LUCIDMEDIA

Back to School Mix Tape 09

Written by The Lucid Forge Staff Thursday, 03 September 2009 16:38

Heading off to a year of classes, teachers, and tests can bring on so many thoughts. For those of you starting a new chapter by beginning your first year at high school, university or college, your minds must be reeling with excitement, fear, and anticipation; for those of you continuing on in another year at your school, you might be happy, hopeful or downright grumpy (depending on what your take on school life is); and for those of you for whom school may be a distant memory (or will be after one more year), we offer this list of hits to rock the Back to School thing.

Part 1: For Heading Back to Class Written By Nadine Bachan “Another Brick In The Wall, Part II” – Pink Floyd

Never before the psychedelic styling of this band has an English children’s chorus ever sounded so eerie and yet so empowering. To everyone out there who believes school is a waste of time and an attempt to squash free thinking, this is your anthem. Add the fact that this is one hell of a good song, I think even the most dedicated teacher would nod along with the bass chords. But c’mon, creepy choir kids, maybe you need at least a little education. Singing in double negatives? That’s just bad grammar.

“Don’t Stand So Close To Me” – The Police

A cautionary tale for all the young girls (and young boys too) who might walk into class this September and fall head over heels for the hot new teacher, The Police’s words of warning in this 80s hit extend, more importantly, to naïve educators as well, who might glance a little too long at a short skirt, low-cut top, or tight pair of jeans. The ending line of the last verse is in reference to Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 novel Lolita. Most believe that the song was inspired by the classic book, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some anecdotal elements from Sting’s early career as a schoolteacher. After all, which schoolgirl wouldn’t have been attracted that cute blond Mr. Sumner?

“I Don’t Like Mondays” – Boomtown Rats

Yet another classic from the late 70s, Bob Geldof hit the nail on the head with a song that touched everyone in a senseless, yet sympathetic way. Even though the track has some seriously dark tones and was inspired by gruesome true events, it still has the kind of lasting effect that resonates with anyone who has every felt the strains of being confined in the kind of suffocating environment a classroom (and a teenaged life) can often be.

“Grade 9” – Barenaked Ladies

This song is so lame and so quirky, but isn’t that the beauty of it? The Barenaked Ladies, who, at their beginnings, danced and sang like a bunch of crazy happy kids, takes a look at entering high school in a delightful tongue-in-cheek manner. This is a breath of fresh air when compared to the many, many songs that focus on teen angst and depression. After all, the awkwardness of being a newbie at high school doesn’t have to be intense and life-shattering. Most people find their stride and a great group of like-minded peers eventually and having a sense of humour about things always helps in the seemingly worst of situations.

“I Love College” – Asher Roth

The stereotypical frat boy’s dream, this recent hit lays out all the so-called perks of the college lifestyle. If anything, this hip-hop track will get most people excited about heading off to the world of post-secondary education. Hey, let loose and go wild sometimes – you’re young and carefree and life wouldn’t be much fun without a little craziness. But remember, the picture Roth paints is little more than a delusion. If you plan on pursuing the life he praises and only that, then don’t plan on being a resident for more than one term. You can keep going to the parties next year, but you won’t be a student, you’ll be a dropout.

Part 2: For Graduation Written By Rachel Rain Packota

1. “School’s Out” – Alice Cooper

Even before I knew who Alice Cooper was I was familiar with the “No more pencils/ no more books/ No more teachers’ dirty looks” bridge of his epic anti-school anthem. He was 24-years-old at the time he wrote it, yet he resonated with high school students across North America as the no-BS, stick-it-to-the-man icon of their generation. Richard Linklater wisely used it in the soundtrack to his 1993 film Dazed and Confused, a signature offering of 70’s teenager nostalgia. Yet, in 2009, the notion of school being “out with fever” is still relevant.

2. “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” – Pink Floyd

Had it been merely a four-minute repetition of the first lyrical line, its popularity would still have been undiminished. “We don’t need no education” may be grammatically incorrect (and probably gave many an English professor a heart attack since its initial release in November 1979), but there doesn’t seem to be a simpler way of saying “I crap on your system of thought!”

Certainly the times it was written in warranted a great deal of recreational drugs that in turn birthed and/or perpetrated (depending on your perspective) the general “Damn the Man” manifesto, and while a more wide-ranging message of societal incongruence may have eventually been lost because of such, Pink Floyd still created the most succinct manner in which to bid adieu to your accustomed hallowed halls of learning (Note: I have it on good authority that the graduating class of my own high school in 1980 selected “The Wall” as their convocation anthem. The entire Grade 12 class sang it in the gymnasium before the assembled student body).

