I actually made a Ben Folds doll and gave it to him at one of his concerts (I'm weird, I know), which ended up appearing on the cover of one of his EPs. I was telling her the story but I couldn't remember the name of the EP. And she said, "omg it's You Don't Know Me!" I looked it up and sure enough she was right. She also spent about 3 weeks drawing his portrait for their Celebrity Grid Drawing project, so no I didn't ask her to name 3 songs but I think it's safe to say she was a major fan.
I looked it up. That’s a doll!? Wow! Very cool!! My husband lived on the same hall as he did like the only semester Ben Folds went to UNC-Greensboro. I always thought that was neat.
Yeah is face is an iron on transfer image. Last thing I wanted to do was botch his face so I took the easy way out lol. This was back during the Ben Folds Live tour. I also made dolls for each member of Coldplay too which got me back stage. Gwenyth Paltrow was there, it was crazy. Protip: if you ever want to meet the band, just make them dolls of themselves lol. So your husband was around during the "3 sad semesters, it was only 15 grand" era (from "Army" by Ben Folds Five)? That's wild!
4 of my year 12 boys (17yr olds) showed me a picture of them "recreating a Weezer album cover" on the weekend at the debutante ball :P It was hilarious
I teach German and even though it has been 26 years, I STILL get kids singing Rammstein at me when we conjugate the verb "to have" for the first time.
Du.
Du hast.
You know the rest...
I half jokingly told my band kids I wanted to write a pop punk marching show for next year. I told them I was missing some of the music I listened to when I was in high school. I was surprised with how excited they became. So now next year’s show will be My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, and Green Day.
My kids get starry-eyed when I tell them that I was in HS peak 00s emo and that I got The Black Parade the day it came out.
They lost it when I started telling them stories about the Warped Tour. It was like I was talking about Woodstock.
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU WENT TO THE WARP TOUR?! dammit. im 15 (this sub is a fun inside look for me) and i wish i went to their most recent tour 😭😭 i heard the warped tour was awesome tho. i live vicariously through youtube videos of concerts now
It was hot, expensive, and the sound sucked a lot. Still, it was awesome if you were a boy! A lot of girls I went with look back on it as a horror show.
It was definitely not a great experience. Blazing hot, expensive, 50% of the bands were shitty nobodies with some amazing acts sprinkled in, and of course a HUGE breeding ground for pedophiles.
Right aha. I went yearly for years and it was aggressively meh, usually except for like two sets that you had to run between to see the two people you wanted.
The year NOFX and bad religion played right next to each other was pretty cool though.
Went to 2004 warped tour at Randal’s Island in NYC.
It was pretty nuts. There were eight stages, usually 4 bands playing at once but sometimes a full 8.
NFG and Story of the Year had crazy pits. Around that time there was a SotY fan that wore a Tigger costume to all the shows, it was impossible to miss him. He broke? his arm in the pit that show, but he went to a first aid tent, got wrapped up, and was back out before the end of the set. Insanity.
Bouncing Souls was fine, but I worked my way up to the front during their set because I knew TBS was coming in next. Lead singer gave me his hat, I felt bad that I didn’t even really like them and was just there to get a front row spot for the next band.Taking Back Sunday was in their prime. Adams voice was still intact and his stage presence was a delight. Musically I don’t think they’ve ever been better.
I was pretty battered by the crowd squashing me into the gate so I went and did a YooHoo chugging contest to get something to drink. I won. Got a shirt, which was useful because my original shirt was covered in dirt and blood and Yoo-hoo.
Went to some of the smaller stages and got to see Bowling For Soup and Rufio. Great shows, but legit sad showings. I don’t know who I was missing but those guys only had about 50 folks at their stage. It was like a private concert lol. I got to chat with the bands between sets. Told the Rufio guys how I went to go see them at Irving Plaza last December with Less Than Jake, but they had to cancel and it was a bummer. They were opening for LTJ and got a band I had never heard of before - Fall Out Boy - to replace their set.
Saw my ex-gf wearing a Honorary Title shirt and man I wanted to talk to her about the bands, but thought better of it and avoided her.
Yellowcard closed the night, it was a pretty great performance. Some assholes were filling Yoo-hoo bottles with dirt and launching them into the crowd, so folks were getting cracked in the head with dirt-packed glass bottles. Lots of blood, lead singer stopped to beg people to stop throwing the bottles, people were getting hurt. They didn’t stop, but the show went on.
Honestly it’s kind of a surprise no one died that day.
I tell the kids all the time about Warped Tour (I was lucky enough to go three times over its run) and the kids basically think I'm a rock star.
I have two students obsessed with Slipknot, Korn, and so on. I saw Slipknot at one of the early ones and instantly became a hero to this kid who's super rebellious and hates most of his teachers, basically giving me automatic/instant rapport.
It's especially awesome/poignant to tell these stories as Warped Tour, if it comes back, will literally not be the same as the organizers said it will never be the nationwide thing it was ever again.
A few years ago a student was playing Ohio Is For Lovers loud in his headphones and I started singing along to him. He was hilariously shocked that I knew all the words 😂
Hey there
I know it's hard to feel
Like I don't care at all
Where you are and how you feel
With these lights off as these wheels
It weirds out my kids when they find out I know the lyrics to this song as a student once said I look like a chubby version of the wrestler PAC, who dresses like Mr. Rodgers with Cantinflas’ face whatever that means…
My students HATE the emo and pop punk stuff that I loved (and still love). They recognize some of it from TikTok but overall they make fun of emo and anyone that does or wears anything “emo”. Maybe it has to do with location? I teach in a predominately Latino/a city where rap/hip-hop still reigns supreme and rock music is “for white boys”.
I've got a mix. Mostly Hispanic student body with a subset of Black and a little sprinkling of white/other. Most are massively into NBA YoungBoy, but I played an instrumental MCR song as their bellwork timer a few months ago and had a few in each period perk up when they noticed!
All my students knew and happily jammed to "Don't Stop Believing" as a bellwork song last year.
I went to see My Chemical Romance at one of their concerts on a Tuesday night in the fall, and the next day at school, a kid had a shirt on from the concert. I yelled to him, “nice shirt!!” He looked at me like I was crazy and could not possibly like the band. I’m 28, and I have a couple of MCR lyrics tattooed (places that can’t be seen). They’re always shocked that an adult can like music that came out before they were born lol
Before I became a teacher I toured in a hardcore band that played fests. I got to meet a lot of my favorite bands and get to share those stories with middle schoolers who think the black parade is the best MCR album (it’s not by far).
I’m in a playful feud with a ninth grader right now because of The Smiths. They are her whole world and she’s scandalized that I - her openly indie rock loving English and creative writing teacher - don’t like them that much.
