This week’s Ten on Tuesday topic, “10 Bands/Artists that Remind You of High School,” is one where it’s hard for me to stop at ten – so I didn’t. I spent most of my adolescence glued to the radio, and there’s a lot of music associated with my high-school years (which, for the record, were 1978 to 1982). I still listen to the music of some of the performers on this list, but they made their first impressions on my consciousness – if not their first appearances on the entertainment scene – during that time period.
(All music links are to the iTunes Store)
Ten that made the cut:
Pat Benatar: Half the girls I knew wanted to be her, myself included – a tough chick with an awesome voice, and barely five feet tall, which made her even cooler (to me, anyway). My friend Teri did get the chance to be her, sort of, belting out “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” at our church’s fall festival, backed by a band of guys from our youth group.
REO Speedwagon: During junior year, everyone had the Hi Infidelity album, and it was even better if you had it on cassette, so you could play it while driving around in the car.
Journey: As of senior year, we’d moved on from REO, and the album that everyone had was Escape. Don’t stop believin’!
Styx: Thanks to “Mr. Roboto,” they’re pretty much a retro joke now, and even back then they were sometimes pretentious, but Styx was a rock-radio staple. They were also the band whose song inspired the theme of our 1981 Junior-Senior Prom, “The Best of Times.”
Blondie: When I didn’t want to be Pat Benatar, I would have been glad to be Debbie Harry (although I could skip wearing a trash bag, thanks). My friend Judy did a hilarious impression of her singing “One Way or Another.”
The Pretenders: Oh, I wanted to be Chrissie Hynde, too – I still love her style, the bangs and the hoop earrings. She was totally in charge of that band, and they were the talk of the town.
Cheap Trick: I still love them – can’t help but surrender!
The Cars: They’re one of the first bands with skinny ties and synthesizers I remember being very popular – sort of New Wave, yet commercial. They were also, along with Elvis Costello (!), robbed of the 1978 Best New Artist Grammy, which was awarded to the disco duo A Taste of Honey. Then again, losing that award was probably a blessing career-wise…
The Police: The lifespan of the band roughly corresponded with my high-school years, although I think they broke up a couple of years after I graduated. You know, your perspective on “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” can shift a lot once you’re not a schoolgirl yourself anymore…
Rick Springfield: When he was playing Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital (the first time), his girlfriend was nurse (and former hooker – yeah, only the soaps) Bobbie Spencer. Bobbie’s supervisor and mentor was head nurse Jessie Brewer. Does that mean Bobbie was “Jessie’s Girl“?
Five also-rans:
The Bee Gees: Disco was dying, but no one had told them yet – they were still huge.
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Hey, I went to high school in Florida. “Freebird” was actually a last-dance song.
The Eagles: They broke up while I was in high school, but during that time, I think I acquired every one of their albums (even if I didn’t listen to some of them) – they were the first band I did that with.
Daryl Hall & John Oates: I was supposed to see them in concert with my friend Teri (the one who got to “be” Pat Benatar) in the spring of senior year, but we’d had a stupid falling out (I’m pretty sure it involved a boy, as do most stupid falling-outs between girls at that age) and she gave my ticket to someone else. (I did see them with her the following year, though – we’d made up by then.)
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band: Several years before Mr. Cruise danced around in his underwear, my friend Donna got our year-end freshman dance going when she requested “Old Time Rock and Roll” from the DJ.
Of course, we are talking about high school, so it’s not like all the memories are good ones:
Air Supply: All of their songs sounded the same to me – sappy.
Barry Manilow: I had no grasp at all of the campy cheesiness (cheesy campiness?) of Manilow back then, but whenever there was a party, someone had to bring a Barry Manilow album if there was going to be slow dancing. (Sometimes I was the one who brought it. Don’t judge me.) Yeah, we were dorks – what’s your point?
Christopher Cross: One of the proposed prom themes that was rejected in favor of “The Best of Times” was “Sailing.” Yes, we were a high school on the Florida Gulf Coast, but what did sailing have to do with anything?
What music, when you hear it now, takes you back to high school? And is that good or bad?
High school was so long ago (I graduated in 1975) for me that it’s hard for me to remember what we listened to.
You get points for publicly admitting to Manilow and Air Supply. I secretly liked them too. Now the question is…do you still have any of your concert t-shirts? I wish I had at least one of them left! I remember being so proud the next day at school when you’d show up and be, “That’s right. I saw the Police last night!”
Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I would guess you’re not still listening to the same music, then.
Karen H – I never LIKED Air Supply :-), but they do remind me of high school. I actually didn’t have any concert T-shirts, but since I went to Catholic high school, I wouldn’t have been allowed to wear them to school anyway.
Great list of bands! Mine is up a little late, but take a look whenever you get a chance. 🙂
Barry Manilow made it on my list. Ha!
I played too 🙂
Styx broke up just before I got into high school, but they were still one if my favorites. I still like them now, but not Mr. Roboto! 🙂
My firs concert shirt ever was from Jouney’s Escape tour. My sister went and bought me the shirt.
I completely agree about Air Supply. Blech!
Kim – I enjoyed your list, and am pleased that I’d heard of everyone on it, even though I’m twice your age. Thanks for stopping by!
Teena – Like I said, a lot of high school memories aren’t necessarily good ones :-).
Mike – Hey, you didn’t do a list? What was up with that?!
I don’t know anyone who likes – or will ADMIT they like – “Mr. Roboto.”
I got to see The Pretenders in concert while I was in high school. The opening act was Iggy Pop. I had never heard of either before my uncle told me that he got tickets for he, my mom and I to go. I listened to The Pretenders album he bought me several times before the actual concert so I would be familiar with some of the songs.
Literary Feline – I have never seen either one live (and probably wouldn’t seek out Iggy Pop, to be honest) – my record of concert attendance is truly pathetic, considering how much I like music. But how did you like the show?
(OK, this is weird – as I was typing this comment, the Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone” came up on my iPod. Did Chrissie know I was talking about her :-)?)
I haven’t been to many concerts either. Mostly ones that other people wanted to go to. I’ve seen the Grateful Dead twice–at my uncle’s urging. He really wanted to share his love for music with me and I was always too polite not to go along.
As for the Pretenders’ concert – I enjoyed it quite a bit. I wasn’t so sure about Iggy Pop. I just remember thinking it was so funny when he started writhing around on the stage like he was throwing a tantrum.
Wendy (Literary Feline) – It’s kind of cool that you saw the Grateful Dead in concert; that’s a legendary experience. One of my big regrets is that I have never seen Bruce Springsteen in concert – his live shows are supposed to be quite legendary too.
I agree with the rick springfield coincidence that he happened to be "in love" with bobbie which was jessies girl during the time the song came out. He has recently explained it was a totally unrelated encounter that inspired him to write the song! Pretty weird coincidence if you ask me!!