NPR Music - Advice for graduates: Listeners share songs, lessons from high school

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Listeners share songs that take them back to the final days of high school, and the lessons they impart.Featured artists and songs:1. Baz Luhrmann: "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)"2. Feist: "I Feel It All," from 'The Reminder'3. Brad Paisley: "Letter to Me," from '5th Gear'4. Green Day: "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," from 'Nimrod'5. Wiz Khalifa: "See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth)," from 'Furious 7'6. Rickie Lee Jones: "We Belong Together," from 'Pirates'7. Cloud Cult: "You'll Be Bright (Invocation Part 1)," from 'Light Chasers'8. Ke$ha: "TiK ToK," from 'Animals'9. The Head and the Heart: "Rivers and Roads," from 'The Head and the Heart'10. Simple Minds: "Don't You (Forget About Me)," from 'The Breakfast Club'Like the show? Tell your friends and leave us a review.Feedback always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Stephen Thompson, I heard a rumor about you. What would that be, Robin? And it's a rumor that I just cannot believe is true. So I have to ask. Anything you have heard about me is a dirty, dirty lie. Well, what I heard was that you were actually a very, very good student. Well, keep in mind that half the curriculum in those days was just cave maintenance. How to keep your cave clean.

No, I heard you were a very good student. Is that true? Were you, were you, did you do really well in school? I was a, uh, in high school. I was a grade grubber. And also, and I grew up in a very, very small town. And so, you know, being like third in my class of 40. Didn't really mean much. I was a terrible student. I truly was terrible. I never really took to school, I guess you could say. And, you know, I could not wait to get out of there. I, somehow I, I, somehow I, I, did manage to graduate, which was around this time of year, a number of years ago. And graduation... It was years ago. Some time. Some time ago.

And graduation season is here again. So we did a call out to listeners asking them to tell us about a song that takes them back to this time. You know, when they ended what was certainly by then the biggest chapter in their lives, you know, said goodbye to friends and family and left home. or in your case, I assume, moved into your parents' basement where you still live. So we're going to share some of the song picks and memories of this time that we got from listeners. We got a bunch of emails and voice memos. We also have a couple of our own picks that we're going to share. But let's start with one from a listener.

Yeah, this is a track that was picked by a lot of people, but this one came to us from Ruth Ann in Ohio. I'm quoting now, this song was actually released two years after I left high school, but it still wrecks me. It is everything I try to remember about getting older. I sometimes still cry when I hear it. It reminds me that there is nothing new under the sun. Everything that is happening has happened before. And a very serious reminder, I think you're going to know where we're going with this,

to wear sunscreen. Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 99, wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. A long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists or as the rest of my advice

has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. No, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you look back at photos of yourself,

and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine. Don't worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.

Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead. Sometimes you're behind. The race is long. And in the end, I'd be been out of high school for quite a while by the time the song came out. But I very... This is Baz Luhrmann, by the way. I didn't actually mention his name in the intro. Yeah, everybody's free to wear sunscreen came out in 99. I remember hearing this for the first time.

And, you know, much like Ruth Ann in Ohio, it made me cry, and it still makes me cry when I hear it. I think maybe because at the root of this song, and all these little bits of advice, you know, is one. idea and it's the idea that, you know what, life is pretty beautiful. Life is pretty beautiful and don't let all the bad things in the world distract you from that factor or make you think otherwise. It's a reminder that there are many universal threads that tie together generations throughout history and a lot of it just boils down to being young. And a lot of the advice that you need to hear when you're young is a close. combination of anxiety management and life skills.

And that's what this song really comes through. At one point when he just says, floss. I'm like, oh my God, if there's one lesson that I want my kids to take from the song, it's that dental hygiene is important. It's so important. Because if you fall short, and listen, people, if you're out there, get an electric toothbrush. The amount of money that an electric toothbrush, a simple electric toothbrush, would have saved me in periodontal surgery? It's mind-blowing. I really didn't think that this is the direction

that conversation was going to go, but sure, it's important. So is all the other advice in this song, and in fact, you know, it was overplayed, you know, became a cliche to a lot of people. I still think everything that is said in this song should be printed in a little manual and handed out to everyone at graduation because it's just one brilliant truth after another. Boz Lerman, the filmmaker, he produced it. But the words are from an essay written by columnist Mary Schmitch. It wasn't an actual commencement speech that she gave. It was one that she said she would give if she were asked. And it ran in the Chicago Tribune in 1997 became the song in 99 and people still finding it today. She's still collecting song. I hope so. I certainly

hope so. It's brilliant. Let's go to another listener pick. This one is from Sarah in Queens. And she picked the song, I feel it all by Feist. And Sarah says, it came out right before I graduate in June 2007. It was just getting warm. My friends would blast it from their car stereos while driving around with the windows down. We all rented a house in Southampton for our after prom, and this album was played all weekend. Whenever I hear it, I think about the amazing feeling of freedom from school, from our parents. It was our first time renting a house together with no supervision, and the nauseating thrill of moving away for college. It was so good to have everything ahead of us, And we knew it.