3. “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” – Green Day

I hate that this is the go-to theme of every graduating class lacking creativity, but – dammit! – it works so well as background music to a generalized “best days of our lives” slideshow. Still, it stands as a testament to Billy Joe Armstrong’s emotional and musical sensibilities (sensitivities?) in the halcyon days before the fiasco that was Jesus of Suburbia. Nimrod, I miss you.

4. “Graduation (Friends Forever)” – Vitamin C

Does anyone actually remember this lady? She was famous for approximately four seconds in 2000 for the above hit song. God knows why. I include this track only as tongue-in-cheek reference as I am fairly certain 99 per cent of us barely spoke to our high school relations past Grade 12. Friends forever? Hardly. We were like soldiers together in the trenches. Thank you for helping me bandage up my trench-foot, and for editing my English paper, but please don’t promise to write or ask me to “keep in touch.” We both know we’re more likely to develop diabetes and become Hare Krishna.

5. “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” – Baz Luhrman

Possibly the only onwards-and-upwards referencing song out there I actually enjoy. It gave me chills in high school. It gives me chills now. Full of the kind of timeless wisdom only an Australian film director could purvey without any of the nauseating sap often associated, “Everybody’s Free…” is as smart, funny, and touching on the 99th listen as it was on the first. Life is not a race. Most of the time you won’t get what you want, but you almost always get what you need. Appreciate life. Appreciate love. Don’t believe everything you see or hear… “But trust me on the sunscreen”.

Part 3: For the Distinguished Alumni Written By Emily Santos

1. Don’t Forget to Remember Me – Carrie Underwood
“18 years have come and gone, for mama they flew by but for me they dragged on and on,” softly sings country-gal and former American Idol, Carrie Underwood.
This faith-driven song paints an image of a Chevy truck piled high with suitcases. Underwood’s voice is hauntingly beautiful and moving as she recognizes the last few minutes as a child before tasting the independence of college.

2. “Fifteen” – Taylor Swift

This song definitely brings me back to grade nine. While listening to this country-pop hit, I relive the nerves of my first few days in high school. Swift sings, “You take a deep breath as you walk through the doors it’s the morning of your very first day. You say hi to your friend you haven’t seen in a while. Try to stay out of everybody’s way,” – almost a perfect recollection of my first day, so I’ll assume some else out there probably has that same memory.

3. “There will never be another tonight” – Bryan Adams

At first listen this song probably doesn’t spell “s.c.h.o.o.l” but it sure does remind me of the glitz and glamour of prom night! The song represents the “infamous” evening of partying well! Stereotypes suggest prom is only about making a little magic. However, prom is really about having one last massive hurrah (a.k.a. “raising a little hell,” as Adams puts it) before you leave high school behind. Every time I crank up Adams’ song, my mind rewinds four years ago to the night I felt like a princess in puffy dress and the night I finally danced with my high school crush – reminiscent to Hilary Duff’s “A Cinderella Story”. I have never experienced a night like that night.

4. “Photograph” – Nickelback

This is the type of melody that will surely trigger school memories from as far back as grade 1 to your graduating year of university. These rock star fantasies, or something equivalent, are the dreams that kept us awake through the all-nighters, the dreams that helped us pound away on that 3000 word essay and for most of us, kept us from dropping out of school when the going got unbearable. It hasn’t been all bad suggests Nickelback. It was rough to say goodbye to your teachers, friends and to the memories and moments that shaped us. And sometimes, the only way to remember these life-altering events is through photographs spread on your bedroom floor.

5. Old School – Hedley

I picked “Old School” as an alumni-must-listen because of the lyrics alone. This song is dedicated to the remembrance of high school memories and although it is 90 per cent school it is also 10 per cent about life in the present day, “Now we’re putting out fires and changing car tires. How in the hell did we get here?”  Despite the sadness in “Old School” it pays great homage to the campfires and the keg parties.

1. “Seasons of Love”  – The Cast of Rent

Rent’s “Seasons of Love,” an odd choice for my number one spot but it is undeniably the best fit. There are three main reasons for this choice. 1) “Five hundred twenty-five thousand/ Six hundred minutes/How do you measure, measure a year?” It is almost impossible to create a manufactured criterion that measures how good or bad a year was. For the majority, when we look bad on our days in school we rarely remember the negative. 2) “In truths that she learned/Or in times that he cried/In bridges he burned/Or the way that she died.” These lyrics speak to me on a deeper level. High school wasn’t only a time to be stuck in a sticky classroom, we loved and we lost. Unfortunately, it is too common to see students leave this earth before their time. 3) Finally, “It's time now to sing out/ Tho' the story never ends/ Let's celebrate/ Remember a year in the life of friends.” Sitting in the auditorium, on your way up to receive the diploma it hits you: I love these guys. I love this school. The story never ends for us. We will not be sad but fondly remember a moment in life with great friends.