Teen Classifications with Tone

Let's face it. High school is not easy. Please. You've got fashion issues, finding the right friends and where you belong, not to mention actually having to study. 


Remember walking into your high school as a freshman on that first day? Everything seemed new: the smell, the feel, the hope of a new beginning and what was to come. If you're a girl, it might have been wishing to meet that dreamy guy who's been a fantasy up until now. Or for a guy, it could have been a secret hope to stumble into that girl who'll see you for who you are and be okay with that.


Then you noticed the stares from the upperclassmen. Yeah, those guys and gals. And each stare was different. Cliques, groups, labels, it didn't matter what you called them. They were there and had a vicious pull, tugging you in all sorts of directions. It was a time of self discovery, figuring out who you were and what life and living in society was all about. 


You'd experienced a tad of labeling in junior high. The athlete everyone was sure would be the town star when he got to high school, or the kid whose musical talents were discovered. But, man, did it up-the-ante after hitting fifteen years old. It was nothing you planned on partaking in, but somehow you got sucked into a label, like the care label on a designer shirt. It was almost like political parties. Each group had their own platform, rules of do's and don'ts and the other groups that you were forbidden to mingle with. 


Yeah, I was tagged--won't name my supposed group--but I was also the rebel. I chatted with who I wanted, where I wanted, and how much I wanted. Sure that wasn't always popular with the 'crowd' I hung with. But I was okay with that.


So, today, we're examining the dynamics of group labeling in high school through music.





AE: A less easily defined group, but one I belonged to: the unlucky at love, the heartbroken, the one whose love life reads like a romantic comedy with them the butt of every joke... 'Love Bites by Def Leppard'.


Nikki: As part of the fringe of being somewhat geeky (AP classes) and somewhat trendy (theater), I always loved Lisa Loeb and her hip glasses!  So I’m choosing her song, 'Stay', even though it was a teeny bit after I graduated high school.


Jessie: According to my husband, who was the epitome of cool football player at the the rich-kid private school, the song that best sums up the popular click from our high school years is "Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.  This was when all the cool kids abandoned the aforementioned rock ballads and fell head over heels in love with grunge.


Jessica:  I was pretty much in a school of rednecks, but the group I always hung around with didn't really want to have to do anything with the boys. We were more interested in our studies.  ;) So, I'm going with 'That Don't Impress Me Much' by Shania Twain. 

And ME, as I stated above...I'll represent the Rebel group with 'Smokin in the Boys Room' by Motley Crue.


Can you add a label to our groups? Do you think high school is any different today?