I am leaving Oklahoma City in a few hours, and in the meantime I have been trying to put together an MP3 playlist together for the flight home. I am thinking one of those Fall or back to class type themes. I posted a few songs on Facebook, but I want to expand on the list here in this special edition of Mang Now.
I am not going back to school this Fall, and it is the first time in my life when this has happened. It feels extremely weird and unusual, and believe it or not I actually will miss those days more than I can describe in words here—seriously. Truth be told, I doubt that feeling will ever leave me and it probably will be something I carry the rest of my life.
Nonetheless, I still love the feeling of going back to school in the fall, and hence why I am making this playlist of familiar favorites. I was never a fan of going back to school until my days in college. It was a time to see old friends again and to meet new ones, and my junior and senior years at YSU were the best years of my life so far. As a result, the following music puts me in a good mood, and that is something I usually need from time to time.
A lot of these songs come from movies associated with going back to school. I am going to try to avoid using songs we actually did listen to as kids for a lot of different reasons, most notably that they usually make me sick to my stomach to hear them. For example, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer would not be a song I will include on this list, because even though it is a decent song, it makes me really depressed. “I Don’t Want to Wait” (from Dawson’s Creek) is another one which is a cool song, just it is attached to a part of life I do not really want to go back to for different reasons.
In short, anything post high school is fine, and anything that was before my time is cool.
A Sampling of The Mang’s Recommendations:
Grease—Frankie Valli
Hot for Teacher—Van Halen
American Girl—Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
The Stroke—Billy Squier (from Billy Madison)
Tenderness—General Public (from both Weird Science and Clueless)
Another Brick in the Wall—Pink Floyd
No More Mr. Nice Guy—Alice Cooper (NOTE: Not including “School’s Out for Summer”)
Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo—Rick Derringer (from Dazed and Confused)
If You Were Here—Thompson Twins (from Sixteen Candles)
Hot Blooded—Foreigner (Fall of 1978)
Burning Down the House—Talking Heads (From Revenge of the Nerds and also from Mike Rantilla’s MP3 player for our first Federal Tax exam when he was trying to get himself pumped up)
Are You Ready?—Ya Ya (Also from Revenge of the Nerds)
It’s the End of the World As We Know It—R.E.M. (I think we have all felt this at times)
Let it Rock—Bon Jovi (reminds me of senior year at YSU, as well as anything from Bon Jovi. I think I got big into Bon Jovi’s music that summer before)
Nothin’ But a Good Time—Poison
Turn Up the Radio—Autograph
Don’t Fear the Reaper—Blue Oyster Cult
Even Flow—Pearl Jam
Holiday—Green Day
There is a bunch of other stuff, but I am sure you get the basic idea.
That is all for now from The Mang. Hopefully I will see you all soon when I get back to Youngstown.
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Visiting Emperor of Badasses of Oklahoma City
I am not going back to school this Fall, and it is the first time in my life when this has happened. It feels extremely weird and unusual, and believe it or not I actually will miss those days more than I can describe in words here—seriously. Truth be told, I doubt that feeling will ever leave me and it probably will be something I carry the rest of my life.
Nonetheless, I still love the feeling of going back to school in the fall, and hence why I am making this playlist of familiar favorites. I was never a fan of going back to school until my days in college. It was a time to see old friends again and to meet new ones, and my junior and senior years at YSU were the best years of my life so far. As a result, the following music puts me in a good mood, and that is something I usually need from time to time.
A lot of these songs come from movies associated with going back to school. I am going to try to avoid using songs we actually did listen to as kids for a lot of different reasons, most notably that they usually make me sick to my stomach to hear them. For example, “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer would not be a song I will include on this list, because even though it is a decent song, it makes me really depressed. “I Don’t Want to Wait” (from Dawson’s Creek) is another one which is a cool song, just it is attached to a part of life I do not really want to go back to for different reasons.
In short, anything post high school is fine, and anything that was before my time is cool.
A Sampling of The Mang’s Recommendations:
Grease—Frankie Valli
Hot for Teacher—Van Halen
American Girl—Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
The Stroke—Billy Squier (from Billy Madison)
Tenderness—General Public (from both Weird Science and Clueless)
Another Brick in the Wall—Pink Floyd
No More Mr. Nice Guy—Alice Cooper (NOTE: Not including “School’s Out for Summer”)
Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo—Rick Derringer (from Dazed and Confused)
If You Were Here—Thompson Twins (from Sixteen Candles)
Hot Blooded—Foreigner (Fall of 1978)
Burning Down the House—Talking Heads (From Revenge of the Nerds and also from Mike Rantilla’s MP3 player for our first Federal Tax exam when he was trying to get himself pumped up)
Are You Ready?—Ya Ya (Also from Revenge of the Nerds)
It’s the End of the World As We Know It—R.E.M. (I think we have all felt this at times)
Let it Rock—Bon Jovi (reminds me of senior year at YSU, as well as anything from Bon Jovi. I think I got big into Bon Jovi’s music that summer before)
Nothin’ But a Good Time—Poison
Turn Up the Radio—Autograph
Don’t Fear the Reaper—Blue Oyster Cult
Even Flow—Pearl Jam
Holiday—Green Day
There is a bunch of other stuff, but I am sure you get the basic idea.
That is all for now from The Mang. Hopefully I will see you all soon when I get back to Youngstown.
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown and Visiting Emperor of Badasses of Oklahoma City
See, "No More Mr. Nice Guy" isn't the song I'd go with from Dazed & Confused. For me, it's "Slow Ride," all the way. Something about driving at night with your windows down and cranking that song up... it makes me feel like a total badass.
ReplyDeleteBest pick however, is "American Girl." I don't particularly care for Tom Petty (he's somewhat growing on me - "Last Dance with Mary Jane" won me over), but I absolutely love this song.
I also love the idea of playlists for a time and place. At the end of each school year, I try and come up with a different playlist to go with each major part of that year in college.
Ah yes, Slow Ride is a badass song. Have to give it up to Foghat for coming up with that one hit wonder :) I'm into making playlists too. Just something, well, badass about it. And you are right about Tom Petty. I began to get into him back in my freshman year at YSU and he has grown on me since then.
ReplyDelete