Old School Ain't So Old

... because if it really were, then it'd be like admitting that I'm old. And I'm not. (I can hear Bruce from "Finding Nemo" say "Denial.")

This morning, en route to work, I played a really old cassette tape in the car. (Yes, we still use our cassette tape player, you got a problem with that?) It's the very first Asian edition of the successful NOW That's What I Call Music franchise. Released in 1995, this was my generation's playlist back when I was a wee freshman in high school!

When was the last time you heard Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around, or Janet Jackson's Whoops Now? How about Bon Jovi's rock ballad Always? Or Ace Of Base's classic Don't Turn Around!?!?

I was singing along to every song on the tape, with the volume specially turned up when Boyzone's Love Me For A Reason remake was playing. Laugh all you want but it was just so darn good to hear these tracks again. They brought back memories of simpler days: when life was all about getting to class on time, finishing up homework and passing that pesky surprise quiz. The simple life complicated only by the idiocies adolescents rake up with raging hormones. If we'd only known what we'd be getting into after graduation, maybe we wouldn't have shed that many tears or exerted that much effort into the petty of back then.

Then again, how were we to know? All we had for guidance were silly songs like Zombie (of The Cranberries) and Vulnerable (of Roxette). I take that back, they weren't silly. They AREN'T silly. These songs may not be the anthems of our generation (in my opinion, You Learn by Alanis Morissette is) but they do define our 90s to the T.

I wonder what the high-schoolers of today will be reminiscing to 15 or so years from now. Maybe I'll be looking back with them, still in denial that I'm old and decrepit. :))