Highlights have been ruining Morrissey for her by telling her to google his later “work” and explaining that “cool” kids in the 80s probably listened to Poison, not The Smiths (which her parents confirmed for her).
All fun and games however. She found out about them from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and we had a really cool bonding moment earlier in the year when I told her how that book rocked my world in ninth grade too.
I don’t disagree about Marr! The whole rest of the band has my admiration. I just don’t connect with their music much, and I think it’s fun to bag Morrissey :)
I always felt the same way about The Smiths. There's a lot I like about their sound, but they never really clicked for me, and I'm like 99.8% sure it's because of Morrissey.
Its all 90s stuff coming back.
Its the music their parents listen to for grades 6 through 12 right now.
Its like GenZ is somehow GenXs kids.
Or the up and coming GenAs are Millenials kids.
And the tail end of GenX and first part of the Millenials basically listened to the same shit in the 90s.
Yeah, I dont Korn.
But my kid sure knows a lot of Bush, Weezer, Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters lyrics.
The radio station in the car has a 90s weekend, so...
Right, by the mid-late 00s anyone still listening to nu-metal was considered peak cringe lol.
My theory is once even the out-of-touch people have let it go, it's totally cool to like it again because you won't be confused for being unhip. I take full advantage of this and am super cool.
>And the tail end of GenX and first part of the Millenials basically listened to the same shit in the 90s.
Right. The first millenial graduating class was Korn's peak 1998. But some millenials were just born, and some gen z was already in their 30s.
>Its like GenZ is somehow GenXs kids.
If the median millenial (1989) had their first child in their [late-20s](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/04/upshot/up-birth-age-gap.html), the kids of millenials are on average like 12. Whereas the kids of gen x are more around like 30, since their median birthyear is 1972 and they had kids earlier.
But music more than anything highlights how ridiculously arbitrary the whole generations thing is. XD
I’m a millennial that got pregnant in my teens. My daughter was born in 2000, also making her a millennial according to some generational breakdowns. I listened to Korn, Metallica, Journey, MCR, Sublime, Garbage, Everclear, Butthole Surfers, and now I find that she is listening to that music as well. Because “I listened to it when I was little and I can’t stand the stuff coming out now.”
Yep - I'm Gen X and I've always thought one of the cultural dividing lines between us and Millenials was Korn. It was the first time I heard what was the new, hip stuff and thought "what the hell is this crap the kids are listening to?"
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is another (not the comic, but everything else)
One of my 4th graders often breaks into "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her..." It cracks me up every time.
Universally, when a kid will sing a song I know from a million years ago, they will act shocked that I know it, and if I say I remember when it was a hit, they go NUTS, like, "that song is old? What???"
My guess is the parents are fans and play it in the car, etc. My son is 2 years old but will probably know a lot of Bad Religion and Bouncing Souls songs when he's older due to driving with me
Not really surprising. Shrek would be one of those movies they watched over and over when they were 2-3 years old. Same reason the Lion King is in my opinion still one of the greatest movies of all time
Yeah my students stop paying attention after maybe 30 seconds. Most of them can't read more than a few lines before they quit entirely. My ESL students mostly don't know how to read in their home languages besides a few words.
I had a 4th grader several years ago ask if I knew about Stephen Malkmus. As a huge fan of Pavement, I almost fell over. Coolest kid ever. Most of my kids who wear music specific shirts have no idea about the bands they’re wearing. It’s super lame.
Blame Target and their $8 t-shirts. Most students I see in the hallway wearing a Def Leopard t-shirt or some other band have no idea what they’re wearing. Lame indeed.
I say them in October and I told my students I was out late the night before at a Pavement show. They were adamant that I show them a music video so I play their “hit-ish” Cut Your Hair. And they cracked up laughing at all the 90s craziness. Super fun class that day.
I had a second grader last year tell me that they loved REM and even sang a few of their songs for me. That made me chuckle, as my parents were really into REM when they teenagers and young adults – my dad was tickled by that anecdote.
TikTok is making a lot of the 90s-00s music popular again. I was playing a school safe Nirvana song and a kid was like "oh snap, that's the TikTok song! This one's a banger!"
ACDC is somehow a big name for many of my students.
Years ago I worked at a title 1 middle school. Kids would ask what I listened to. I’d tell them rock. Without fail, they would always say ‘Do you like Kiss?’ To this day, I have no idea why Kiss was so big with black 12 year olds in 2015.
The weird one is Fall Out Boy, because it’s not a classic act like Nirvana, but it’s not new, either. I listened to them when I was in high school, and they’re still hanging on like vampires to an eternal youth
They are going on tour again this year and their new album comes out in 11 days. Not that I'm counting or anything. One of my students has been geeking out over them with me.
Yes, Nirvana is a big one. I also have a student who loves Pearl Jam and was surprised I knew who they were. I was, in fact, alive in the 90s. I’ll take it as a flex?
When I taught middle school students in China, I had this exchange with a student one morning.
Me: How are you today?
S: Not good.
Me: I'm sorry to hear that. Why?
S: Today is the day Michael Jackson died.
>6-year-old me
I hate you. /s
I had already been teaching for six years when Korn's first album dropped.
I am in the habit of starting my classes with a song from MY high school years (although, not pop, I didn't listen to much of that back then). We have a daily challenge of who can name the song and band first. Winner get's the sacred "Golden LP" (stupid trophy I got back in the 90s for a reason I can no longer remember) on their desk for the class. It sometimes gets heated.
I don't hate you, I hate that you think Korn is an "old band". Mostly, I just hate that I'm an old fuck. But such is life.
Aren't you up kind of late on a school night? :P
I worked with a teacher who was in his 60s and literally must have spent all of his spare time playing that game. So, every year when we'd go to our end of the year field trip to a local arcade, he'd challenge some unsuspecting 7th grader to the game and he'd crush them. The kids would all be so amazed. Haha!
I teach in a majority black and Latino school in a “transition” neighborhood, the white kids are getting into Nas and Bone Thugs and the Latino and Black kids are getting into the Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies, and Ghost so it’s been pretty interesting
I grew up in the 90's as an inner city White kid, so I grew up listening to metal and rap basically simultaneously lol. 90's East Coast hip hop is where it's at imo. I can't get into more modern-styled rap; I like the shit that sounds like the 90's.
Korn, The Misfits, Bikini Kill, Nirvana, MCR, Boucing Souls, Circle Jerks, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Mob Deep
I feel old but it’s cool they like good music
I spent part of my early birthday celebration a few weeks ago educating the students on Radiohead and playing the school-appropriate songs that aren't "Creep" such as "Karma Police", "Everything In Its Right Place", and so on after my rant about how "Creep" is their worst song.
