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?

ooooh I wanna dance with somebody

when the going gets tough (the tough get going)

her name was Reo and she dances like the sun

wake me yup, b’fore ya go go

feeeeeed thaaaaa worrrrr-rrruld

walkin, on the moo-oon🎶

Was born in 72.

As a dance, there's not all that much to it, is there? 😂

@RenoDakota these are two of my faves! I was born in 62 when most families had only one TV (!) so we had to watch with parents usually tutting away in the background. But this song, and bohemian Rhapsody, actually got approval from both my mum & dad!

Come on Eileen was my hen night song, and 41 years later still takes me back to the sticky carpets in our local nightclub 😁 (in those days you just had a simple hen night in your local town 😉)

Whiter shade of pale !

Probably too many to count but as a youngster it would be Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. Senior school would be Like a Prayer by Madonna, then late teens and first days of clubbing would be Set You Free by N Trance.

These were probably defining based on my group of friends but individual to me there are loads more!

Mr Brightside here too ✌️

The specials....too much too young.
Secret affair....time for action.

"Don't You Forget About Me" Simple Minds

"Wanted Dead or Alive" Bon Jovi

This!

Hurdy Gurdy Mushroom Man takes me right back to age 12 and good times with my younger brothers

Did my GCSEs same year. Best summer there ever has been or will be

I didn't realise so many other people found the Ocean Colour Scene song so memorable. That's heartwarming!

There are a few but mainly

Keep on Moving by Soul II Soul

Optimistic by Sounds of Blackness

I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston

You Remind Me by Mary J Blige

Love this song 😍 takes me back to being 17 and angsty🤣🤣🤣

Could choose so, so many, but for some reason Inside by Stiltskin is the one that fully transports me back to the 90s.

Oh I forgot one! Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack. It reminds me of a couple of events in my life....but they are prior to the songs release in 1991!
I've never understood why I associate it with an earlier time, but I do! 🤷‍♀️

Smells Like Teen Spirit

I was a chorister in the church choir in the late 1970s and just about every couple had this sung when they signed the register.

Really loving hearing everyone's special songs and the memories they evoke!

A few different songs at different stages of my youth
Summer nights - John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John - junior school, we sang the Grease soundtrack allll the time
How soon is now? - The Smiths - secondary school. Me and my friends trying to be indie kids
Groove is in the heart - Deee-Lite- a dancefloor classic at uni
Wonderwall - Oasis - I was working by then and it was played absolutely everywhere over and over

Probably 22 by Taylor Swift. I was 22 when it was released and felt like that song was written just for me, it reminds me of being carefree and happy that my life was what I wanted it to be (lost lots of weight, found my confidence, got my first real boyfriend)

The month after I found out I was pregnant and remember listening to it thinking "I'm not the carefree 22 year old this song was written for" and feeling terrified.

Luckily, it turned out that my life got even better than I ever expected and DD is my fellow Swiftie best friend and that first boyfriend was upgraded to husband 😁

I thought of another one. You'll know this if you are a child of the late 60s, or early 70s. Ask spotify to play it. If you do know, please don't say, let everyone have a blast of nostalgia.

Left Bank Two by The Noveltones.

Born slippy - Underworld

Love this 🩵

As a young child-Lots of Madonna and A-Ha

Early high school-Ice Ice baby, You can’t touch this, Summertime-Will smith, REM…a bit later…Nirvana…the opening chords to Smells like Teen spirit still make my stomach flip
Also lots of Stone roses and amazing piano house

GCSE & college years-94-96- Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc -best time ever

A little later-born slippy, Prodigy etc

Agree about Ocean colour scene-I was 18/19 when it came out and it felt like it was always sunny

I never knew it had a name, Thank you!