What's the defining song of your youth?

[Appalonia]

I was watching TOTP 1995 tonight and Pulp singing Common People was on. It took me back to a very particular time in the nineties and got me thinking about songs that encapsulate a time in your life.

For me it's Ghost Town by The Specials when I was a teenager. Summed up a v bleak time, mass unemployment, race riots, a sense of decline and hopelessness in the early 80s. Also, coming from that part of the UK, it had a particular resonance for me. Obviously there were lots of upbeat songs around at that time too, that I still love, but feels like this song was so much of that time ( tho ironically still feels relevant today...!)

What song do you feel defines your youth?

REM - Nightswimming, Man on the Moon or Everybody Hurts. I used to lie in the dark listenkng to them over and over.

Possibly Wonderwall (or any track on that album). I listen to it and I am sucked into bring 16 again.

Parklife Blur, Common People, born slippy, I grew up in the 90s

Oh, and anything prodigy :D

Enola Gaye by OMD
Don't you want me by Human League

The style at the time, I channelled Cyndi Lauper.

Come on Eileen and The Final Countdown

Ah, such an incredible album. It takes me straight back

Oh my god, me too

Chumbawumba Tubthumping.

I’ve just listened to Marillion again. Great song.

Loser by Beck. It brings back the youth club disco every time!

Alright-Supergrass

I was 12 when it came out and it reminds me of that Carefree pre-teen time before we tried to be too grown up . I feel quite nostalgic when I hear it.

My friends had Tubthumping as their first dance at their wedding.

David Bowie's Starman is the sound of my youth.

Hey, do you remember when that was on the no-play list? I do. It went in at number two and then Diana died so it was deemed that the lyrics ("I get knocked down") were inappropriate so all the stations stopped playing it. But it still kept selling despite that and became a big slow burner in terms of charts. You couldn't hear it anywhere, unless you bought it, which I guess is what made the sales high.

Way too many to list but Thriller instantly transports me to the main dance floor of the nightclub we all went to as college students. Getting all dolled up on a Saturday evening, drinking whatever we could get hold of before we caught the bus, then feeling super sophisticated buying luridly coloured cocktails containing blue curacao. Not sure how we got away with it as very few of us were 18 but we never got asked for ID. They’d play the video on a giant screen whilst we did our dodgy Zombie impressions!

I think I could probably age everyone based on this thread 🤣.

I'm in the Mr Brightside camp!

I don't think I have a single defining song. Some highlights for me would be:
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits (can't believe it's 46 years old)
Jump - Van Halen
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake (can't believe that's 42 years old)
Legs - ZZTop

1981 was a fantastic time for me in the U.K.

Don't you want me baby - The Human League was THE song of that year.

Peter Sutcliffe was arrested.

Steve Davis won the snooker.

Cats opened in the theatre.

The Sinclair ZX81 was the first home computer.

Charles and Di got married. Not a royalist but everyone got the day off to watch it on tv!

Raiders of the lost Ark.
An American werewolf in London
Escape from New York

Probably way too many to mention.

What difference does it make - The Smiths.
And probably Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat.

I think that was the last year in which I was truly care free.

Great thread OP!

James - Sit down. Kavos 1989 forever!

Mines a whole album - Screamadelica by Primal Scream.
It came out the summer I moved from A levels and living at home in the SW to going to a northern uni. I was tilting from being a firmly indie girl to embracing the emerging rave culture, and the dance hybrid. Even now feels like the soundtrack to a defining point in my life.

One Way Or Another - Blondie. My first cassette tape album was Parallel Lines!
Blue Monday - New Order, which was me finding my groove.
Anything by The Cure or The Smiths, I was finding the alternative stuff and loving it.
Prince, all of his stuff was the soundtrack to my teens and beyond! When Doves Cry is still one of my absolute favourites!

London calling by the clash.

As soon as I hear it I'm transported to my 19-year-old self, walking down the streets of London, having just moved there and absolutely bloody loving it!

Tears for Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Two Tribes.

Not really a youth as I was 20 by then but the first time I heard it and the place will stick with me forever.

Robbie Williams Angels

Zombie by the Cranberries is the first song I remember thinking was amazing!
Don’t Speak by No Doubt brought me into my teenage years (just about)
Millennium by Robbie Williams for obvious reasons
Whippin Piccadilly by Gomez took me to uni
Where Mr Brightside took over! Also anything by The Vines, The Whitestripes, The Libertines, The Coral, Amy Winehouse, any US pop punk band (hi there All American Rejects!) as well as bloody Basement Jaxx take me right back