It speaks to that feeling of the world kind of laying out before you. And, man, Feist's career, every step of Feist's career album-wise, like she puts out an album that is just kind of perfect for whatever era I happened to be in at that time. So she's a perfect example of a singer-songwriter who has, I don't necessarily love to use this word, but matured. And, like, sang a perfect song for when you're 25, a perfect song for when you're 35. And most recently put out a perfect album for middle age. And this song remains just 10 out of 10, no notes. Yeah, I love the idea.

No notes. I love the idea of, like, you see everything, you know, all at the same time. And you feel everything all at the same time. But, yeah, great pick. I was really surprised to see it. Yeah. And very happy, too, because it reminded me how much I love this album because, gosh, I haven't listened to this album in ages. But I had it on constant repeat when it came out.

Oh, me too. It is phenomenal. Let's get to one of the voice memos that we got. Yeah, this is from Lindsay in Minnesota. The song she picked is Letter to Me by Brad Paisley. That song actually came out right around my senior year of high school. And just everything in it I related to so much. I had actually just come out of like a six or seven month relationship.

That was my first relationship and I was devastated. And even like the year before, I had almost failed algebra and my parents weren't happy. And it just sort of gave me a lot of hope for the future being like, you know, everything is a learning experience. You'll get through it. You'll grow up. And you're still around to write this letter to me. And the line that still always gets me is how.

Have no fear. These are nowhere near the best years of your life because that all ended up being true. And it is still such an important song to me. At the stop sign at Thominson and Naith, always stop completely. Don't just tap your brakes. And when you get a date with Bridget, make sure the tank is full. All second thought, forget it. That one turns out kind of cool. Each and every time you have a fight Just assume you're right You should really thank Miss Bramman She spends so much extra time

It's like she sees the diamond underneath And she's polishing you till you shine Oh, you got so much going for you, going right But I know at 7,000, It's hard to see past Friday night Tonight's the bonfire rally But you're staying home instead Because if you fail algebra

Mom and dad'll kill you dead But trust me you'll squeak by and get a sea And you're still around to ride this letter to me Yes I squeaked by And a lot of ways it's why I'm here because the broadcast journalism sequence in my college had one less math requirement than English creative writing, which is what I was going to do otherwise. Humanities programs for the win. Had to get a country song in here.

It's the perfect theme. You know, more advice, of course, but just the idea of writing a letter to your past self with everything that you've learned, that you wish you knew then. Well, and I'm so glad Lindsay mentioned a line in this song, which we actually cut the song off before we get to it. If I ever meet Brad Paisley, I'm going to say to him, Brad Paisley, you wrote a line in a song, these are nowhere near the best years of your life. And Lindsay mentioned that line. And to me, that is the most important message that you can tell graduating seniors or any student, any young person. I have resented Brian Adams for nearly 40 years for his song Summer of 69 because of that line,

those were the best days of my life. Those are not the best days of your life. Your childhood is not the best time of your life. And if it is, you're doing it wrong. And I just, to me, it's like such a damaging thing to say to kids, like, because kids are struggling. Yeah. Right? And so, like, if you tell a kid, you better enjoy it. We've got to give them some perspective. Tell a kid, these are the best days of your life. If I had thought that my high school years were going to be the best days of my life, the despair I would have felt?

Yeah, you know, it was certainly the lesson that was imparted to me was like, you're a kid. It's never going to get any better than this. It gets so much better. But it does. It gets so much better. So if you had a, have you thought like what would you say to your past self if you had a chance? Is that what you would say? Would you say, understand this? It gets so much better. I think there's a certain amount of like a lot of the things you fear don't come to pass. I think I would probably have some specific advice about ways to avoid causing harm. I'm a big believer in that, to quote a different country song, I'm a big believer in kind of bless the broken road. And I wouldn't necessarily change things about the past because.

they might alter my path and I wouldn't be in the present I'm in, which I like. But I think, I think messages to past selves would mostly be like, think about how this affects other people more. I think that's probably the lesson that I would most try to impart to my younger. That's a good one. There's certainly things, you know, I said or did that I regret that were hurtful and, you know, I wish I could take back. But at the root of all of that was a lot of fear. And so, you know, I think when I think back at that time, I would say, you know, don't be so afraid of so many things. You know, I've wasted so much time. You know, I could almost live an entire second life.

