High School was a very weird time for me. From being homeschooled, to private school, to public school with no credits and denied the chance to test out. In the class year of 89/90 when I should have graduated I was officially in the 9th grade for the second time. I was angry, attending a school where I was a minority to begin with and an outcast because I didn’t play any sports. It was not a pleasant time for me but I did discover, by hanging with the punks, skins, and goths, some great music. Yes that was a single group. There were so few of us weirdos that three groups who were opposed to hanging out together in most school scenes banded together for safety. So we shopifted Mad Dog 20/20 before school, smoked dope in the bathrooms, and made our fun out of whole cloth. I was eventually expelled for trying to steal a skeleton from the science lab. I had removed one of the feet and tied the legbone into my combat boot along with my foot and laced/safety pinned the arm across my shoulders and was walking out the front door of the school. In fact the very same front door you see in the picture below. I went on to get my GED on which I scored 99th percentile and that coupled with my 1460 SAT score did quite nicely getting me into college. It was damn hard to pick only five songs for this one but without further ado…
AUTOPSY IV’S ANSWERS:
Danzig – Mother: If one band encompassed my high-school existence it would have been Danzig. I had Danzig tapes, Danzig shirts, Danzig patches, Danzig stickers. Mother is and always will be the flagship Danzig song. I still love it to this day.
Slayer – Dead Skin Mask: Easily the most brutal and frightening show I’ve ever attended. It was in the Lakeland Civic Center and at one point the stage lights lit up the floor and it was all one gigantic mosh pit.
Love/Hate – Blackout in the Red Room: What? I went to highschool in the heydays of hair metal. There are thousands of bands and/or songs I could have chosen to represent that period but for some reason, this is the one that always comes up when I am talking about “back in the day” with some friends.
Jane’s Addiction – Ocean Size: I traded a set of skateboard wheels for a handful of cassette tapes before school one morning. In that collection was Nothing Shocking. Needless to say, the cover practically demanded that I listen to it immediately. Before the end of Side A I was converted and the “hair metal” era of my life had unknowingly begun to end.
Echo and the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon: Admittedly, this song actually came out long before highschool but I was in highschool the first time I heard it. I had a thing for the “new wave” girls in highschool and found myself chasing one in particular in the 11th grade. She made me a mixtape full of some of her favorite songs that I wanted nothing to do with (see songs above) but, she had the biggest boobs I’d ever had a legitimate chance at touching at the time so I played along. Most of it was shit like the the, the lemonheads, the cure, blahblahblah…shit I didn’t like then or now but this one particular song, The Killing Moon, was utterly captivating to me. Anyhow, I never touched those boobs or listened to those mixtapes again.
romeosidvicious
Interesting choice with the Love/Hate. I own their first two discs and had all but forgotten about them. I saw them open for the other band with the slash (but not Slash)–AC/DC.
For me, it was the discovery of the Ramones that killed off my hair metal days.
Yeah the Danzig and Slayer songs would be on a list of mine if I made one. I probably listened to the albums those are on 50,000 times each through high school.
When I left to go to High School I started riding with my sister to school every year. Since she was driving, of course she got to pick what music we listened to. To this day I am very thankful that she had a hand in introducing me to this type of music. My High School top 5 probably wont consist of very many songs that were released from ’95-’99, if any
1) NOFX – Liza and Louise – No, I wasn’t going through a lesbian stage but this was the first time I had ever heard a song anything like this, and I wanted to hear more. Lots more.
2) Down By Law – Goodnight Song – This is a punk rock band, but this song is actually soft and sweet. You should definitely give it a listen.
3) Descendents – Hope – this one needs no explanation. How many people do you bet think this is a Sublime original?
4) Guttermouth – 1, 2, 3…Slam! I saw them at the first Warped Tour in the summer of 1995 and the lead singer squeezed my boob while I was standing there talking to him.. I was like 14 years old. Interesting side note I also got to see Sublime on this tour before Bradley Nowell OD’d
5) Sloppy Seconds – Candy Man – In my opinion one of the best covers ever
Dude, the skeleton story was so good I read it twice.
1. “Strange Currencies” – REM
My friends and I were huge REM fans. Monster was unlike anything they’d done before. It was big and loud and sexy (yes, sexy). We went to see them at the Orlando Arena and got pulled over on the way home when we decided to take our shirts off and hang out the windows like assholes.
2. “Falling For You” – Weezer
I bought this record on the way to some girl’s house my friend wanted to see. I had no interest in her, so I borrowed her boombox and listened to this. It blew me the fuck away. So different from the Blue Album. Raw and emotional and with some really well recorded drums. A buddy and I used to comment on how much our lives paralleled songs on this record. After high school, I even tried (and failed) dating a lesbian. Apparently I learned nothing.
3. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” – Radiohead
Brilliant album, gorgeous song. Still conjurs up images of end-of-the-night driving through St. Cloud after god knows what.
4. “A Long December” – Counting Crows
I think I’ve already told this story on here before. I was dating Crystal, I bought us tickets to see Counting Crows, she started dating my friend/guitarist behind my back, we broke up. I took my buddy Dave to the concert. The ballbreaker? The show was on my birthday.
5. “Aenima” – Tool
Most of my high school soundtrack is whatever Mike wanted to listen to as he drove us around to record stores and parties. He was a huge Tool fan. I wasn’t until this record came out. This song still blows me away.
Runner-up:
Anything off James’ Laid album (except “Laid,” ironically). It’s very likely I got my first handjob to this record. It was my girlfriend’s make-out record of choice.
U2/Where the Streets Have No Name – Thought Bono and the Edge were cool in 1987, though they seem like pompous asses now. But I guess millions and millions of Joshua Tree dollars will do that.
Living Colour/Cult of Personality – Loved this song and band. Always seemed to be in the tape player of the biggest POS Pontiac Sunbird I had at the time.
The Cult/Fire Woman – Man, talk about a song that captures a specific place and time for me. Riding around with my girlfriend, “parking” by the river with a twelve pack of Milwaukee’s Best, a little back seat action. Good times, good times. Wonder if she still likes this song too?
Anthrax/Efilnikufesin – Could have put any song from 80′s trash metal’s “Big 3″ of Anthrax, Metallica, and Megadeth. I picked this one because I love the “wake up dead in a plywood bed/six feet from the rest of your life” lyric.
Guns N’ Roses/Sweet Child O’Mine – Baddest “power ballad” ever. Where do we go now, indeed.
I think I had multiple personality disorder in high school, but then again, doesn’t everyone?
Too Much Booty In The Pants – 69 Boyz
My best friend and I had all 4 Booty Mix CDs. Why we liked listening to this crap, I have no idea. This song reminds me of the senior we were in love with soph year whose friends completely humilated us one time about it.
Love Gets Me Every Time – Shania Twain
This is the only country song I could remember. Every Sunday we’d go to this dive country bar called Cowboys for under 18 night. Not only would we line dance but there’d be an hour of rap that we’d grind to. The place was packed every weekend and I actually met the 22 year old I took to prom there.
Farmhouse – Phish
I’m not sure that I was still in school for this one but the bar/restaurant I worked at played Phish and similar bands constantly. They also gave me my shift beer and taught me to drink good beer before I left for college. Sorry mom.
Tuesday’s Gone – Lynyrd Skynyrd
The summer before my senior year, we had keg parties every Friday. These were not my school friends, but friends from a guy I used to work with and dated on and off. We’d listen to lots of Skynyrd, Zeppelin, and Van Halen and a VHS of Dazed and Confused would always be played.
How’s It Going To Be – Third Eye Blind
Stephen Jenkins was hot and on my list of favorite celebs to obsess over along with Gavin from Bush and Jared Leto. Let’s just say I wanted to be Angela on My So Called Life.
For me high school was all about Gov’t Mule (Warren Haynes, Matt Abts and Allen Woody). In my senior yearbook my twin brother and I are standing together in a hall way and I’m wearing the “Dose” Gov’t Mule logo t-shirt (he was wearing a Grateful Dead shirt). I’m still a fan of them now, though they have changed so much that they are hardly the same band I knew when I was in high school.
Top 5:
1. Mule – Gov’t Mule
2. Rockin’ Horse – Gov’t Mule
3. Blind Man In The Dark – Gov’t Mule
4. Wandering Child – Gov’t Mule
5. Fallen Down – Gov’t Mule
1. “Angel Of Death” – Slayer
I had this on cassette (hey, it was the ’80s – all my music was on cassette). This was the first song on the first side of the tape. Actually, the entire Reign In Blood album is only 28 minutes long, so it had the complete album on both sides. When I pushed PLAY for the first time and I heard those brutally heavy fast riffs, I was in love.
2. “Wasted Years” – Iron Maiden
I was a big Iron Maiden since middle school, but this one reminds me of high school. Yep, I had a Maiden back patch for my jean jacket.
3. “Master Of Puppets”
I remember when Metallica was awesome.
4. “Among The Living”
I think this was the first cassette I ever bought. I was an Anthrax nut. I like the fact that you could play trash metal and still have a sense of humor.
5. “Possessed To Skate” – Suicidal Tendencies
I was a little fat kid, so I couldn’t skate, but a lot of my friends did. I could relate…somewhat.
