High School Songs

Driving down Barstow today and turning onto Wilshire to visit one of my childhood friends took me right past my high school, good ole La Cueva High, home of the Bears. It reminded me of thousands of early, early mornings when I'd drive down the same streets for zero hour band rehearsal. Adding to the sense of nostalgia was the fact that blaring on the radio at that moment was Smashing Pumpkin's "1979," and for a second I could literally have been a sophomore in high school again, being driven to school in the back of Bethany's old lady car (I can't remember the make right now) or Rachel's brown Volvo. Thus, I post this week's question: What are your iconic high school songs, the ones that when you hear them you could close your eyes and literally be back to those tumultuous years?

Cory
---Red Wine by I have no idea who this is. Back when I had my black Blazer that was so old I couldn’t wash it because the paint would chip off- but it ran fine. No AC and would drive home in the middle of hot AZ nights with the windows down for some reason this song always came on.
---Hot in Herre- Nelly Yup they always played during our HS lunches at Highland High.
---Pop- NSYNC’ Same reason and I remember there was a girl who knew all the choreography verbatim.
---Alive-P.O.D. Everywhere and anywhere but I loved this song so I did not care.

And these entire CDs remind me of HS:
---Gavin Degraw Chariot- One of the first CDs where I knew all of it by heart. I played it in my car my first day as a senior at my new HS in NM. Yeah I literally can remember what I wore and that feeling of let’s get this over with.
---Jimmy Eat World Bleed American- My friend BMWer copied this CD for me and I loved the whole thing. I can sit here and remember the first time I heard The Middle and saw the music video for it. I can remember sitting in my third car the VW bug and driving into Moriarty for school and there is this line that says “I Don’t care what they say I am getting out. Nothing here can change me.” At that time I especially felt that. 

Heidi:
* Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory -- I realize that this cd makes me sound a lot more hard core than I really am. But I truly loved this cd in HS. I always skipped to the next song when they started screaming but I listened to the cd all the time. I especially listened to this cd while training for soccer and when I was mad at my bf (translate to often). Abbey bought me the cd because I was obsessed with In The End.

*My second year of  HS I received a fun mix cd from Abbey away at college. Most of the cd was Kelly Clarkson and All American Rejects. Songs like Swing Swing, My Paper Heart, Beautiful Disaster, and Miss Independent were worn out in my cd player.
*Weezer - Beverly Hills -- I can't remember any specific moments around this song but I do remember it quite often and jammin out on the way to soccer practice.
*Good Charlotte - The Anthem -- So I was not the person in this song, I knew I was going to college, etc. But I belted the song out anyway because it relieved frustration. Loved it. 
*Lil' Jon - Get Low -- We used to listen to this song (and others but I don't remember them) while warming up for games for HS soccer. I hear it and thing of passing drills, stretching, and sizing up the other team.



Kara:
- As I previously mentioned, for some reason "1979" plays into a ton of my high school memories, mostly involving band events and activities.  We used to have dances and parties in the band room at Halloween and such times (hmm, why did everyone think we were so nerdy? Hmm . . .) and I'm pretty sure that song was played every time.
- Jewel, "You Were Meant for Me," "Near You Always"- and basically that whole "Pieces of You" album remind me of my years as a ballerina in high school, when a few of my friends and I choreographed dances in one of our classes to a bunch of Jewel songs.  Tracy Chapman's "The Promise" from her album "New Beginnings" also falls into this category.  Our whole class choreographed 32 counts and put it together to this song, and I can still do the entire dance today.  (Well, maybe not DO technically, but if I were still in shape I could make a decent attempt!)
- I didn't have a car until my senior year, so I was chauffered around by friends, primarily Rachel and Bethany.  We all had (probably still have) pretty divergent tastes in music, so we would make mixed tapes to listen to while driving together that had a mix of songs we each liked.  Because of this I can't hear Keith Sweat's "Twisted" (not that I have recently, I guess) or anything by The Cranberries without immediately being transported back to high school.


Also, pretty sure my music selections demonstrate how much older I am than Heidi and Cory.  And probably Abbey too.  :)

Abbey
Ok, I'm so late doing this.  Terribly sorry. I loved music in HS, but it wasn't really the music that everyone else did... 
*My first is Harvey Danger, Flagpole Sitta.  This song is just plain fun.  "Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding...."  It's like driving a jalopy but through song.  All bouncy and crazy and happy.  My friends and I loved to turn it up, roll down the windows and yell the entire song.  SO fun!!  It didn't come on the radio very often, so it made it even better when it did. 
*Next is the entirity of the Police CD Every Breath You Take:  The Classics.  I think I was the only one of my friends that enjoyed this album, and they all looked at me like..... ?  We're really listening to this?  But yes.  We are really listening to this.  Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Don't Stand So Close To Me... all of it.  I listen to it, and I'm back to driving in my dad's big blue truck, popping it into the new deck he got just for me while I drove it to school and back.  I can smell the truck, I can hear the songs, I can mentally do the shifting again, oh my gosh.  I can taste it.  And this memory through song is a good one, because it was solely mine.  I alone loved the Police, I alone had a passion for them.  So these were my songs I yellunged (yelled and sung at the same time) while I was on the way back and forth from dates, on the way to Heather or Traci's house, anywhere.  Love it. 
*Anything Third Eye Blind:  Semi-Charmed Life, Jumper, oh gosh they were so good.  I love them.  They are good to sing to, a little bit rock and roll, very entertaining. 

I feel as though I should have a longer list for this question, but these are the songs that transport me straight back to high school, not necessarily my very most favorite songs (although I do love them all).  Remember, that list is coming someday...