Right. With all the time put together that I wasted on fear. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that's true of, I think that's true of so many people. Yeah. Well, we've got to take a quick break, but we will have more memories of graduation, leaving home and the music that takes us back right after this.

As we went through all of the emails and voicemails we got from listeners, there were so many songs that came up over and over and over again. The sunscreen song is certainly one of them. Closing Time by Semi-Sonic was another one. Yes, I know it's about closing a bar or something, but I think, you know. Sure. It's still, it's an ending. It's an ending. It's transition.

Others included Alice Cooper's schools out. I knew that would be there. Paul Simon's Codochrome was an interesting one that came up several times. I actually saw Tom Cochran's Life as a Highway multiple times. I know you know that song. Oh, I do. That feels a highway. I want to ride.

Yeah. But what do you think was the same? And I totally predicted this myself. But what do you think is the single most mentioned song like No Contest? So the problem, Rob is I've seen the run of this show. But if I had not seen the run of this show, I would say that the answer is good riddins, parentheses, time of your life by Green Day. 100%, 100%. The most mentioned song, like, you know, people submitted a form and I just was scrolling through the results of the form as just, good riddins, good riddins, good riddens, good riddens, graduation by Van Goget, Good ridens, good riddens.

Yeah, so many times. Could have picked any number of the comments or memories of stories, but here's one of the voice memos we got. It's from Rebecca in California. It reminds me of my leaving my high school because it was back in the early 2000s, right before 2001, right before 9-11, right before a lot of things that have happened in the past 24 years. And one of my best friends named Danny dedicated time of your life on the radio to me. And I went and I recorded it on cassette. And I thought, oh, yeah, this is the start.

This is the time of my life. And it's funny because I haven't listened to that song in a really, really long time. Thank you for bringing back the memories. Another turning point of fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the rest, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why. It's not a question about a lesson learning time. It's something unpredictable

But in the end is right I hope you at the time of your life So take the photographs and still frames in your mind Hanging on a shelf in good health and good time Tattoes and memories and dead skin on trial For what it's worth it was worth all the while It's something unpredictable But in the end is right

I hope you had the time of your life One of the things I loved about Rebecca's memories Is it just these little details she had in her Her reflections that captured a time When you could call a radio station Have a song dedicated to someone And then you would record it on a cassette As it's broadcasting, you know

Record your moment of fame Yeah, the innocence of that moment. is just so wonderful and you know she she invokes you know that this was pre 9-11 and um you know it's also interesting to me when I think about when the song came out I was so much younger back then and time when you're younger moves it's just so much slower than it moves now and if you'd asked me between the time this song came out and like just before 9-11 I would have thought I don't know a decade it was like three years you know I mean it was just like no time at all this was not that old when, you know, at that time.

It's such a multi-purpose song. You know, it really just boils down to, like, events have transpired. Hope you liked them. Yeah. But also just, I'm so impressed kind of listening back to that song, and I've listened back to that song a few times in the last year. So, uh, we did that whole show on Green Day. We did a whole show about Green Day.

And, and the strings are doing so much heavy lifting in that song. They really managed to sweep in and kind of guide your, emotions through. And it's not, it's not an excessively sappier sentimental song, really, when you break it down. It's just basically saying, like, this time is over. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also, you know, I think much like the sunscreen song that it has been so overplayed and parodied over the years and, you know, but really, undeniably a brilliant song and it's just a great melody, everything about it. It just, it comes together perfectly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get to another listener pick.

