This is right up my street! As a schoolboy, I often blasted Alice Cooper’s School’s Out at the beginning of a vacation, and, on occasion, I’ve played the track for my kids in the same circumstance. I’m also a father who believes that there are times when it is okay for his children to be embarrassed by good-natured pranks pulled by their parents.
This video shows a school bus dropping off a boy on the last day of school. To celebrate the occasion, and no doubt in anticipation of a few minutes extra sleep through not having to rouse his son for school in the morning, his father enlisted the help of his bandmates to give his son a rock & roll homecoming – in front of a bus full of school kids
Observant viewers would have noticed that the band is miming. This doesn’t detract from the stunt. As Joan Dark, who posted the video, writes, “They’re all real musicians and in a band called Union Suit Rally. Most of these guys have been playing together for over 20 years. This was just for a goof.” Interestingly, the son evades his father’s attempt to hug him in front of his schoolmates, but is happy to hang around to watch the dad-joke spectacle that was prepared for him.
Judging from the video, one would think that Union Suit Rally was a rock band fronted by a Joey Ramone look-alike and featuring Jack Black as a guest. This is part of the prank. The band members are wearing wigs and showing off their best delinquent rock band moves. Union Suit Rally started as a group of musicians who wanted to hang out, drink beer and play music in a basement. As so often happens, they started to play gigs. Word is they are one of the more entertaining bands in Indianapolis.
Given that the eight individual members of Union Suit Rally have decades of live musical experience, and plenty of music listening, behind them, their music features an eclectic mix of influences – metal, punk, bluegrass, honky tonk, Irish traditional, you name it. As one would expect from the School’s Out driveway prank, there is an underlying warm-hearted playfulness to their music. They enjoy playing together.
Since this article touches on such serious matters as schooling and responsible parenting, it is appropriate to assess what life lessons can be learned. The moral of the story: it is okay for parents to play the fool in public; just don’t hug your children in front of their peers! If you would like to see more from Union Suit Rally, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel.