Department of Youth (song)

"Department of Youth"
Single by Alice Cooper
from the album Welcome to My Nightmare
B-side	"Cold Ethyl" (UK) "Some Folks" (US)
Released	February 1975 (UK) August 1975 (US)[1]
Genre	Hard rock
Length	2:50
Label	Atlantic Records 3280
Songwriter(s)	Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner, Bob Ezrin
Producer(s)	Bob Ezrin
Alice Cooper singles chronology
"Only Women Bleed" (1975) "Department of Youth" (1975) "Welcome to My Nightmare" (1975)

"Department of Youth" is a song by rock musician Alice Cooper featured on his Welcome to My Nightmare album.^[2] The song peaked at No. 67 on The Billboard Hot 100.

Reception

Creem said the song, "is a second cousin to "School's Out" with a chorus of child-things sounding like Cooper's dead babies resurrected to sing back-up vocals."^[3] NME agreed it was, "School's Out" all over again, complete with demented kiddie choir and watered-down Clockwork Orange braggadoccio."^[4]

Melody Maker wrote, "This is typical, a heavy metal Marc Bolan. It's gritty and gruesome, but underneath the yells and screaming arrangement, it's really just a simple, catchy pop song. Don't analyse it, just bop as Alice screeches his way up the chart."^[5]

Record World said that "the supreme spokesman for angry young men everywhere is even more vital and exciting here."^[6]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7]	7
U.S. (Billboard 100)	67

Year-end charts

Chart (1975)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7]	35

Notable covers

Pretty Boy Floyd covered the song on their album, Porn Stars.^[8]

References

1. "Great Rock Discography". p. 170.
2. Greg Prato. "Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
3. Jaan Uhelsxki. "Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare". Rock's Backpages.(Subscription required.)
4. Charles Shaar Murray. "Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare". Rock's Backpages.(Subscription required.)
5. Colin Irwin. "Singles from Elton John, David Bowie et al". Rock's Backpages.(Subscription required.)
6. "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. August 2, 1975. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
7. "National Top 100 Singles for 1975". Kent Music Report. December 29, 1975. Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via Imgur.
8. "Porn Stars - Pretty Boy Floyd | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. 1999-08-10. Retrieved 2016-10-10.