-Like Autopsy, I was a Danzig devotee, also. The only reason it’s not listed here is the fact the album came out a few months after high school.
Brit – hahaha you went to Cowboys
Brit, I wanted to be Jared Leto but was more like Brian Krakow minus the giving a shit about school.
Brit and Larry you guys should talk to Amy about starting a My So Called Life fan club
High school was mid-nineties for me…I chopped of my hair and dyed it green and purple. And it was all about the skatepunk band (courtesy of my older brother, who did listen to Lagwagon
). So basically anything of Fatwreckchords, Epitaph and the like…pretty much very similar to Haileys list 
I’m in, but only if there are annual Dress Up Like Your Favorite Character parties.
Love/Hate’s frontman had probably the worst fake rock name ever – Jizzy Pearl. Wonder what he was doing when he thought of that one?
@cica Nice Lagwagon reference
You know, I might as well jump in here late than never. my HS songs go something like this…..today:
1. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Flavor: Was way into JSBX in high school loved this song, the whole album Orange pretty much….hard to pick one song. Also my love of JSBX is why I can’t stand The White Stripes. Jon Spencer did it so much better.
2. Southern Culture On The Skids – Camel Walk: Not my favorite SCOTS song but the one that got me into the band
3. The V-Roys – Goodnight Loser: extremely hard to pick just one song off Just Add Ice. Probably my most listened to album in high school, and remains one of my top 10 albums of all time. A damn classic.
4. Eric Burdon & The Animals – When I Was Young: I went through a phase in HS where I listened to mainly oldies. There was a killer oldies station and that was my go to. I got really obsessed with anything Eric Burdon was involved in, The Animals, War, Sun Secrets, EBB, loved it all. Still do actually, the man has one of the best voices in rock (up there with Roky Erickson & Mitch Ryder)
5. Man or Astroman – Dueces Wild: was way into Man Or Astroman in HS too, the album this is from Destroy All Astromen was a standby in the old discman that was crudely jerry rigged to the tape deck in my LTD. I just looked it up and I think it’s called Joker’s Wild not Dueces Wild. Either way it starts out all swank with glasses clanking and and a hi-hat ride then breaks into the sweet ass riff. Actually I think it may be called “Of Sex and Demise” fuck…..it’s hard to remember the song titles on all instrumental albums
I just realized I didn’t include any rap. I was way into rap as well, mostly Outkast, Wu-tang, and anything on Death Row. Also realized I forgot RATM, Toadies, Tool, and the Beasties….fuck….5 is not enough.
R.E.M. – It’s the End of the World
Motley Crue – Shout at the Devil
Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
Led Zeppelin – Kashmire
Violent Femmes – Blister in the Sun
i really stuck to the LongPlayer format so it’s a bit more challenging to choose a song over a few tried and true albums (whose vinyl grooves long since gave up the ghost), but here’s my shot:
1 – Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart — i started DJing at the local college during summer sessions, my first show was an oldies ‘classic rock’ format, then a buddy introduced me to some BC bud and Joy Division, and everything was different, and i had a mainstay on mix-tapes for years to come…
2 – Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb – soundtrack for high school…
3 – The Replacements – Achin’ to be — this is the Soundtrack to my first love, talk about bringing some memories back with just a song – miss you sel…
4 -The Who – 5:15 – my psych-up song for wrestling matches! I had Quadrophenia on VHS, vinyl and multiple cassettes … and never went to a match without my walkman, 2 copies of quadrophenia and extra batteries…
5 – Gear Daddies – Statue of Jesus – working at that radio station is one of my favorite memories, and the Gear Daddies helped guide my musical tastes from classic to alt-rock to alt-country to just being happy with music in general… Gear is God….
PS — it was after my heyday, but i loved me some My So Called Life…
and for kevin and aIV – i was also into a lot of skate and punk – got in trouble with a local church group after playing Suicidal Tendencie’s Institutionalized and even more trouble with the program manager after dropping the Dead Kennedy’s Chickenshit Conformist (both of which just missed the top 5)… and i agree w truersound, while fun, 5 just don’t cut it when rummaging down memory lane….
