School House Rock, Part One

I am a teacher and I love my work immensely, but yes one of the perks with the territory is a lengthy summer vacation.  Summer 2011 is about to come to a close and in a matter of days I will be back in the classroom with my students.   In honour of the reopening of school I thought all week I would feature some songs with school, students and teachers as part of the themes somehow.

The songs that will be featured are a collection of songs that I recall hearing at some point in my life quite frequently.  When I decided to do this I quickly jotted down a list, there are tons more.  After I completed my own list I did a quick google search and there are hundreds, many of which I had forgotten about.

In any event, here are the first three from my musical memory repertoire.  I started with three songs about school all of which in some way deal with promiscuity.  Stayed tuned for others throughout the week.

High School Confidential, by Rough Trade

This smooth moving song was one of Canadian band Rough Trade’s biggest hits. Rough Trade was essentially a duo featuring Carol Pope and Kevan Staples.  This song came from their 1980 album Avoid Freud and proved to be their commercial break through.  The song’s music and lyrics has a very sexy and provocative feel to it.  Apparently, the song met some controversy at the time because of some lesbian themes.  Being I was only 9 years old when this song hit the airwaves I didn’t pay too much attention but later when I was in high school and attending university I would hear this song a lot.  Anytime there were older guys around at parties with one of their mix tapes this song was often played.  The band Rough Trade had some success with a couple of albums that followed but since the late 80’s/early 90’s have just played in a serious of reunion shows. 

Hot for Teacher, by Van Halen

Keeping with the provocative themes on the first set of school related songs is this rocker from Van Halen from the hit album 1984.  I love Van Halen and I love this album.  This cassette was in my first dozen or so purchases when I started to become a serious collector.  This song is classic Van Halen, the opening drums, the lead in classic Eddie Van Halen guitar and David Lee Roth screams.  The video itself was fun too, much of it set in a classroom where the students ogled over their scantily dressed teacher dancing on her desk.  The eighties....

Don’t Stand So Close To Me, by The Police

Keeping with sexual tension comes this one from The Police but with more serious themes and lyrics.  This song first appeared on The Police’s third album Zenyatta Mondatta.  The track tells of a student’s yearning for her young teacher and perhaps some yearning of him for her too.  The tension between the two ensues and as result there is much talk, rumours and accusations around the classrooms, hallways and staffroom.   The song was re-recorded as part of a 1986 greatest hits package and is toned down particularly during the chorus, which was a little boppy in the original.  The music in this new version gives the song a more serious overall mood.

Back later this week with more School House Rock!