All right, this next one is See You Again by Wiz Khalifa. Emily in Maryland writes, North Carroll High School was closed following its 2016 school year after controversial school board decisions and, not surprisingly, politics. It led to a heartbroken community and a merge of students with the rival high school, a town over for my senior year. Not great. This song, See You Again, was played June 2016 at a fair,

ceremony for the entire North Carroll school community as it was the final year of the school being open. It was the final time we would be gathered in the school's auditorium, the final time teachers who taught their entire careers there would be in the school. As a small town community, it was emotional to say the least. It's been along without you, my friend, and I'll tell you all about it when I see you again. We've come a long way from where we began. Oh, I'll tell you all I see you. All the planes we flew, good things we've been through,

that I'll be standing right here talking to you about another path. I know we love to hit the road and laugh, but something told me that it wouldn't last. Had to switch up. Look at things different. See the bigger picture. Those were the days hard work forever pays Now I see you in a better place

How can we not talk about family When family's all that we got Everything I would do you Was standing there by my side And now you're going to be with me for the last ride Without you, my friend And I'll tell you all about it When I see you again

This has Charlie Puth the singer Charlie Puth is on this as well. A song that was written as a tribute to Paul Walker, the actor, the late actor for the Fast and Furious franchise. And this is one that a number of people picked. And, you know, I think this happens a lot with music. We talked about this a little bit earlier, you know, where a song is written for one thing about some very specific thing.

Right. You know, and it means something in that whole universe. But it fits so perfectly for something completely different. And in this case, you know, here's a remembrance of somebody who's died. And it becomes this anthem for high school graduation and big period of transition in these students' lives. Yeah, it's tapping into universal feelings. And I think everybody has experienced some sense of loss. I mean, anybody, even if you've never lost a person close to you, you've still left behind an experience that you can't recreate.

And one of the things that really hits hard about graduate. as much as it can be a joyful experience, is you know, as it's happening, I couldn't go back if I wanted to. Like, everybody is going to go in dozens of different directions. And, you know, there might be a reunion, but it's going to be completely different. And hearing Emily's story about her school closing, that must have been hammered home a lot more powerfully than if they had just graduated and, like, some of the, those kids might have tried to go back to that school and like visited that school the next year and then had that realization that like what am I doing here? Yeah. You know, the finality of that experience must have really been a hard lesson to learn at 18. Yeah, there were other people who

wrote in who told similar stories of either their school closing or they got transferred their final year, you know, and then when they go back to the reunion, they're, it, they feel like a stranger, you know, they, it's, all the stories and ties are just gone. Right. Yeah. So that's See You Again by Wiz Khalifa from The Furious Seven soundtrack came out in 2015. I'll do my pick, I guess, here. You know, I thought of a lot of songs from that time that I could play Peter Gabriel's Don't Give Up. The song, This Must Be the Place by The Talking Heads. I listened to a ton of Kate Bush back then, pretty much anything by her. But I'm going to go with one by Ricky Lee Jones. This is from her album. Pirates, it's a song called We Belong Together. So my favorite part in the song is, comes a little bit later, so I'm going to actually scoge a head here to it.

This is just before Steve Gad, the drummer, comes in. Man, I'm in my beater of a VW bug by 1969 VW Beetle. I'm speeding down the highway, saying, see ya. off my off on my way to college never looking back never looking back you'll never see me set foot in iola wisconsin again reader i turned up in iola wisconsin many more times yes yes same you know um i think you know this isn't a song that just like screams graduation high school graduation or anything you know um and maybe it's nothing more for me than the fact uh you know that i was just listening to this album a lot back then. And I, you know, so I had this, this song on repeat.

But there is a sadness in this song and a sense of loss, I think. And, you know, on the one hand, it's, you know, it's a brokenhearted love song about, you know, like, well, we should be together. But, you know, it's also a sense of moving on and letting go even if you don't want to. And I don't know, more of a feeling maybe than anything. But the song, I actually listened to the song, recently and got all weepy listening to it just because it made me think of, you know, all those years ago, I think. Yeah, I get that completely. And I appreciate it.

It's a very Robin Hilton song. I appreciate that you scooted it ahead so we could hear the, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. I'm air drumming in here. Which is such a Robin Hilton move. I think of you as Mr. Drumfell. If you want to really experience this song, by the way, find someone who has like a $25,000 stereo system, which I did one time.

I went to a friend of mine worked at Martin Logan, which is a speaker manufacturer, and they make electrostatic, amazing speakers, and they put this song on for me once on this amazing. It was like a $25,000 pair of speakers. And it revealed that this is the most exquisitely recorded album ever. It is just incredible. Nice. We belong together.

