Your 4 High School Albums • Page 2

i kept it to albums that were actually released while i was in high school (which i thought was the point?) and did one per year of school. also i did an extra 4

 

Was hard choosing four. Partly because I wanted something that summarized all of my high school listening well. And, partly because early high school bleeds into middle school a lot, & late high school into college a lot, in my head.

Disciple - Back Again ... because I loved Christian rock, & this album was especially a favorite circa 9th grade.

Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin ... because she was my first pop star love. And, this one especially fit my inner high school vibe/mood, lol.

Haste the Day - When Everything Falls ... my entry point into heavy music, & into the Tooth & Nail world, & a very nostalgic summer of ‘05 album for me.

mewithoutYou - Catch for Us the Foxes ... the high school album with the most longevity for me; the only album released then, that I was a big fan of then, that’s currently a top 5 album of all time for me.

 

High school was good

 

The best I could come up with—by which I mean deliberately omitting anything that could be labeled “crabcore”—is this:

Circa Survive - On Letting Go

Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing

Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy

Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism


Honorable mentions:
Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle
La Dispute - Wildlife
Lorde - Pure Heroine
The Front Bottoms - S/T
And a bunch of albums by [redacted]

 

Freshman: Makaveli - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
Sophomore: Everclear - So Much For the Afterglow
Junior: blink-182 - Enema of the State
Senior: Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles

 

I took it as albums that were big for you in HS.

 

Does anyone else feel like too many of the artists they listened to in high school are now too problematic to feel comfortable posting about in 2020? Torn between trying to be as honest as possible and not wanting to advocate for people that don't deserve it.

 

I personally would state that, share those album, then elaborate on your reasoning for you changing your feelings. Acknowledging the past and educating others is important.

 

I feel this. The Say Anything and Coheed and Cambria albums I put on mine are both questionable and deeply misogynistic at times. I didn’t really consider that in high school, but I’ve reflected on it a lot getting older. I still think they’re both great albums and worth listening to, but I tend to skip a song or two that make me uncomfortable on each.

As for the artists themselves, Max still says and does lots of problematic things and it’s tarnished my opinion of his music a lot. Claudio seems to have changed a lot growing older and becoming a father, and I don’t think that gives his old material a pass, but it does make me more forgiving of it generally. But both bands were absolutely my most listened to artists in high school, so I think I had to include them here regardless.

 

What’s wrong with Coheeds old material?

 

Not all of it, but specifically GA1 is a pretty hateful album towards women/a woman in particular. “Whore in sheep’s clothing”, Lying Lies is pretty much the writer considering killing his ex gf, etc.

 

Dashboard Confessional - The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends
Blink-182 - Untitled
The Ataris - So Long Astoria

Honorable mentions:
Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade
The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It
The Early November - For All Of This EP
Finch - What It Is To Burn

 

The Used - In Love and Death
Chiodos - All's Well That Ends Well
Blink-182 - Untitled
+44 - When Your Heart Stops Beating

 

There’s definitely some gross shit on IARB—particularly thinking of Every Man Has A Molly—that makes me cringe now. Not to mention all the disgusting and horribly misogynistic metalcore and pop-punk I was into during middle school and the first couple years of high school.

 

could not give a shit less about old lyrics, only draw the line when a band member did something IRL personally, so only had to leave off one band that would’ve otherwise been on my list

 

Idk, I used to be into shit like Asking Alexandria who literally had lines calling girls “stupid fucking wh*res” and at the time I didn’t have an issue with it, so I definitely feel gross about that

 

my point of view is, when im listening to old shit its not because im trying to connect with lyrics (except in very rare cases like with JEW albums, for example), its just to feel that nostalgia and remember all the things i associate with the music. so i dont really beat myself up over, for example, enjoying the first bayside album as much as i do. granted, its a place of privilege that i am able to tune out that kind of stuff.

 

Yeah makes sense. I think it’s definitely a matter of personal comfort. I also use to have the trashiest taste on planet earth so a lot of the old lyrics in my life are particularly egregious lmao.

 

Never Take Friendship Personal - Anberlin
Futures - Jimmy Eat World
Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard
American Idiot - Green Day

With too many honorable mentions to count...

 

Alkaline Trio - Good Mourning
AFI - Sing the Sorrow
Coheed and Cambria - In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

And it's pretty funny because I still listen to these records all the fucking time.

 

Because of the timelines and trends in my own listening over time a lot of these nostalgic superlative questions all kinda boil down to “what are your favorite albums,” so I’m gonna go with the 4 that played the largest role in getting me into the scene (which overlaps with favorite bands more than favorite albums):

Underoath’s TOCS
Thursday’s Full Collapse
Anberlin’s NTFP
Armor For Sleep’s WTDWYAD

 

Not the most exciting list, but:

Saosin- Self Titled
Underoath- Define the Great Line
Circa Survive- On Letting Go
The Starting Line- Say it Like You Mean It

 

Fall Out Boy - Folie a Deux
Jack’s Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
Copeland - You Are My Sunshine
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light

honorable mention to “Reach for the Sun”

 

It just wouldn’t be correct to not have Brand New in there, so this whole exercise is kinda fruitless for me.

 

AFI - Sing the Sorrow
Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance
Thursday - Full Collapse
At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command