Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and music is often an antidote in today’s ever-shifting technological landscape. Here are six songs by artists like the Beatles and Rod Stewart that instantly transport me back to simpler times.
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“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” Green Day
If you attended a high school graduation ceremony between 1997 and 2002, you’ve no doubt heard Green Day’s sparse ballad off the pop-punk icons’ fifth studio album Nimrod.
Never mind that frontman Billie Joe Armstrong actually wrote the song to express his anger toward an old flame who moved to Ecuador, leaving him behind. “Good Riddance” was always destined to play over grainy home videos of children’s birthday parties and Christmas mornings.
“In My Life,” the Beatles
All these places had their moments / With lovers and friends, I still can recall, John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing on this track from 1965’s Rubber Soul. Some are dead and some are living / In my life, I’ve loved them all. Another song ripped straight from a teen-angst rainy-window movie montage.
“Alright,” Supergrass
This song, off British alt-rock band Supergrass’ 1995 debut album I Should Coco, gained fame thanks to the definitive coming-of-age film Clueless.
[RELATED: The Kids Are Alright: 5 Songs That Were Written by Teenagers]
With its upbeat piano tune and cheerful lyrics (See our friends, see the sights / Feel alright), it sounds like running barefoot through the grass on a warm summer day.
“Jack and Diane,” John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp actually despised this track off his 1982 album American Fool, calling it a “terrible record to make.” Fortunately, he continues to perform his lone No. 1 hit live, so that generations to come may be traumatized by the line “Holdin’ on to sixteen as long as you can / Changes come around real soon, make us women and men.”
“Forever Young,” Rod Stewart
This Top 20 hit from his 1988 album Out of Order ranks among singer-songwriter Rod Stewart’s favorites to this day. “[That] was a real heartfelt song about my kids,” he told Mojo magazine in 1995. “I suddenly realized I’d missed a good five years of Sean and Kimberly’s life because I was so busy touring all the time.”
“Dammit,” Blink-182
This song from ’90s pop-punk mainstay Blink-182’s 1997 studio album Dude Ranch is another breakup song that captures the ache of transitioning from youth to adulthood: But everybody’s gone / And you’ve been here for too long / To face this on your own / Well, I guess this is growing up.
Featured image by Paul Bergen/Redferns
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