Love it. By the way, I went to the record store recently to get it on vinyl because back in the early 1990s, I made a terrible mistake and I got rid of all of my physical records. I got rid of all my vinyl. Because I'm like, I'm moving to CDs, baby. Nobody's ever going to want vinyl again. I went to the record store just this past weekend. I said, hey, do you have pirates? I'm looking through, you know, I can't even find any Ricky Lee Jones. And he's like, look in the dollar bin. That's a dollar record. And I said, that is not a dollar record. What is wrong with you? He's like, hey, man, I'm not passing judgment on the, you know, like the sonic quality. He's like, nobody wants to buy that record. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, I'm stomped out of there. But not before I bought a few other records. All right, Stephen, how about you? What do you, what do you, what do you got? Your own pick. Well, you know, I thought about picking something from, you know, my own childhood, but I don't think I was listening to good music. I don't think the music I was

listening to was as good as the music you were listening to. I have a vague recollection of Black Sabbath and their song changes playing at my high school graduation. And I certainly found that song very moving. But I, for my pick, I decided to kind of shift gears and think about graduation more from the perspective of a parent. And I mean, that's certainly something you're kind of getting a little bit with like the Baz Luhrman and the Brad Paisley of like people who are approaching these milestones from a grown perspective. But the song I picked is by a band called Cloud Cult.

And if you know the history of Cloud Cult, you know, they're kind of an experimental indie band. They made a ton of records. And at the center of Cloud Cult was a husband and wife. And they had gone through terrible loss. They had lost a child. And, you know, written a record about that. And then over time, you know, they went on

and had another child. And so in 2010, they released an album called Light Chasers. And there is a track on this record. It basically makes me feel all the positive feelings about being a parent at the same time. It is an almost overwhelming emotional experience listening to this song. And to me, this is a perfect graduation song that I don't think has necessarily gotten played at a lot of graduations. And so I'd like to submit this song to the graduation. canon as an incredible song about sending somebody out into the world.

This song is called You'll Be Bright, parentheses, invocation part one. They're calling you travel safely. Travel safely. Every first kiss, every crisis, every heartbreak in every act of call. Travel safely. They're calling no. Travel safely, every empire, every monument, every masterpiece, every invention. Travel safely, travel safely, all the things you love, all the things that may hurt you,

all the things you shouldn't do, and all the things you want to. Travel safely, travel safely. Yeah, this is a song that you could camp out. It could stay just that sweet little lovely song in the beginning, and it'd be totally effective. But this song builds and builds. And so Robin, I'm going to ask you to scoop this song a little bit forward. Okay, okay. And get into some of the meat of how hard this song goes.

So bring them. I mean, because that's what life is, right? It is this build and it's this triumph. And I can tell the song's really moving you. I love this song so much. And, like, part of it is it's like just this emotional bloodletting. All my feelings are happening on top of one another when I listen to this song. And if you are a parent and you're having big feelings about your kids and what you want for your kids, this is the song for you.

Yeah, no, I've got a long, long, long way to go before I send my kids out into the world. So one is about to finish third grade. But this is exactly what I would play for them. It has everything that I would say to them, except for maybe, don't let the door hit you on the way out. When you're 18, you're out the door. See you, suckers. But no, it's so many great lines.

There's one moment when he says, turn your blood to wine, which invokes, I think, all kinds of themes and imagery around the idea of your life being full of miracles and wondrous things and also you yourself doing amazing things with your life. We've got to take another break, but we will be right back. I want to play one that came from a listener named Courtney in Atlanta. The song is TikTok by Kesha from Animal that came out in 2010. Courtney and Atlanta writes,

This was the soundtrack to my senior year. It was used in slideshows, burned on every CD. I had an old car with no iPod hook. up. And my friends and I even choreographed a dance to it. Every time I hear TikTok, I'm suddenly 17 again, surrounded by my best friends, riding the

bus to a marching band competition. This is one of our toes, toes. It's just like remembering a good time. Yeah. Just remembering a good time. Well, and this song came out well after I was 17 years old, but it makes me feel 17 to this day. Yeah. And Courtney, the person who wrote in from Atlanta,

their memories, I think, are so perfect of it being played in slideshows. You know, like, oh, my gosh, of course it was played in slide shows, you know, in the school auditorium, the ways that soundtracked the different moments in her life, with their friends, perfect little snapshot memories. Also, I was in marching band, and I have so many memories of riding the bus to different marching band competitions. We weren't listening to Kesha. I'm not sure Kesha was born yet. But a lot of fond memories from that time. Let's get to another voice memo. This is from Emma in Massachusetts. The song she picked is Rivers

