rail. It had to be fists in the air.”

He laughed recalling how Detroit shaped the band’s edge:

“The shows I remember most were the Eastown Theatre with the Stooges, while across town the MC5 ruled the Grande Ballroom. We even played the Grande Riviera with The Who. That one stood out in my mind.”

Detroit, in many ways, is where Alice Cooper became battle-tested — forged in the fire of loud amps, sweaty theaters, and a scene that demanded intensity every single night.

One of the things that makes Alice Cooper records endure is balance: the over-the-top horror-show theatrics, but also the hooks, the grooves, the songs that make you roll down the windows.

Dennis explained that dynamic on Wild Ones:

“Neil and I, as a rhythm section, we search outer space to find the most unique parts we can come up with. But then we reel it in. It’s got to support the vocals. Sometimes we throw a bunch away and just lock into the groove. Like Alice always said, Chuck Berry tells a story in two minutes.”

That discipline shows throughout The Revenge of Alice Cooper. Songs like One Night Stand go from swagger to sinister in seconds.

“I wrote that song originally as Aid Alive,” Dennis said. “At first, the person you’re with has the upper hand — your wallet’s missing. Then Alice said, oh no, we need another twist. He overhauled the lyrics. That’s when it really became an Alice song.”

Of course, you can’t talk to Alice Cooper’s band without cars coming up.

Dennis cracked up telling me: “You know Alice has an Avanti. From the distance, it looks like a mint antique car. Then you look inside and it’s full of golf clubs and paper cups. We were recording in Phoenix, he pulled in, and I climbed under it for an Under My Wheels shot. I was laying there dead.”

At the core, though, Alice Cooper has always been about eternal youth.

“Schools Out,” Dennis said, “is so us. Whenever we’re together, we revert to our high school days. We were just a bunch of high school kids who liked horror films, West Side Story, and Edgar Allan Poe. On stage, I still feel like that kid at the back of the class who couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so we could start a band.”

When I asked Dennis what song he’d play for someone who didn’t know Alice Cooper, he didn’t hesitate:

“Oh my God, I gotta go with the obvious: School’s Out. Because that is so us. We’re just those high school kids with dreams. That song captures it all.”

As October 2nd at Pine Knob approaches, pairing Alice Cooper with Judas Priest feels like a gift to rock fans in Detroit. Dennis promises the energy is still there — maybe stronger than ever.

“Detroit and Canada were where we really took root,” he said. “We love Detroit.”

For me, as a fan who grew up blasting Love It to Death and Killer, getting to hear Dennis Dunaway talk about these songs — not as history, but as living, breathing music still being created today — is everything.

Because Alice Cooper isn’t just nostalgia. It’s rebellion, theater, humor, and rock and roll still alive in 2025. And thanks to Dennis, Alice, Neal, and the band, The Revenge of Alice Cooper proves the nightmare never ends — and we wouldn’t want it any other way.