Can you believe that the month of August starts this week? It seems like summer started just yesterday…
For most of us, the month of August is synonymous with back to school season. And the thing I always liked most about school starting up again was that it meant I got to go back to school shopping. There always was just something about picking out new notebooks and pencils and pens and deciding which kind of new backpack I wanted. Even when I was a teenager and started high school—a time when going back to school shopping shouldn’t have been nearly as exciting considering I’d already been doing it for 10 years or so—I still remember being beside myself to be able to get a new Eddie Bauer backpack. (Though I didn’t get a matching lunchbox or anything. That would have been so not cool: those were the years of basic, brown paper bagging it, for sure…)
Speaking of high school, Christina Pilat from over at From Under a Palm Tree brings us our Music Monday post today, and she shares with us 5 songs that remind her of high school. Because while school supplies are always a necessity for the start of a new school year, good music is always a necessity, too, especially when it comes to our high school years—the years where most of us got our own cars and started going to our first concerts!
Check out her post and let us know: What songs take you back to high school? Were you like me, where you had mix-tapes of your favorite songs during those years? Or perhaps you had burned CDs of your favorites? Whatever music it was and however you listened to it, share with us a few of your old school faves!
5 Songs that Remind Me of High School | Christina Pilat
Back in the mid-2000’s (which was somehow 10 years ago??), I was a teenager and—maybe I’m biased—but I think it was one of the best times for music. Not because it was the best music, but because everything was changing. I was figuring out the kind of music I liked. And the way music was coming out was suddenly new and different. It was a new age of MySpace and iTunes!
Here are 5 songs that take me right back to my time in high school, where my only worries were what I was going to wear and what my friends were doing Friday night.
1) (2004)
I saw The Killers in 2005, and it was the first concert I had ever been to that was for me. I’d been to concerts with my family, but this is the one where I heard on the RADIO that they were coming to my town and I had to go. It was a big deal too. My mom, my best friend and her mom and my other best friend all came. This song takes me back to a time when I was first starting to understand the kind of music I liked. I remember waiting for the music video to come on every morning when I was getting ready for school. It introduced me to a music scene that would forever shape my teenage years and fuel teenage angst.
2) (2005)
Warped Wednesdays were the absolute highlight of my summers in high school. Staying home on break and waiting for the Wednesday Block when Fuse would play the best of Warped Tour. I’ll never forget Hayley Williams with her fire-red hair and Flyers T-shirt singing this song. Hearing it always brings me back to Warped Wednesdays. And reminds me of my own dyed fire-red hair in high school.
3) (2003)
This is the first song I ever heard from Brand New. It was 10th grade and it was a recommendation from my friend Sasha, who always had the best taste in music. I remember being home alone and just blasting this song. I’d listen to their albums on repeat in the dark of my room. Brand New is still, to this day, one of my all-time favorite bands. And probably one of the craziest concerts I’ve ever been to. This song will always hold a special place in my heart.
4) (2005)
This was also a song that shaped my teenage life. Fall Out Boy was another concert I saw at 15 with my mom and my best friends. It was the true beginning of an era of “emo” music that led me down a path of really appreciating music. It also really bonded me and my friends together. I remember this music video would come on Fuse and I would turn up my TV volume so loud and just dance all over my bedroom. I still know every word to every song on From Under a Cork Tree. Even my mom still listens to them! Fall Out Boy was the heart and soul of my emo phase.
5) (2007)
This song is the epitome of everything this band stands for. The Spill Canvas is considered another “emo” band from the 2000’s. I remember listening to this song—when I finally got a car—on a burned CD with the windows down blasting it down the road. This just takes me right back to high school, even though I continue to listen to this band today. I’ve seen them live at least 5 times and it never gets old. In fact, the last time was last year, and I swear I felt like I was 16 again in the best way.
* * *
Listening to these songs always gives me serious high school flashbacks, and I will hold them in a special place in my heart.
About Christina
Christina Pilat is a newly engaged twenty-something living with her fiance and two beagles. After graduating college with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management she went onto work in the corporate business world. But she recently left to work with family and blog about her life. Now working gives her the unique opportunity to explore her more artistic and creative side. Painting, DIY-ing , and photography are just some of her artistic passions.
Christina is also a vegetarian who enjoys the Florida night life, shopping/bargain hunting, road trips and live music. She especially loves the annual trips to see the Dave Matthews Band all over the country. This year she plans more than a road trip as she plans her wedding and embarks upon her soon-to-be married life.
You can check out Christina over on her site, From Under a Palm Tree, as well as on , , , and .
Thank you, Christina!
Want to submit your own song or playlist to be featured on a Music Monday post? We can’t wait to hear your own nostalgia-inducing tunes.