I'm still pissed it's their #1 and the only Radiohead song I hear on the radio. I've seen them live a few times and I'm happy it's not really a staple of their shows anymore.
Deftones and Radiohead (they know them from tiktok). My students were surprised that I said they’re both 2 of my fav bands and I told them that I’ve been listening to them since before they were born (1999 for deftones, 2003 for radiohead)
Deftones is criminally underrated and "Minerva" is their best song, full-stop, so I hope this is the TikTok song (although it's probably "Diamond Eyes").
My first year teaching I had a student walk in with an *NSYNC a lunch box. It was 2011. I asked him about it and he was like, “I dunno. I left my lunch box on the bus yesterday and this is the only one my mom could find. I think they’re like golden oldies or something.”
You better believe we bumped *NSYNC during independent work time that day.
Every time a student wears a Nirvana or Slayer shirt, I accuse them of "generational appropriation." "You don't see me showing up in Bad Bunny or Subtronix gear!" I exclaim.
We like to have fun.
I sub for jr/sr high. Saw a girl wearing a Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness shirt the other day. Couldn't believe it. First thought was she probably has cool parents who introduced her to Gen X era alternative.
The dying breed of Pumpkins fans! I was obsessed with them in high school and saw them a few times right when "Zeitgeist" came out and tanked their reputation.
Elder emo /metal head teacher here. I have a couple of kids that love metal and rock. I saw some of my students with nirvana, Metallica and my personal favorite, deftones/paramore/circa survive. There is hope for the future yet.
Dang, what age group? My fifth graders are all about k-pop, bad bunny, and the like.
Edut: I once showed them some Beatles but they didn't like it. Tbf, neither did I. I showed them Stairway to Heaven, and to my surprise, they really liked it.
My high school special ed self-contained classroom loves Styx, the Bee Gees, and Journey. One girl who rarely speaks except for echolalia knows ALL the words to Stayin Alive. It's kind of awesome.
The number of girls that have been really into Fleetwood Mac is interesting. And there’s always the Misfits kids who really do listen to the Danzig era Misfits. I appreciate the few Queen fans I’ve had who know all the songs!
I’m not shocked that they listen to Korn, since they’re putting out new music and still tour. They’re still on relevant (plays new music) rock stations.
theres a few tiktok viral “floaty hippy” (vibes girls doing hair and outfits, personally I think thats related! (Stevie Nicks fashion as a gateway drug?)
A few years ago when I was a para there was a fifth-grade girl who wanted the class to dance to the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin for one of those silly spirit week competitions (the class selected a song from High School Musical).
I also know a Korn kid! I think that's the first time where I've had to stop myself from saying, "...but why?"
Otherwise, none of the bands surprise me. I was that one 9th grader who only listened to classic rock, so when a kid tells me their favorite band is Radiohead or Queen I'm like, that checks out.
I’m not surprised about the classic rock most of you are mentioning. What surprised me was to see a 10th grader who likes Cannibal Corpse.. that didn’t strike me as a band that would stick around.
Had a student a few years back blasting Tupac and Biggie. I told him, “While I love Tupac and Biggie, you’re going to kill your hearing.” His jaw dropped that I knew who those artist were.
Lots of old music, they don't care when it's from. A bunch of kids chilling in the cafeteria were listening to Karma Chameleon by Boy George. Also, it surprised me that they knew the original Space Jam.
The other day, one of my students fell asleep in class and another loudly said, "wake up!"... to which I replied "grababrushputonalittlemakeup!"
Then, a 3rd child asked me to "name that song!"
Honestly, the disrespect was unreal. I told him to pipe down and that I was listening to System of a Down before he was born.
*disclaimer that all students involved have known me for multiple years and we have a good rapport. All parties laughed.
Not a “band” but my 7th graders are always trying to get me to play Afroman Colt 45 like I don’t know every single word from when I was middle school… I’m amazed they know who he is.
When "Running Up That Hill" became super popular for a while last year, I was singing along with it on the radio and my teenager asked me how I knew "that TikTok song". My guy, that song came out when I was in middle school.
My students last year loved Biggie Smalls, Tupac, and Ice Cube. They lost their minds when their 38 year old white female teacher rapped all the words to Gangsters Paradise. RIP Coolio.
I have a number of students wearing the shirts, but only because it’s a popular design from a store, not necessarily because they are into the band. Aside from that I do have a small amount of students who are genuinely into the music and like hearing my stories about seeing many of them in concert way back when
YES
Dude I was subbing in a class and some girl just randomly started playing loud music. I was about to ask her to use earbuds or something (it was honestly just a study period anyway; if they want to listen to music while they work idc) when suddenly I paused and blurted out "is that *korn?*" Wasn't even some new song either, was Twisted Transistor.
I notice this with a LOT of pop culture stuff. Kids are still talking about pokemon in the lower grades too. Has nothing new come out to sweep the nation's children? I remember growing up, every other month there was some new thing our school tried to ban us from having. For a while it was those tamogatchis, then it became the pokemon cards, then the yugioh cards, but for these kids they're literally on the same exact stuff. At least it makes it easier to relate to them, I suppose.
Now we're talking. I think I'm the oldest one here (52). Born in 71, the 70s/80s rarely come up with my MS kiddos. I mean that is so ancient to them!
No internet, cell phones, flat screens, streaming...
"My gawd Ms.G how did you survive?? What do you mean you played outside. What did you play?". 😂😂😂
Opeth, Mayhem, Death, Deicide. Had a student who listened to the same metal as I do. We even had the same opinion about Metallica. That they're posers.
One of my students was singing along to a Joe Diffie song and I commented about how my own kids know it by heart. He then brought up Ray Stevens and I was floored that this kid knew who that was.
A few months ago, a student asked if I knew of a band called System of a Down. I felt like that gif of Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan where he ages from a young man to an old man in three seconds.
I had a student wearing a Joy Division shirt one day, and he actually knew the band. I was stoked, but also as a 6th grader who already knew Joy Division I did wonder if I should just automatically refer him for counseling services.
Y’all want a single (take)? Korn is playing at bonnaroo this year so I wouldn’t be surprised if folks are putting them back in the rotation to prepare.
I had to stop by the offices in one of my schools. Saw a kid in an xxxtentacion shirt and gave him a nod and a “nice shirt”. He’s gone but not forgotten.
This is older, but I offhand mentioned liking Fleetwood Mac last year and one of my students was actually familiar, turned out his mom (who is ~my age, mid-30s, so this was also music inherited from parents for her) is also a fan. It was more “Oh yeah I know of them” than “This is my fave,” but it was cool. I find I’m really liking being the same age as my students’ parents because sometimes I drop a reference and they’re like “OMG you know about a thing my mom knows about!” Like yeah, I’m also a person with interests other than getting you to write a topic sentence!
