Currently, I have been watching reruns of the S Club 7 series that came out in the late 90s through the early 2000s.  All of you millennials out there know exactly what show I am talking about and are secretly hoping that their 2015 UK reunion tour becomes a world reunion tour.  Needless to say watching this show brought back some nostalgic memories growing up and how great pop music is on top of being catchy as hell.  So, this is an ode to those bands and that great music genre that I secretly had dance parties to in my room as a teenager.  Where I bruised myself a lot trying to come up with cool dance moves while banging into brass bed posts and large wooden furniture.  Good to know that nothing has changed now that I am almost 30; minus the fact that I don’t really do it in secret anymore.

Being a teenager in the late 90s through the early 2000s, music was my escape from life.  Because as a teenager every problem means your life is over.  I don’t know what it is about society, but when you are a teenager, no matter what decade, music has such a profound affect on you for some reason.  Sometimes its relatable lyrics, a catchy tune, or a way to block out your parents from yelling at you about something.  So here are five songs that stick out in my mind the most during “my life is over” phase:

S Club 7 “Bring It All Back” – The years of fox family where my brother and I would be fighting over the TV and I was yelling at him to stop switch between channels.  Something we still fight about to this day when we are watching TV together.  Anyway, this group of British singers, four girls and three boy who came to America to find fame and fortune which they did once they finally got to Los Angeles and Greg Brady (Barry Williams) became their manager.  “Bring It All Back” is one of those inspirational songs about believing in yourself and it doesn’t hurt that it has a nice clean four count beat.

LMNT “Juliet” – Before Matthew Morrison became Mr. Shue on Glee he was in LMNT.  The band was a one hit wonder and I didn’t buy the single till a few years ago after I heard it on a sound system in an H&M store.  After that day, I began frantically searching for what band sang that song.  Every friend I asked had no idea what I was talking about since there are a ton of songs with the title “Juliet.”  But after being on YouTube for a few hours I finally found “Juliet.”

Hilary Duff “Sweet Sixteen” – MTV was starting to come out with a bunch of various reality shows.  “My Super Sweet Sixteen” was all about bratty rich girls and their sweet sixteen parties.  I only watched to see the yelling fit they would pull whether it was that the convertible she got was the wrong right color or that her best friend embarrassed her by dancing the wrong way at her party.  This show is the whole reason why I cannot stand most reality TV shows.  The one good thing about the show was the theme song used.  “Sweet Sixteen” from Hilary Duff’s debut album “Metamorphosis” came out during Duff’s popularity high of the disney channel show Lizzie McGuire.

Fountains of Wayne “Stacy’s Mom” – This song is a classic and for some reason everyone thinks Bowling for Soup sang it, but it is really the pop-punk band Fountains of Wayne.  This song is inappropriate at every turn between using a girl at school to get to her mom to hitting on a woman who is out of your league and is never going to give you the time of day in any sexual way.  This song is for all those boys who have fantasies of older women who they will never get.

Backstreet Boys “Larger Then Life” – The forever feud of Backstreet Boys verses N’SYNC.  Personally, I had all the albums from both groups, but I probably would have been killed if I told a teenage girl that back in the 90s/00s.  Before their was One Direction there were the Backstreet Boys who I know didn’t play instruments, but they danced so it was just as good in my opinion.  This song has a special place in my heart because at one of my many dance camps that I went to growing up we became obsessed with this song.  Five us decided in our weekly talent show that were going to dress up like the Backstreet Boys (with wigs and using mascara and eyeliner pencils to draw facial hair) and create our own choreographed routine to this song.  I can still do that dance by heart, but hey just like the Boys go big or go home.

Oh the memories of my youth.  Everyone says that their generation was the best growing up, but I can honestly say that if you were a 90s/ early 00s kid you had it made.  Don’t get me wrong I still like pop music to this day and you might catch me dancing to some Austin & Ally tunes in my Boston Apartment or One Directions “One Thing”, but I am always excited when I hear a song that brings me back to my years of no responsibilities.  To all the teenagers out there, try not to grow up too fast because your youth is the best time to indulge yourself in pop music and dance like a crazy person.  Adulthood will be there after you have left the phase of “my life is over.”