What songs elicit those fond memories of pressing bodies with fellow high-schoolers of the opposite gender?
You can probably can date my high school years pretty quickly with my list:
The Best of Times - Styx
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
True - Spandau Ballet
Cool Change - Little River Band
Makin’ Love Out of Nothing At All - Air Supply
(Hey, I didn’t say they had to be good songs …)
Oh, and let’s not forget the one that endured through many generations of as-much-petting-as-the-chaperones-would-allow:
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin (A good long one; you’d need to smoke a cigarette afterward if you had the right dance partner.)
Eh, sorry, Milo, we didn’t have dance songs back in the Pleistocene Era, mostly we just grunted. But sometimes our grunting sort of meshed together, and THAT was when, if you had the right grunting partner, you needed a cigarette afterwards.
P.S. It may interest you to know that the artist-formerly-known-as-Prince-and-once-again-known-as-Prince was, back then, actually known as Urk. But people kept referring to him as Urk the Jerk, because of the way he jerked around while he was grunting, so he changed it to Prince.
“Stairway to Heaven” was the first song I ever slow danced to (9th grade–1984). That song seems even longer when you’re dancing with someone you don’t even really like. It was always the last song played at the dances. I think they stopped playing it around 1987 or 88.
And, of course, Styx “Best of Times” was big in Jr. High.
purplebear: I know the song you’re talking about, but for some reason the one that’s going through my head right now is the disco song by the Emotions. That’s going to bug me all night now.
When we left elementary school for high school, a big party was held in the garage and backyard of one of the richer girls. This meant that our class, that had been together from age 6 untill now (age 12), would be split up and go its seperate ways. It was a very emotional night, since this was a very tight class. I can hardly recall any fights whatsoever in those 6 years. Yeah, sure, we were young kids, but still. Don’t laugh, it REALLY was emotional, and it feels like yesterday when I write about it. It was 15 years ago, in 1985.
At the height of the evening, a slow song was played and all the boys did their best to get all the good girls for the dance. I got to dance with Irma, one of the pretty (and sweet, too!) girls, much to the envy of all of my mates. But hey, we were 12. They didn’t spoil my moment of fame, and respected it. They danced with some of the lesser girls (don’t you LOVE the simplicity of the world at 12?).
The song?
Art Garfunkel - Bright Eyes
I can’t hear it to this day without getting a lump in my throat.
[Steven King] I never did have any friends that were as close as the ones I had when I was 12. Hell, does anyone? [/Steven King]
Three songs still get me emotional when I hear them, since they remind me of high school dances…
"I Will Always Love You," Whitney-style, 8th grade graduation dance. Still gets me all teared up.
**“God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You,” ** by *NSYNC. Danced with my senior year sweetheart to this one, and let’s not forget…
"Time Of Your Life," by Green Day. Senior year Homecoming game, this was blasting over the speakers as me and my friends of four years left the stadium victorious. Wow.
Also, “The Sign” by Ace of Base…that was HUGE in seventh grade, my first-ever dance we all sang along with this one.
I hate to say this, but, at all the high school dances I went to(which was three by the way), the music just plain sucked. And there must be a God after all, because I finally got out of that hell-hole on June 3rd!
Time of Your Life(Good Riddance) was the song that was playing the last time I was with the first guy i fell in love with. At least I don’t cry anymore when I hear it.
The only song I can remember was “Keep on Lovin’ You” by REO. I think that was it for my school, they just played that one song over & over for 2 hours then turned the lights on.
I Will Survive * the Gloria Gaynor version. I requested it, and my best friend and I broke it down disco style. People made a circle. Literally. I did the entire routine from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Other than that, the music sucked. (can you tell the only man in my life in high school was gay?)
I really can’t remember the high school dance songs - we usually had different DJ’s for each one, and occasionally live bands, so nothing stuck out (Except “Never gonna dance again” - forget by whom).
Now elementary school is a different story … same DJ all the time, and he never bought a new 45 (already starting to date myself)
The ones that stick in my mind
“Angel is a Centerfold” - J. Geils Band
“Apache” - who did this?
“September Morn” - Neil Diamond (sure he sucked, but this was a slow song, and therefore ruled)
“We got tonight” - Kenny Rogers (see “September Morn”, above)
Coldy … (can I call you Coldy??) you’ve just made me feel old. Someone as caustic (and I mean that in a complimentary way) must be my age at least. I don’t want you to be tellin’ me you were 12 the year I graduated from college
:: lump in throat :: I read “The Body” long before “Stand By Me” came out. I cried at both of them.
OK as for self-confessed old fogie me, I’m more in Milossarian’s age group.
The number one slow dance song of my entire high school career was “Keep on Loving You” by REO Speedwagon. I think it played every minute of one entire year of high school.
Pretty hard on someone who listened to a lot of Neil Young.
