Re: Teen Angst In My Pants

Now sooner do I encounter the amusing book "Teen Angst: A Collection of Really Bad Poetry" than I hear the long mix of B-Movie's 1982 "Nowhere Girl" 12" for the first time in years. Really enjoyed it (partly nostalgic I'm sure) but it really struck me as a perfect companion to teen angst. Nothing like moody British guys singing minor-key synth-laden dirges about alienation to really justify those adolescent run-to-your-room-slam-the-door moments. Favorites that rocked my bedroom:

Tears For Fears "Mad World" - I'm sure the production/arrangement, something lacking from the Gary Jules remake, also helped my love of this one

Gary Numan "Are Friends Electric?"

Killing Joke "Requiem"

New Order "Age of Consent" - I loved Joy Division but they were off-the-charts psycho/depressive; New Order eventually brought things down to a more garden-variety level of angst that I could relate to.

Bauhaus "Stigmata Martyr" - this Catholic boy thrilled to the seemingly blasphemous Latin chanting

Ah, so glad those days are gone. Youth is overrated!

I think I've brought it up here before, that it's amusing to me that that mid-80s brand of music is so identifiable as the sound of teen angst that even now people making teen movies almost always rely on those songs for the soundtrack (either the originals or remakes.) I guess John Hughes movies have become the permanent template for teen-agerness.

Teen movies made after the 80s that still used 80s songs for their soundtracks to summon up that special brand of teen spirit:

CLUELESS
SKY HIGH
NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE
TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU
DONNIE DARKO
THE CRAFT
CAN'T HARDLY WAIT

Many others that I'm forgetting.