Songs about school date back to the beginning of rock and roll. Throughout the Fifties and Sixties they focused on just how keen and swell school is, and then Alice Cooper happened. “School’s Out” sort of created a new genre of school songs, and everyone from The Ramones to .38 Special piled on throughout the Seventies and Eighties.
So without copping to the obvious (Brownsville Station, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Ramones), here are ten songs to remind you just how badly high school sucked.
1. “I Don’t Like Mondays,” The Boomtown Rats. Okay, right out of the gate I threw in something that’s hardly a deep cut. Forgive me, but this is one of my all-time favorites. Enjoy.
2. “I Hate My School,” The Necros. The Necros were a Midwestern punk band of the late Seventies/early Eighties. I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t think they cared for their school.
3. “Headmaster Ritual,” The Smiths. What I always loved about The Smiths was the juxtaposition between the happy melodies and the bitter lyrics. “Belligerent ghouls / Run Manchester schools.” Indeed.
4. “Fuck School,” The Replacements. Oh, how I love the ‘Mats. I’m that annoying guy who insists that you have to own Let It Be! Are you kidding me? How can you not own Let It Be? Yeah, sorry.
5. “Jock-O-Rama,” The Dead Kennedys. In retrospect I sort of wish I’d participated in some organized sport during high school, but the jocks were such…jocks. Anyway, fun song. Enjoy.
6. “Olympia (Rock Star),” Hole. I know that Courtney Love has become a joke, and I know that the buzz is that Live Through This is more Kurt than Courtney. I don’t care, the album rocks.
7. “Popular Creeps,” Chris Mars. Double your ‘Mats references, double your fun.
8. “Be Chrool To Your Schuel,” Twisted Sister with Alice Cooper. Honestly the song sucks but the video is fun.
9. “Back to School (Mini Maggit),” Deftones. Sacramento is proud of the Deftones. We have the Deftones, Tesla, and, um, we have the Deftones and Tesla.
10. “School,” Nirvana. From the album Bleach.
Why It Matters 
What? No mention of The Wall Pt II by Pink Floyd?
Oh. Well now there is 🙂
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Definitely an “I hate school” song!
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Oh ok, Just reread–I missed your drive by intro. You’re excused.
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Perfect “hate-school” list! The best soundtrack for throwing books out of the window on the last school day! 🙂
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No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks!
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Racking my dead brains here, wasn’t ‘I dont like Mondays’ about a girl who went into an American school with a gun and popped off a few people??
The Dead Kennedy’s – I remember taping a great song of theirs off the legendary John Peel’s radio show here in the UK, I think it was called ‘California Uber Alles’?? Fantastic stuff.
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Right and right. Well done on both counts. I’d consider doing a playlist of songs about American gun violence, but I don’t think the intergooglewebtubes has enough bandwidth.
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I loved high school, but I love those songs too 🙂
Not a deep cut and not exactly awesome, but The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun by Julie Brown always makes me laugh. Something to be said for that!
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That’s a great point. I don’t know why humor isn’t more valued in music.
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And not forgetting Alice Cooper’s School’s Out (sorry about the vid, most of the better ones have crap full lengh ads before them)
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Ah yes. The original “I hate school” song.
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