High School Years: 1987 -1991
High School: Community High School, Ann Arbor MI
Type of School: Alternative High School
I went to punk rock high school USA. In ’87 Metallica and The Red Hot Chill Peppers were the bands that everyone seemed to be listening to, PIL and Misfits tee shirts were standard issue for the main clique ‘the Smokers’ they wore them under their leather jackets. It wasn’t a ‘normal’ school at all and in 4 years I went from listening to top 40 junk to finding classics to discovering underground metal and punk just in time for Grunge to hit the airwaves my first semester of college — fittingly my top 5 tunes from High School have to be:
1: Time Forgot You from the soundtrack to the film Dudes
2: Runaway ’87 by Del Shannon from the TV show Crime Story
3: Urban Struggle by The Vandals
4: Fly Me Courageous by Drivin’n'Cryin
5: Surrender by Cheap Trick (who were also my first concert in the spring of 1991)
ha! my all time favorite high school song was danzig’s “mother”
nice call, brother
i graduated high school in 1999. i guess it’s easiest for me to go backwards from there:
1. wave of mutilation (pixies/doolittle): all of my older sisters had moved out, i’d exhausted my mother’s records, and i didn’t have money to buy cds, so i started checking things out of the public library in eugene, oregon. i finally got to hear *that band* that everyone talked about. and finally understood why everyone talked about them.
2. foolish love (rufus wainwright/st): this album did not leave my cd player for a good four months in 1998. i was completely obsessed. and stayed that way for far too long. and then burnt out. i haven’t really been able to listen to this since like, 2003.
3. seeing other people (belle & sebastian/if you’re feeling sinister): oh. the discovery of indie-pop/rock for me. this album pretty much changed my life. after moving from maine to oregon, i was miserable. then b & s happened. the moody/depressed girl became the stable/mostly ‘up’ girl that would actually talk to her mother and get out of the house once in a while.
4. song 2 (blur/st): one of the more memorable radio over-plays that i associate with sophomore year, and while i suppose not necessarily a “me” song it – turned me on to a lot of other brit-pop/rock for a while… still kind of love ocean colour scene.
5. long division (rustic overtones/long division): i only picked this song for lack of a more distinctive singular memory, but omg, i loved this band. a local (portland, maine) ska-ish rock band that was making waves around the same time that bands like sublime & reel big fish were taking over mtv. they were great about playing all-ages venues so i saw them live every chance i got. kinda kick-started my love of seeing shows. haven’t actually listened to them since.
there was also several short-lived (highly embarrassing to me now) phases of the grateful dead, phish, dave matthews, the bee gees (what?), and ani difranco.
Wow, a bunch of puppies here. I have a totally different perspective on high school. I went to high school from 1972 to 1976. We didn’t have cassette players in our cars, we had something much more ‘cool’ – 8-tracks!
That being said, it was a time when arena rock prevailed. I started high school as a big fan of Grand Funk Railroad and their ‘Live’ album is still a great showcase of what a 3 piece band can do. By the time I graduated they had gone commercial and I gave up on them.
Here is my list. Keep in mind that I grew up in west central Kansas and my graduating class had 24 students. Exposure to new or underground music was difficult. Also, since we were stuck with 8-tracks, I can’t pick a song but I can pick certain LPs that were played repeatedly.
1. Anything from Blue Oyster Cults first three albums. Some excellent guitar playing from an underrated Buck Dharma. Then they went commercial, IMHO.
2. Led Zepplin’s albums. Zep turned me onto old blues. Thanks for that.
3. Uriah Heep – Demons and Wizards
4. Steely Dan – Can’t Buy a Thrill
5. Jethro Tull – Aqualung and Thick as a Brick
6. Paul McCartney and the Wings – Band on The Run
7. Kansas (of course) – Kansas
8. Doobie Brothers – The Captain and Me (my brother had it)
9. Black Sabbath – their early stuff
10. David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars
11. Pink Floyd – Wish you were here.
I know. Pretty pedestrian. But it was a start of a long deep love of music. I have over 3000 LPs, several hundred cassettes and CDs. And over a hundred thousand songs downloaded. The woman I am seeing now laughs and says I will never listen to them all. I figure they can put speakers in my casket and put iTunes in a loop and I will eventually get around to them all.
Listen to a lot of African music these days. Love the rhythms and the melodic guitar work.
Thanks for turning me on to all the new music!
Thanks @truersound now I need to listen to Orange. Such a great record.
I was a punk kid and there were tons of great local bands so most of this is Louisville bands.
Sunspring – Revolving Door
Endpoint – Caste
Evergreen – Avarice
Avail – Model
Descendents – Sour Grapes
I am across the pond from you guys in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK. I am more interested in the post-punk era and very much enjoy Echo and Joy Division.
A band worth checking out are Rivers of Sound. They are local, but they are pretty awesome.
They are on all the usual, Youtube, Facebook etc.
We must have been in high school at the same time. You left out anything from The Cult’s Electric Album though or Guns and Rose first album or the Stone Roses first album. Those were the best things in the late eighties after Jane’s Addiction. Love/Hate was cool though. I forgot about them.
No Driving and Crying? Did you grow up in the south? Scarred But Smarter? Talk about unsung heroes of modern Americana music.