At The Nostalgia Diaries, our goal is to help you simplify, enhance, and engage your lives by focusing on the most important things: remembering, appreciating, believing, and becoming. It’s all about celebrating the past to create better days today.
P.S. Don’t forget to follow our colorful, creative spaces on , and . We’re fun and happy and whimsical and nostalgic over there, too. Pinky swear.
im so with you on nostalgic songs!
I love how typically mid-noughties high school this playlist is, I can smell the overused hairspray from here!
Oh memories, some of these songs take me right back.
Yes, songs take me back to those days as well! I love Paramore & Fall Out Boy!
haha this is so weird, I have never heard of these songs, but definitely I am going to go through the archives to listen to the songs from my childhood.
I LOVE this post! All of these songs totally take me back. Hellogoodbye, Dashboard Confessional, and even the Black Eyed Peas always take me back.
Oh man I miss Paramore!! I haven’t thought about them in forever going to go listen to them right now.
A few of these definitely take me back to high school too! It’s so funny how the songs from your high school years can take you right back there
Love these songs. They take me back to my…..20’s… I’m feeling old.
Great songs, they take me back to my late college years though, not high school because I’m an old lady, ha! But they are great choices. My high school years were the late 90s, so give me some BSB, Britney, NSync, Goo Goo Dolls, Jewel, those were my jams, ha!
Love this post. Those songs took me back to early college, though. I graduated in 2003. My high school jams were anything by Matchbox 20, Dave Matthews Band, David Gray etc. Of course the top 40 was also blasting Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Nelly, Alicia Keys, and *shudder* Nickleback.
Ah! Mr. Brightside 🙂 Can’t believe summer is half over. Still do much to do, to plan! As for the tunes – I’m 41, so high school just reminds me of Nirvana and old school hip hop like Rob Base & DJ Ez Rock!!
There is nothing like music to take you back! You’ve inspired me to listen to my high school songs this week. It’ll be good for a full eye roll from my kids.😬
Oh dear, the Killers and fall out boy were big when I was in high school too! Hmmm…I would say similar music reminds me of high school, but also incubus!
I love nostalgic songs! I listen to them whenever I’m cooking!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
I’m with the others who think of NSYNC and Britney when we think of high school. 🙂 It’s funny–I hardly keep track of modern artists now (unless you count kids music), but I can still sing all the words to a lot of the hits from the 90s. 🙂
I’m swimming in Senior year nostalgia right now. Gosh, these songs… all of them had a meaning at the time. Talk about a flashback!
Ahhh hello fellow teenage emo kid! These songs are so nostaligic to me! anything from panic, MCR, and TBS reminds me of my high school years. Also did you see Spill is having a 10 year anniversary tour? Yeah I feel old.
So when *I* was in high school, there was a young punk really tearing up the music scene – some cool cat named Mozart.
I kid, I kid. I especially like Mr. Bright Side from your list, although I was father to an almost 10 year old when it came out!
I was 14 when A-ha’s Take On Me came out. I was 17 when 16 when Need You Tonight by INXS was released, and when Bust a Move was Young MCs jam. (wait, did we call it our jam back then?)
Number 3 totally reminds me of college!!
Yes!! All of these songs take me back
Brings back memories. Depeche Mode and U2 for me!
love all these! all the memories
omgggg these were all my high school jams!! <3 love them, so emo tho.
It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since I graduated! How funny it is that certain songs can pull me right back to high school…I had a few burned cds that I had to have in my car at all times haha
Funny, I only know Paramore here..I love Hayley with her fire-red hair then. As for my high school days, it’s definitely Nirvana!
Oh goodness… I really have to think back here now!! Eve 6- Here’s to the night, LFO I like Girls that Wear Ambercrombie and Fitch. And I suppose any N*Sync or Avril Lavigne song. And not I feel like I totally dated myself….
I adore the Killers. That actually wasn’t a high school song for me. That’s actually a post secondary and sitting in the pre-op before back surgery song for me – whew I guess that ages me a lot!
kim – All Work And No Play makes Mommy Go Something Something
Remember the band, Bush? They remind me of high school a lot! 😍😂
This is a fun post. I always love hearing songs from high school and a lot of the ones you have listed take me back too.
Now I’m going to be humming these songs all day long! lol
Mr Brightside… YAAAAAS!!!
How fun! There are definitely some songs and bands that make me think of high school, although these are just slightly past my high school experience (my age is showing!). It always amazes me when I hear a song on the radio that I haven’t heard in YEARS and I still remember all the lyrics!
Wow such a cool blog – glad I found it! These songs definitely bring me back… Mr. Brightside especially!! Have a great weekend 🙂