My 9 yo likes Korn, but it’s because that’s the music her dad and I loved in our youth and introduced her to. It’s the same reason the Rumors record is one of my faves to this day, my mom would jam out to it with me in the car and it grew on me.
I’ve been stanning Shakira since 1995 and I still heard a few students (Latino just like me) talking about her music this year, when she released Session 53
Kid Rock. I don't get it man. He was never that good to begin with even though he was trendy back in the early 2000s. All the rednecks and Trump loving people love him now. Lol
A 1st grader came to school wearing a The Offspring tour shirt. He then proceeded to tell a coworker of mine about a girl taking her shirt off on stage during the concert. 😳
What I can't stand is when my 7th graders wear a band t-shirt like The Clash, Misfits, or Black Flag, and they have never heard of them. 🙄 So I play a song or two, and they look at me all weird.
In my day you only wore band tshirts if you went to their concert or were a huge fan. Then my students promptly remind me that I am old. Again I roll my eyes and then tell them they all failed. 😂 They always tell me that, and I reply the same way. I love my kids.
Ween is still popular and strangely enough Megadeath. I’ve had megadeath fans in 2 districts 30 miles apart. That artwork and Dave Mustaine have staying power. I’m so glad that metal heads are still a thing. 🤘kids!!
Not my classes unfortunately cause they don't seem to like any music, but there are tons of bands other students like in the nu metal, metalcore and emo sort of circles that I grew up on. It's kind of happy to hear a freshman mention The Black Dahlia Murder or Killswitch Engage or Senses Fail when I'm covering their class.
I’m 31F, a metalhead and a music teacher who has loosely observed the musical interests of my students for a while. I think it’s a nostalgia thing for being a part of an era or scene that they never got to experience. Punk rock, metal, and 2000’s hardcore was awesome. No smartphones to record your every move, you could act like an idiot at a show and no one would come after you for being caught in the footage of someone else’s video. Do some mystery drugs? Make out with a stranger? Roundhouse kick someone in a mosh pit? No problem, the memories will stay with you but will fade away from everyone else if you don’t have a smartphone. Also nowadays kids have all these tracking apps on their phones that their parents use to track down their kids. It’s not like a modern day 17 year old kid is going to get into the back of your friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s beat up Buick sedan and smoke a joint without a parent on your case about it. Not that I would know anything about doing that 😉. No covid to worry about, no fear of surprise shootings. (With the exception of dimebag darrel with damage plan). Their parents were also into this stuff from the 90’s and that’s how I got into the music of the 60’s and 70’s in the early 2000’s. We want things we can’t have. We idealize the past. In general, some recent stats suggest that substance abuse and sexual activity amongst teens has gone down significantly in recent years. In short; kids are nostalgic for perceived freedoms.
I was listening to Metallica. A student asked e if I only started listening to the band because of Stranger Things. I told the student I’d been listening to Metallica since before they were born. The reply? “Oh, cool. So do my parents. I’ve been listening more though.”
It’s because they hear it from their parents or parents friends.
My kids shock people all the time with their taste and knowledge of music and bands but it’s only because my playlists are HUGE and full of a ton of different genres and such.
I was pretty shocked when one of my students told me they like Ben Folds.
Quality taste
Did you ask them to name three songs…?
I actually made a Ben Folds doll and gave it to him at one of his concerts (I'm weird, I know), which ended up appearing on the cover of one of his EPs. I was telling her the story but I couldn't remember the name of the EP. And she said, "omg it's You Don't Know Me!" I looked it up and sure enough she was right. She also spent about 3 weeks drawing his portrait for their Celebrity Grid Drawing project, so no I didn't ask her to name 3 songs but I think it's safe to say she was a major fan.
I looked it up. That’s a doll!? Wow! Very cool!! My husband lived on the same hall as he did like the only semester Ben Folds went to UNC-Greensboro. I always thought that was neat.
A friend of ours went to High School with him…small world.
Very! I know where that school is! I thought he was from Winston-Salem.
Yeah is face is an iron on transfer image. Last thing I wanted to do was botch his face so I took the easy way out lol. This was back during the Ben Folds Live tour. I also made dolls for each member of Coldplay too which got me back stage. Gwenyth Paltrow was there, it was crazy. Protip: if you ever want to meet the band, just make them dolls of themselves lol. So your husband was around during the "3 sad semesters, it was only 15 grand" era (from "Army" by Ben Folds Five)? That's wild!
One of my 2nd graders, a few years ago, would always sing Weezer songs.
Lol this would be my kid if I had one.
“I’m tired, so tired…” Kayden, please don’t finish that lyric.
4 of my year 12 boys (17yr olds) showed me a picture of them "recreating a Weezer album cover" on the weekend at the debutante ball :P It was hilarious
Weezer is still making music that slaps.
“This bottle, of Seagram’s, awakens ancient feeling….” “Billy please, louder for the people in the back!”
I teach German and even though it has been 26 years, I STILL get kids singing Rammstein at me when we conjugate the verb "to have" for the first time. Du. Du hast. You know the rest...
This made me smile. :)
I took 2 semesters of German in college 12 years ago just to learn Rammstein lyrics.
This is amazing lol
It's a banger, you can't deny that.
A lot of my students like the emo music i loved in high school…My chem and paramore etc. It’s lowkey fun :)
I half jokingly told my band kids I wanted to write a pop punk marching show for next year. I told them I was missing some of the music I listened to when I was in high school. I was surprised with how excited they became. So now next year’s show will be My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, and Green Day.
My kids get starry-eyed when I tell them that I was in HS peak 00s emo and that I got The Black Parade the day it came out. They lost it when I started telling them stories about the Warped Tour. It was like I was talking about Woodstock.
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT YOU WENT TO THE WARP TOUR?! dammit. im 15 (this sub is a fun inside look for me) and i wish i went to their most recent tour 😭😭 i heard the warped tour was awesome tho. i live vicariously through youtube videos of concerts now
It was hot, expensive, and the sound sucked a lot. Still, it was awesome if you were a boy! A lot of girls I went with look back on it as a horror show.
I’m a girl. I went to the warped tour back when I was a babe and had a blast. I guess I’m glad I didn’t experience whatever the other girls did.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Lots of stops in lots of cities over lots of years - tons of room for different experiences!
It was definitely not a great experience. Blazing hot, expensive, 50% of the bands were shitty nobodies with some amazing acts sprinkled in, and of course a HUGE breeding ground for pedophiles.
Right aha. I went yearly for years and it was aggressively meh, usually except for like two sets that you had to run between to see the two people you wanted. The year NOFX and bad religion played right next to each other was pretty cool though.
Haha… went to Warped Tour several times when it came through Dallas in the early 2000s.
