What is it about songs that were popular while I was in high school that make me so happy? I graduated HS in 1996 and whenever I hear a song that was popular from about 1993 to 1998, it really makes my day. I don't necessarily think the songs from those years are technically better than others (though I expect some arguments to the contrary) I think everyone has a certain attatchment to the music of their high school years.
I've been thinking about why that is, and here's what I've come up with so far: high schoolers are shallow (not exactly a news flash, I know). If there was a song that played on the radio a lot and all my friends liked it, I was much more likely to like it too, and now I like it because I heard it so much then. I think once people get past the high school mindset, they feel freer to voice dislike for certain songs or certain genres.
I guess one could argue that songs from one's high school years are more beloved because they remind us of our glory days of high school. That may be true for some but, while I had fun in high school, I don't consider them my glory days, and I sure don't want to go back to those days. Music is undoubtably a very powerful thing. I guess since high school is such a dramatic time in a person's life, the music has a more powerful presence.
Though I started thinking about the impact of pop music (and I'm using the term "pop" in a broad sense) a long time ago and thinking about what it is that makes highschoolers so shallow, I think this ties in with the discussion on authenticity going on here...I certainly had the tendency to be in to something because it was "cool" or because it was "uncool" (which was the cool thing with the grunge scene). I could be wrong, but I think mainstream music is almost entirely dependent on people who are concerned with the status quo.
Okay, this post has taken a turn I never intended for it to have, but all this is to ask, why do I love those songs so much?
The same thing happens to me when I hear songs like "Eveyone wants to rule the world" or "Don't you foget about me", which may be the anthem of 80's high schoolers. I don't particularly like 80's music, and always enjoyed classic rock more but when I hear those songs from the 80's I can't help but be brought back to my teenage years. Music has a quality about it that is able to transcend time in a strange and paradoxical way and bring you somewhere in your mind. It's as if I am walking the halls of my high school and seeing people that I haven't seen in years.
Posted by: Tom at July 11, 2003 06:19 PMYou graduated from H.S. in 1996? Oh my! I'm old.
Posted by: lucyzoe at July 11, 2003 07:38 PMI think
1) the songs were more fun back then
2) the association of music is in our nature
3) most of those songs were themes for movies where people were having fun, going back to #1&2
I LOVE THE 80'S.
Posted by: Shannon at July 12, 2003 01:05 PMMemory works within the grooves of music, and it is a commonly observed phenomenom that pain and suffering don't transfer well through memories, so, say, the three days we spent in Montana a couple of years ago, looking back, doesn't seem that bad, and that's because we've forgotten (or don't remember as sharply) the agony. So say that we listened to a particular song at a pivotal moment in that trip, hearing that song however many years later would bring us right back to Montana, the point being: don't listen to music in Montana.
Posted by: Remy at July 12, 2003 05:07 PM"The point being: don't listen to music in Montana."
:D
Posted by: jon amos at July 13, 2003 12:30 AMWhen I was in high-school, I would listen to whatever everyone else was listening to because that is what everyone talked about. The minute I was in my car, I'd pop in my tape of whatever musical I was listening to at the time or some Sinatra or whatever my mom had put on tape from her parents' old LP's. Thinking of it now, I can't listen to music fom the 80's for extended periods of times. It's just more than I can take after a while. The stuff I grew up listening to around my parents and grandparents...keep it playing. My reasoning is this: I can't name one true friend I have from high school. I can name my parents and grandparents, and I want to remember them always.
Posted by: SonofThunder at July 18, 2003 03:16 PM