What I Listen to When I Listen to “High School” Music

I get a lot of shit for my music. Deservedly so, at times. For example, I am writing this as “Dance, Dance” (Fall Out Boy) is playing on my headphones. Why didn’t I just skip when shuffle picked it? Well…

I was a normal, if hyperactive, high schooler. And by normal, I mean completely abnormal, because I had, for the most part, a great high school experience. I wasn’t “emo” except in the way that I wanted to be loved. Who doesn’t? (Song update: Saves the Day ft Get Up Kids – The Last Lie I Told. I swear this was just on shuffle) However, I was blessed with great friends, great times, and a surprisingly good run during my 6 years at Miami Country Day School. There were bad times, of course, but they seemed so insignificant at times; mostly, I always felt “not alone”. There were always people to share my life with.

That changed, in a way, when I came to NYU. Its not a stereotype: people in NYC are more detached from each other. It seems harder to communicate what is going on in my life. Instead, I live it with these new people, then discuss it with my old friends. It seems so weird, because back in HS, I could always talk to someone who knew the characters involved in the play that was life. Now, I feel like I’m always saying “my friend” rather than *Insert name here*. (Song update: Say Anything – A Walk Through Hell. Yep, High School).

What does this have to do with me unironically listening to Paramore, Say Anything, etc? They remind me of those times. Nostalgia, that bitch. I’m not unhappy with my current life (and by extension, my current music taste). In fact, almost the opposite. The evolution of my character is pretty well-personified by the music I listen to now. But part of me does yearn for the days when I could listen to Saves the Day without having to say “It just reminds me of high school”. Because the fact of the matter is that I listen to these bands because they remind me of the times when everything seemed more important than it was, and when happiness was just a school day away.