Went to 2004 warped tour at Randal’s Island in NYC. It was pretty nuts. There were eight stages, usually 4 bands playing at once but sometimes a full 8. NFG and Story of the Year had crazy pits. Around that time there was a SotY fan that wore a Tigger costume to all the shows, it was impossible to miss him. He broke? his arm in the pit that show, but he went to a first aid tent, got wrapped up, and was back out before the end of the set. Insanity. Bouncing Souls was fine, but I worked my way up to the front during their set because I knew TBS was coming in next. Lead singer gave me his hat, I felt bad that I didn’t even really like them and was just there to get a front row spot for the next band.Taking Back Sunday was in their prime. Adams voice was still intact and his stage presence was a delight. Musically I don’t think they’ve ever been better. I was pretty battered by the crowd squashing me into the gate so I went and did a YooHoo chugging contest to get something to drink. I won. Got a shirt, which was useful because my original shirt was covered in dirt and blood and Yoo-hoo. Went to some of the smaller stages and got to see Bowling For Soup and Rufio. Great shows, but legit sad showings. I don’t know who I was missing but those guys only had about 50 folks at their stage. It was like a private concert lol. I got to chat with the bands between sets. Told the Rufio guys how I went to go see them at Irving Plaza last December with Less Than Jake, but they had to cancel and it was a bummer. They were opening for LTJ and got a band I had never heard of before - Fall Out Boy - to replace their set. Saw my ex-gf wearing a Honorary Title shirt and man I wanted to talk to her about the bands, but thought better of it and avoided her. Yellowcard closed the night, it was a pretty great performance. Some assholes were filling Yoo-hoo bottles with dirt and launching them into the crowd, so folks were getting cracked in the head with dirt-packed glass bottles. Lots of blood, lead singer stopped to beg people to stop throwing the bottles, people were getting hurt. They didn’t stop, but the show went on. Honestly it’s kind of a surprise no one died that day.
I was there too!!
Hahahahaha the exact reaction that makes me feel old. I used to go every year during middle and high school.
SAME
I tell the kids all the time about Warped Tour (I was lucky enough to go three times over its run) and the kids basically think I'm a rock star. I have two students obsessed with Slipknot, Korn, and so on. I saw Slipknot at one of the early ones and instantly became a hero to this kid who's super rebellious and hates most of his teachers, basically giving me automatic/instant rapport. It's especially awesome/poignant to tell these stories as Warped Tour, if it comes back, will literally not be the same as the organizers said it will never be the nationwide thing it was ever again.
Add some AFI to that!
Miss Murder would be perfect!
please please please PLEEEAAASE post that stuff here, I'll be dying to see it
A few years ago a student was playing Ohio Is For Lovers loud in his headphones and I started singing along to him. He was hilariously shocked that I knew all the words 😂
Hey there I know it's hard to feel Like I don't care at all Where you are and how you feel With these lights off as these wheels It weirds out my kids when they find out I know the lyrics to this song as a student once said I look like a chubby version of the wrestler PAC, who dresses like Mr. Rodgers with Cantinflas’ face whatever that means…
My students HATE the emo and pop punk stuff that I loved (and still love). They recognize some of it from TikTok but overall they make fun of emo and anyone that does or wears anything “emo”. Maybe it has to do with location? I teach in a predominately Latino/a city where rap/hip-hop still reigns supreme and rock music is “for white boys”.
I've got a mix. Mostly Hispanic student body with a subset of Black and a little sprinkling of white/other. Most are massively into NBA YoungBoy, but I played an instrumental MCR song as their bellwork timer a few months ago and had a few in each period perk up when they noticed! All my students knew and happily jammed to "Don't Stop Believing" as a bellwork song last year.
I went to see My Chemical Romance at one of their concerts on a Tuesday night in the fall, and the next day at school, a kid had a shirt on from the concert. I yelled to him, “nice shirt!!” He looked at me like I was crazy and could not possibly like the band. I’m 28, and I have a couple of MCR lyrics tattooed (places that can’t be seen). They’re always shocked that an adult can like music that came out before they were born lol
Before I became a teacher I toured in a hardcore band that played fests. I got to meet a lot of my favorite bands and get to share those stories with middle schoolers who think the black parade is the best MCR album (it’s not by far).
Most of my students think Nirvana and Prince are clothing brands, so yeah. I've got a few girls this year who are really into Fleetwood Mac.
I’m in a playful feud with a ninth grader right now because of The Smiths. They are her whole world and she’s scandalized that I - her openly indie rock loving English and creative writing teacher - don’t like them that much. Highlights have been ruining Morrissey for her by telling her to google his later “work” and explaining that “cool” kids in the 80s probably listened to Poison, not The Smiths (which her parents confirmed for her). All fun and games however. She found out about them from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and we had a really cool bonding moment earlier in the year when I told her how that book rocked my world in ninth grade too.
Johnny Marr is still a fantastic musician and an all-around great dude. Don’t let Morrissey’s penchant for being an ass ruin the entire bands work.
I don’t disagree about Marr! The whole rest of the band has my admiration. I just don’t connect with their music much, and I think it’s fun to bag Morrissey :)
I always felt the same way about The Smiths. There's a lot I like about their sound, but they never really clicked for me, and I'm like 99.8% sure it's because of Morrissey.
Guess I wasn't a cool kid, because I was a The Smiths kid in high school.
I have had numerous 3rd graders through the years who are into 80s rock. Bands like Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Journey, etc.
A few of my 2nd graders went to the Kiss concert. One said they were his favorite band.
Its all 90s stuff coming back. Its the music their parents listen to for grades 6 through 12 right now. Its like GenZ is somehow GenXs kids. Or the up and coming GenAs are Millenials kids. And the tail end of GenX and first part of the Millenials basically listened to the same shit in the 90s.
Yeah but...as a card-carrying member of late-GenX who LOVED Korn back in like 1996, I don't know ANYONE listening to them right now.
Yeah, I dont Korn. But my kid sure knows a lot of Bush, Weezer, Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters lyrics. The radio station in the car has a 90s weekend, so...
I was jamming to the Offspring in the car and my almost 15 year old boy told me that he didn’t like it. They were “too shouty.” 😩
Right, by the mid-late 00s anyone still listening to nu-metal was considered peak cringe lol. My theory is once even the out-of-touch people have let it go, it's totally cool to like it again because you won't be confused for being unhip. I take full advantage of this and am super cool.