and Roads by the Head and Heart. The first time I heard this song was by a cover band comprised of people from my high school. It was commemoration night and the vice principal called them up onto stage and the first lyrics they rang out were a year from now will all be gone. All our friends will move away. And I immediately started crying, which was surprising. You know, it was a super busy end of the year. It's filled with all these events to celebrate what we'd done. And up until this moment, I don't think I realized what finishing high school meant. It was leaving our friends, going off into the unknown, the great big world. And, you know, it also made me cry just reflecting on people I had gone to high school with

and spent years in class with and they were up on stage. And I had at this point thought, you know, I know these people. There's, there are no more surprises. But yet I had no idea that. they were in this band and had such incredible talent. And so I'm really thankful for them for really capturing all the feelings of, you know, graduating. And then we did start to talk about the way things change as the song goes. And so I don't know if they're still out there, Rotten Tomatoes, if your band is still playing, but you really did create a memorable night. And every time I hear

that song, I think of you all. We'll all be gone All our friends will move away And they're going to better places But our friends will be gone away Nothing is as it has been And I miss your face like hell And I guess it's just as well

But I miss your face like hell Been talking about the way things And if you don't know what to make of this Then we will not relate Such a sweet song and memory too I was also in a cover band in high school, and I'd like to think that we had that kind of lasting impact on our classmates. You know, a deep emotional impact that they all still think of all these years later. We were called Xenon after the inert gas.

We had T-shirts made up that said inert tour, world tour, even though there was no tour. I mean, I have to say, like, shout out to all the high school. school cover bands. The high school cover bands were a hugely formative experience for me as a budding music nerd. And I'm so grateful to my friends from high school, Ben Curth, Jeff Petit, Brian Moss. I could just list names of people. You're out of friends at that point. I was out of friend. Well, I was small town. Small town, not very many musicians in my class. But like, going to their shows and like watching kind of different interpretations of songs you knew and just like watching your friends kind of explore musically is a great way to become a well-rounded and

knowledgeable music nerd. And I loved those bands. Those bands meant a ton to me. And I got to say, I still occasionally pull out their tapes and they're not bad. Well, you're lucky you still have the tapes. I don't even have any tapes of the band I was in. I'm not sure any exist. I should head up the old guys I was in the band with. But yeah, you're right. You know, it really ignited love of music in me too, you know, and they were all hugely influential in my life. But I love the memory that she shared. And I actually looked online for the band Rotten Tomatoes to see like a cover band message. Of course, you know, only the Rotten Tomato site came up.

But if they're out there, that'd be, drop us in email all songs at npr.org. It'd be great to hear. It's like if you were in a band in the 80s called Amazon. Exactly. Exactly. You know, gosh, so many songs and stories that we got from listeners that we could keep on sharing. We'll put these songs in a playlist and put it on our site. And people can find it if they search for Impure Music and Apple Music or Spotify.

It'll be there. But let's go out on another song that was mentioned a bajillion, a billion times. And at least I think maybe everyone from a... a certain generation, that being our generation. Yeah, you say that, but man, songs never go away now. That's true. I still hear this song on the radio all the time. We're talking about, don't you forget about me by Simple Minds from 1985.

It was on the Breakfast Club soundtrack. I saw recently an article ranking of the best one-hit wonders of all time, and Simple Minds was on it. Simple Minds was not a one-hit wonder. Simple Minds had a bunch of hits. Yeah. I mean, maybe nothing that became the juggernaut that this song became, but yeah, they're not a one-hit one-hurt. Oh, my God. They were still so mad.

They were huge. Huge, huge band. Huge, huge band. Still around. Still making music. Anyway, Dory in California wrote in about, don't you forget about me, this song and the film, the Breakfast Club, came out in the middle of my senior year of high school and captured all the complicated, angsty teen feelings I had then.

I had to switch schools between my junior and senior years of high school, which in retrospect was not all that big a deal, but at the time felt like a major upheaval. I went from a very small school with a close circle of friends to attending a much larger high school part time so that I could enroll in college classes at the local university. Even before graduation, I felt like I had already left. When I attended my old school's graduation as a guest, I felt like an outsider when I should have been a participant. and because my parents insisted, I attended my actual graduation during which I sat with nobody I knew. The lyrics which describe maintaining fragile connections, the lyrics about being remembered and recognized by others, spoke to the disconnect I felt at the time. Another listener noted that this song and the film, it was written specifically for the Breakfast Club.

The listener said that it always reminded them that each of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. which is from the memorable line from that movie. So we'll go out on this. Thanks so much, Stephen, for taking a walk down memory lane and sharing all these stories. It was great. Robin, I hope you had the time of your life. I see what you did there. But I'm not playing that.

And for NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered.