Albums That Were So High School
We all miss the good times from the past and get nostalgic from time to time. For me, nostalgia is a pretty regular feeling. My solution, of course, is pulling out my favorite albums from whatever era of my life I’m longing for and listening to the songs that got me through those times. High school is one of my more frequent nostalgia trips, and the albums that defined those four years are albums that I hold dear even now.
Freshman Year:
My Chemical Romance – Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
If any band defined my freshman year of high school it would be My Chemical Romance. My group of friends and I, at the time, were fiendishly obsessed with them. We used to sing their songs on the back of the bus and torture our fellow classmates. I also may or may not have been Helena for Halloween that year. Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge was the album that spawned the MCR obsession of ’06 and therefore has earned its spot as one my go-to freshmen year albums.
Sophomore Year:
Avenged Sevenfold – Waking the Fallen
If 2006 was the year of MCR, then 2007 was the year of Avenged Sevenfold. My sophomore year was the year that I thought I could pull off being a metal head and Avenged Sevenfold was where it all started. I celebrated my sweet sixteen by seeing them in concert for the first time and then decided I had to see them again four months later. Waking the Fallen is my favorite Avenged Sevenfold album and it always brings back good memories of jamming to them with my friends and even my Dad. It may also bring up embarrassing memories of writing “A7X” all over my arms with Sharpie, but seriously, I was 16!
Junior Year:
Foxboro Hot Tubs – Stop Drop and Roll!!!
Junior year was probably one of the hardest years of my high school career. I moved half way across the country and I needed my favorite band to cheer me up. Foxboro Hot Tubs was essentially Green Day, so that was close enough. When I think back to that long first drive to my new home, Stop Drop and Roll!!! is what comes to mind. I remember listening to Green Day’s fun take on old school garage rock as I coped with the concept of leaving one life behind and starting a new one in a new place.
Senior Year:
Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
I fell in love with Motion City Soundtrack in the final months of my final year of high school after purchasing My Dinosaur Life. It was the album I listened to around the time I graduated, got my license and made my college plans. Listening to that album takes me back to a time when all that mattered was my friends and the huge future I had ahead of me. Those last few moments of high school and those brief months before college were some of the best times of my life with some of the best people. When I miss that carefree feeling and the amazing friends I had, that’s when I turn to this album. It always reminds me of how good it really was.