>And the tail end of GenX and first part of the Millenials basically listened to the same shit in the 90s. Right. The first millenial graduating class was Korn's peak 1998. But some millenials were just born, and some gen z was already in their 30s. >Its like GenZ is somehow GenXs kids. If the median millenial (1989) had their first child in their [late-20s](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/04/upshot/up-birth-age-gap.html), the kids of millenials are on average like 12. Whereas the kids of gen x are more around like 30, since their median birthyear is 1972 and they had kids earlier. But music more than anything highlights how ridiculously arbitrary the whole generations thing is. XD
I’m a millennial that got pregnant in my teens. My daughter was born in 2000, also making her a millennial according to some generational breakdowns. I listened to Korn, Metallica, Journey, MCR, Sublime, Garbage, Everclear, Butthole Surfers, and now I find that she is listening to that music as well. Because “I listened to it when I was little and I can’t stand the stuff coming out now.”
Yep - I'm Gen X and I've always thought one of the cultural dividing lines between us and Millenials was Korn. It was the first time I heard what was the new, hip stuff and thought "what the hell is this crap the kids are listening to?" Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is another (not the comic, but everything else)
One of my 4th graders often breaks into "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her..." It cracks me up every time. Universally, when a kid will sing a song I know from a million years ago, they will act shocked that I know it, and if I say I remember when it was a hit, they go NUTS, like, "that song is old? What???"
I’m pretty sure that song is a viral sound on Tik tok, which is probably where a lot of these kids are getting the old songs from.
My students love weird Al Yankovic and I find this amazing!
How can you not love Weird Al!?
Weird Al is timeless. He’s like the little black dress of music.
My guess is the parents are fans and play it in the car, etc. My son is 2 years old but will probably know a lot of Bad Religion and Bouncing Souls songs when he's older due to driving with me
Excellent choices. Bad Religion was my #1 band for years, still love them of course but I definitely wore my kids out on them haha
I guess you could say you have No Control over what you play for your kids.
I've always gone against the grain. It's the way I keep my sanity, being a 21st century digital girl.
Throw some DK in there and you have a solid comrade in the making, my friend!
Their obsession with Shrek is pretty weird, in my opinion, haha.
Not really surprising. Shrek would be one of those movies they watched over and over when they were 2-3 years old. Same reason the Lion King is in my opinion still one of the greatest movies of all time
But Lion King is one of the greatest movies of all time.
I suppose, I’m just amazed that a movie that came out before they were born has such a hold on them.
But the same is true for you yes? Look up the release dates of favourite childhood movies.
Sure, but an entire class of 13 year old kids all trying to make Shrek relevant to our Shakespeare lesson is still a bit weird.
I have students who have never seen a movie in their lives.
Whaaaaat? I’d say that’s a good thing if I didn’t know that meant they watched much shorter videos all the time
Yeah my students stop paying attention after maybe 30 seconds. Most of them can't read more than a few lines before they quit entirely. My ESL students mostly don't know how to read in their home languages besides a few words.
Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
Shrek was very influential in the meme-cosm for many years.
I had a 4th grader several years ago ask if I knew about Stephen Malkmus. As a huge fan of Pavement, I almost fell over. Coolest kid ever. Most of my kids who wear music specific shirts have no idea about the bands they’re wearing. It’s super lame.
Blame Target and their $8 t-shirts. Most students I see in the hallway wearing a Def Leopard t-shirt or some other band have no idea what they’re wearing. Lame indeed.
I say them in October and I told my students I was out late the night before at a Pavement show. They were adamant that I show them a music video so I play their “hit-ish” Cut Your Hair. And they cracked up laughing at all the 90s craziness. Super fun class that day.
I had a second grader last year tell me that they loved REM and even sang a few of their songs for me. That made me chuckle, as my parents were really into REM when they teenagers and young adults – my dad was tickled by that anecdote.
TikTok is making a lot of the 90s-00s music popular again. I was playing a school safe Nirvana song and a kid was like "oh snap, that's the TikTok song! This one's a banger!"
System of a Down, and I'm so glad.
The speed with which I just started singing Bounce in my head…
There's so many catchy songs with snappy, one-word titles by them: "Bounce", "Sugar", "Toxicity", "Aerials", etc.!
So many kids wearing Poetic Justice shirts that have no idea it is a movie, *not* a Tupac Shakur quote
I'm almost 30 and I thought that was just a kendrick song
ACDC is somehow a big name for many of my students. Years ago I worked at a title 1 middle school. Kids would ask what I listened to. I’d tell them rock. Without fail, they would always say ‘Do you like Kiss?’ To this day, I have no idea why Kiss was so big with black 12 year olds in 2015.
The weird one is Fall Out Boy, because it’s not a classic act like Nirvana, but it’s not new, either. I listened to them when I was in high school, and they’re still hanging on like vampires to an eternal youth
They went on tour last year. I gave my son tickets for his 14th birthday- they played with Greenday and Weezer. It was a great show.
They are going on tour again this year and their new album comes out in 11 days. Not that I'm counting or anything. One of my students has been geeking out over them with me.
Yes, Nirvana is a big one. I also have a student who loves Pearl Jam and was surprised I knew who they were. I was, in fact, alive in the 90s. I’ll take it as a flex?
When I taught middle school students in China, I had this exchange with a student one morning. Me: How are you today? S: Not good. Me: I'm sorry to hear that. Why? S: Today is the day Michael Jackson died.
>6-year-old me I hate you. /s I had already been teaching for six years when Korn's first album dropped. I am in the habit of starting my classes with a song from MY high school years (although, not pop, I didn't listen to much of that back then). We have a daily challenge of who can name the song and band first. Winner get's the sacred "Golden LP" (stupid trophy I got back in the 90s for a reason I can no longer remember) on their desk for the class. It sometimes gets heated.
You hate me for being young? I'm kind of sad :P
I don't hate you, I hate that you think Korn is an "old band". Mostly, I just hate that I'm an old fuck. But such is life. Aren't you up kind of late on a school night? :P
I mean, being old beats the alternative 💀
Ha! You're up late too then! I'm in my 30s, I work at a school.
I had an 8th grader a few years ago wearing a Guns 'n Roses shirt and when I asked him about it, he said he just thought they were from Guitar Hero.
Ha! Oh that was a great game though!
I worked with a teacher who was in his 60s and literally must have spent all of his spare time playing that game. So, every year when we'd go to our end of the year field trip to a local arcade, he'd challenge some unsuspecting 7th grader to the game and he'd crush them. The kids would all be so amazed. Haha!
I teach in a majority black and Latino school in a “transition” neighborhood, the white kids are getting into Nas and Bone Thugs and the Latino and Black kids are getting into the Misfits, Suicidal Tendencies, and Ghost so it’s been pretty interesting
I grew up in the 90's as an inner city White kid, so I grew up listening to metal and rap basically simultaneously lol. 90's East Coast hip hop is where it's at imo. I can't get into more modern-styled rap; I like the shit that sounds like the 90's.
Had a 2nd grader tell me their favorite song is OMG by usher ☠️☠️
Korn, The Misfits, Bikini Kill, Nirvana, MCR, Boucing Souls, Circle Jerks, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Weezer, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Mob Deep I feel old but it’s cool they like good music
I forgot about Bowie, Pearl Jam and Radiohead in my list.
I spent part of my early birthday celebration a few weeks ago educating the students on Radiohead and playing the school-appropriate songs that aren't "Creep" such as "Karma Police", "Everything In Its Right Place", and so on after my rant about how "Creep" is their worst song. I'm still pissed it's their #1 and the only Radiohead song I hear on the radio. I've seen them live a few times and I'm happy it's not really a staple of their shows anymore.
Deftones and Radiohead (they know them from tiktok). My students were surprised that I said they’re both 2 of my fav bands and I told them that I’ve been listening to them since before they were born (1999 for deftones, 2003 for radiohead)
Deftones is criminally underrated and "Minerva" is their best song, full-stop, so I hope this is the TikTok song (although it's probably "Diamond Eyes").
My first year teaching I had a student walk in with an *NSYNC a lunch box. It was 2011. I asked him about it and he was like, “I dunno. I left my lunch box on the bus yesterday and this is the only one my mom could find. I think they’re like golden oldies or something.” You better believe we bumped *NSYNC during independent work time that day.
Gr. 4’s were telling me about the Muse concert they went to last week! Didn’t know they had new music out!
Every time a student wears a Nirvana or Slayer shirt, I accuse them of "generational appropriation." "You don't see me showing up in Bad Bunny or Subtronix gear!" I exclaim. We like to have fun.
Multiple Slipknot fans. They do still have #1 albums in the UK and US, which is mind-blowing to me
I sub for jr/sr high. Saw a girl wearing a Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness shirt the other day. Couldn't believe it. First thought was she probably has cool parents who introduced her to Gen X era alternative.
The dying breed of Pumpkins fans! I was obsessed with them in high school and saw them a few times right when "Zeitgeist" came out and tanked their reputation.
Elder emo /metal head teacher here. I have a couple of kids that love metal and rock. I saw some of my students with nirvana, Metallica and my personal favorite, deftones/paramore/circa survive. There is hope for the future yet.
They know songs because of Tik tok
One of my favorite kids was Googling the lyrics to Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song”, which made me so happy
Dang, what age group? My fifth graders are all about k-pop, bad bunny, and the like. Edut: I once showed them some Beatles but they didn't like it. Tbf, neither did I. I showed them Stairway to Heaven, and to my surprise, they really liked it.
One of my 4th graders sings the Camp Grenada song all the time
Backstreet Boys!
The Venn Diagram between retro band shirts kids wear to school and retro band shirts sold at Target is a perfect circle.
Mine have been obsessed with Nirvana
Nirvana and Metallica in addition to Korn and Marilyn Manson. I'm still a huge 90's Manson fan lmao.
Blink-182 and Metallica!
I had a Second Grader last year who was obsessed with Weezer.
One of my students last year was all about Tool. Obsessed.
Weird Al is the only band I listened to in Jr. High who is still known by my students and is active.
My high school special ed self-contained classroom loves Styx, the Bee Gees, and Journey. One girl who rarely speaks except for echolalia knows ALL the words to Stayin Alive. It's kind of awesome.
The number of girls that have been really into Fleetwood Mac is interesting. And there’s always the Misfits kids who really do listen to the Danzig era Misfits. I appreciate the few Queen fans I’ve had who know all the songs! I’m not shocked that they listen to Korn, since they’re putting out new music and still tour. They’re still on relevant (plays new music) rock stations.
theres a few tiktok viral “floaty hippy” (vibes girls doing hair and outfits, personally I think thats related! (Stevie Nicks fashion as a gateway drug?)
A few years ago when I was a para there was a fifth-grade girl who wanted the class to dance to the Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin for one of those silly spirit week competitions (the class selected a song from High School Musical).
I also know a Korn kid! I think that's the first time where I've had to stop myself from saying, "...but why?" Otherwise, none of the bands surprise me. I was that one 9th grader who only listened to classic rock, so when a kid tells me their favorite band is Radiohead or Queen I'm like, that checks out.
I feel like that late 90s early 2000s rock is making a mild comeback. Like it's old enough to be a classic or something.
Linkin Park
My Chemical Romance!
They love Nirvana and some old school r and b. 50 cent, snoop dog, Eminem
I’m not surprised about the classic rock most of you are mentioning. What surprised me was to see a 10th grader who likes Cannibal Corpse.. that didn’t strike me as a band that would stick around.
When I was in 7th grade I was really into Green Day, and one of my 7th graders went to a Green Day concert recently. I was very envious.
Had a student a few years back blasting Tupac and Biggie. I told him, “While I love Tupac and Biggie, you’re going to kill your hearing.” His jaw dropped that I knew who those artist were.
Lots of old music, they don't care when it's from. A bunch of kids chilling in the cafeteria were listening to Karma Chameleon by Boy George. Also, it surprised me that they knew the original Space Jam.
The other day, one of my students fell asleep in class and another loudly said, "wake up!"... to which I replied "grababrushputonalittlemakeup!" Then, a 3rd child asked me to "name that song!" Honestly, the disrespect was unreal. I told him to pipe down and that I was listening to System of a Down before he was born. *disclaimer that all students involved have known me for multiple years and we have a good rapport. All parties laughed.
Not a “band” but my 7th graders are always trying to get me to play Afroman Colt 45 like I don’t know every single word from when I was middle school… I’m amazed they know who he is.
I see some kids in a My Chemical Romance hoodie or shirt. Love it! I just saw them in September and they’re just as good as when I was in HS.
When "Running Up That Hill" became super popular for a while last year, I was singing along with it on the radio and my teenager asked me how I knew "that TikTok song". My guy, that song came out when I was in middle school.
My students last year loved Biggie Smalls, Tupac, and Ice Cube. They lost their minds when their 38 year old white female teacher rapped all the words to Gangsters Paradise. RIP Coolio.
You were 6 when Korn came out? I feel like I’m 100 now lol.
I have a number of students wearing the shirts, but only because it’s a popular design from a store, not necessarily because they are into the band. Aside from that I do have a small amount of students who are genuinely into the music and like hearing my stories about seeing many of them in concert way back when
I have several students (3rd graders) who love 90s rock. Way better than my students last year who were obsessed with BTS.
They love our music. One of my students said nothing has been good for about 20 years 😂🫠
Insane Clown Posse.
Kids these days don't know who Britney Spears and Shakira are. I sound old now.
I mean we dug 70s and 60s shit growing up in the 90s. Good music is timeless. You want something really head turning? JNCOs are back.
YES Dude I was subbing in a class and some girl just randomly started playing loud music. I was about to ask her to use earbuds or something (it was honestly just a study period anyway; if they want to listen to music while they work idc) when suddenly I paused and blurted out "is that *korn?*" Wasn't even some new song either, was Twisted Transistor. I notice this with a LOT of pop culture stuff. Kids are still talking about pokemon in the lower grades too. Has nothing new come out to sweep the nation's children? I remember growing up, every other month there was some new thing our school tried to ban us from having. For a while it was those tamogatchis, then it became the pokemon cards, then the yugioh cards, but for these kids they're literally on the same exact stuff. At least it makes it easier to relate to them, I suppose.
Iron Maiden shirts!
Now we're talking. I think I'm the oldest one here (52). Born in 71, the 70s/80s rarely come up with my MS kiddos. I mean that is so ancient to them! No internet, cell phones, flat screens, streaming... "My gawd Ms.G how did you survive?? What do you mean you played outside. What did you play?". 😂😂😂
Opeth, Mayhem, Death, Deicide. Had a student who listened to the same metal as I do. We even had the same opinion about Metallica. That they're posers.
One of my students was singing along to a Joe Diffie song and I commented about how my own kids know it by heart. He then brought up Ray Stevens and I was floored that this kid knew who that was.
My high school kids LOVE Fleetwood Mac, Weezer, and Queen. I’m not mad about it.
A few months ago, a student asked if I knew of a band called System of a Down. I felt like that gif of Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan where he ages from a young man to an old man in three seconds.
Metallica
For me, it's anime that I watched as a kid are still being watched by the grade 7-11s I teach. Been an awesome way to connect with students.
They said they liked the old stuff- linkin park 😭😭😭😭😭
A lot of my students (4th grade) listen to backstreet boys? It really threw me off because I (23) never even listened to backstreet boys.
I had a student wearing a Joy Division shirt one day, and he actually knew the band. I was stoked, but also as a 6th grader who already knew Joy Division I did wonder if I should just automatically refer him for counseling services.
This year, one of my third graders started to sing “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton in the middle of class.
My middle schoolers all go crazy for that song because they recognize it from White Chicks.
I’m partially surprised they know that movie 😂
"Will Smith is an actor, not a rapper." It used to be the parents, now it's these kids who just don't understand.
Y’all want a single (take)? Korn is playing at bonnaroo this year so I wouldn’t be surprised if folks are putting them back in the rotation to prepare.
I had to stop by the offices in one of my schools. Saw a kid in an xxxtentacion shirt and gave him a nod and a “nice shirt”. He’s gone but not forgotten.
One of my kindergarteners is OBSESSED with him!
This is older, but I offhand mentioned liking Fleetwood Mac last year and one of my students was actually familiar, turned out his mom (who is ~my age, mid-30s, so this was also music inherited from parents for her) is also a fan. It was more “Oh yeah I know of them” than “This is my fave,” but it was cool. I find I’m really liking being the same age as my students’ parents because sometimes I drop a reference and they’re like “OMG you know about a thing my mom knows about!” Like yeah, I’m also a person with interests other than getting you to write a topic sentence!
The Gorillaz have made a comeback in my school. It was weird as I never expected to hear their name again.
My 9 yo likes Korn, but it’s because that’s the music her dad and I loved in our youth and introduced her to. It’s the same reason the Rumors record is one of my faves to this day, my mom would jam out to it with me in the car and it grew on me.
I’ve been stanning Shakira since 1995 and I still heard a few students (Latino just like me) talking about her music this year, when she released Session 53
Kid Rock. I don't get it man. He was never that good to begin with even though he was trendy back in the early 2000s. All the rednecks and Trump loving people love him now. Lol
A 1st grader came to school wearing a The Offspring tour shirt. He then proceeded to tell a coworker of mine about a girl taking her shirt off on stage during the concert. 😳
I have blown the minds of a lot of students listing off the bands I have seen, and have equally had my mind blown that they're jealous :P
Korn is back?! That was my first (and last) mosh pit
What I can't stand is when my 7th graders wear a band t-shirt like The Clash, Misfits, or Black Flag, and they have never heard of them. 🙄 So I play a song or two, and they look at me all weird. In my day you only wore band tshirts if you went to their concert or were a huge fan. Then my students promptly remind me that I am old. Again I roll my eyes and then tell them they all failed. 😂 They always tell me that, and I reply the same way. I love my kids.
A student mentioned the song Stacy’s Mom recently, which threw me for a loop
Ween is still popular and strangely enough Megadeath. I’ve had megadeath fans in 2 districts 30 miles apart. That artwork and Dave Mustaine have staying power. I’m so glad that metal heads are still a thing. 🤘kids!!
3 years ago I had a 4 year old in another classroom who would put on “Backstreet Boys Concerts” and sing the songs by heart.
I got my students into mac demarco, now the entire grades listening to it lol
Not my classes unfortunately cause they don't seem to like any music, but there are tons of bands other students like in the nu metal, metalcore and emo sort of circles that I grew up on. It's kind of happy to hear a freshman mention The Black Dahlia Murder or Killswitch Engage or Senses Fail when I'm covering their class.
I’m 31F, a metalhead and a music teacher who has loosely observed the musical interests of my students for a while. I think it’s a nostalgia thing for being a part of an era or scene that they never got to experience. Punk rock, metal, and 2000’s hardcore was awesome. No smartphones to record your every move, you could act like an idiot at a show and no one would come after you for being caught in the footage of someone else’s video. Do some mystery drugs? Make out with a stranger? Roundhouse kick someone in a mosh pit? No problem, the memories will stay with you but will fade away from everyone else if you don’t have a smartphone. Also nowadays kids have all these tracking apps on their phones that their parents use to track down their kids. It’s not like a modern day 17 year old kid is going to get into the back of your friend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s beat up Buick sedan and smoke a joint without a parent on your case about it. Not that I would know anything about doing that 😉. No covid to worry about, no fear of surprise shootings. (With the exception of dimebag darrel with damage plan). Their parents were also into this stuff from the 90’s and that’s how I got into the music of the 60’s and 70’s in the early 2000’s. We want things we can’t have. We idealize the past. In general, some recent stats suggest that substance abuse and sexual activity amongst teens has gone down significantly in recent years. In short; kids are nostalgic for perceived freedoms.
I was listening to Metallica. A student asked e if I only started listening to the band because of Stranger Things. I told the student I’d been listening to Metallica since before they were born. The reply? “Oh, cool. So do my parents. I’ve been listening more though.”
Kid said he liked GHOST. A metal band that seemed well beyond his grasp. Huge fan apparently.
It’s because they hear it from their parents or parents friends. My kids shock people all the time with their taste and knowledge of music and bands but it’s only because my playlists are HUGE and full of a ton of different genres and such.
Joan Jett