Music Monday 🎧 Songs I Jammed Before I Turned Emo

Believe it or not I didn’t always used to be Emo/Pop Punk Trash™ there was even a time when I didn’t even really listen to music. I KNOW, RIGHT? Anyway, I thought it’d be interesting to look back at some of the songs I listened to before I discovered the wonder that was MySpace and black eyeliner. You can actually sorta pinpoint when it all started to head that way before I even realised myself. I’m also hardcore showing my age in this post because these are all songs from the late 90s-early 00s.

There are SO MANY bands I didn’t mention in this post, but I feel like there’s too many already. My parents mostly listened to 80’s Glam Metal and Pub Rock so those bands really influenced me.

To sum up my music taste Pre-2005 then all I’ll say is: So Fresh CDs.

PHASE ONE: Kid Lauren Has No Idea What’s She’s Doing

Ahh yes. My parents owned this album on CASSETTE TAPE. I had no idea what was happening, but I remember thinking these girls were SO DAMN COOL. I was 7 and I just wanted to be them??? I would ALWAYS wear my hair like Baby Spice. Also, in year 3 me and a group of girls did a dance to this in front of the entire class???

Another artist my parents always listened to was Shania Twain. I especially love this song because it was also their wedding song and I was a bridesmaid so it’s still really special to me.

B*Witched’s album is one of the FIRST albums I ever bought for myself. I still know all the words to this song and jam out to it if it ever comes up on shuffle.

Who didn’t go through a Backstreet Boys phase? Unless you were insistently Team N*Sync. I still love their music, honestly. I think Nick Carter was my first “real crush” which is super embarrassing, but I was a pre-teen in the 90s so what do you expect?

Do I even need to say anything? Kid me had so many unrealistic expectations of high school because of this video.

I can’t even express my love for S Club 7. I had EVERYTHING they ever released. This magazine thing they had. Their dolls. I watched the TV series over and over. I LOVE THEM.

Yep, Avril is in the “Kid Lauren” phase because I was 12 when I first bought her Let Go album. I don’t really think I was old enough to appreciate Avril and everything she stood for, but I think it was when I started to realise I didn’t want to be the way that I thought I had to be? I just wasn’t old enough to really figure it out. Anyway. I used to play her CD on repeat so much that my mum actually took it off me because she was sick of hearing it lmao.

PHASE TWO: Lauren Tries Too Hard to Fit in at School

The phase where I listened to nothing but Rap and Hip Hop because that’s what everyone at my school listened to and I just wanted to have some friends lmao. Honestly, I genuinely still like all these songs. There isn’t really much to say about this. I just really loved Nelly and Ja Rule and Ashanti collabs. I still have the most vivid memory of singing/dancing to Ride Wit Me at my Year 7 camp disco?????

PHASE THREE: Lauren is Pop … Rock?

Hilary Duff aka My Queen. I remember getting this album for Christmas and we were going on a road trip and I played it the ENTIRE TIME ON A PORTABLE CD PLAYER. I honestly love Hilary Duff so much.

Ahh, Delta. I think ever teenage girl in Australia went through a stage where they were in love with her. She was one of my biggest inspirations as an early teen. I used to even post regularly on her “official forum”.

The Love of 15 Year Old Lauren’s Life. You don’t even understand how badly I wanted to live in this music video. I was so jealous.

Some of you may know Tammin Sursok as Jenna from Pretty Little Liars, but I know her as Dani from the Aussie soap Home and Away. She was my favourite. When she left the show she tried the whole singing thing. I love her music, but she only ever made one album which made me sad haha. I think she did a cover of Say Something a few years back? I was actually a moderator on her official Sony forum when I was 15 (I thought I was so cool) and I met some of the best people and I’m still friends with a couple of them!!

PHASE 4: Lauren is 00s Rock

Remember that era were all that was on the radio was Pop Rock-ish bands? And that sound that I can only think to describe as “2000s Rock” ??? Yeah. THAT WAS MY LIFE. I know Iris was released in 1998, but I never heard it until the early 00s, so it counts.

PHASE FIVE: Lauren is Almost Emo™

I jammed this SO much. Ironically, I now feel like I am the woman in this video. Kind of. Except with no kids and if you replace 1985 with 2005.

I had no idea who Green Day or Good Charlotte were??? I literally had NO IDEA that they were some of the biggest and most influential bands in the Alt music scene I just remember thinking these songs sounded REALLY cool. It was also the first time I listened to something that had a lot more guitar/drum than most radio songs.

Kisschasy is the band that made me absolutely fall in love with and appreciate music on a whole new level. Before this I just listened to generally Top 40 stuff. I saw this video on Video Hits (there’s a throwback, Aussies!!) and I just fell in love??? This band is the reason I decided that I wanted music to be a part of my life forever. It’s what made me realise that there was more out there than just whatever the radio played. Sadly, I never got to see them live before they broke up but I still appreciate them so much for what they did.

I saw the video for Perfect on Channel [V] and at first I didn’t like it. At all. Every time it came on I would change the channel lmao. Then I just decided to leave it on and the more I heard it the more I loved it??? I literally had no idea what Pop Punk even was, but this song all of a sudden just became my life. Then I heard Welcome To My Life and it’s going to make me sound lke the most CLICHE TEENAGE EVER, but it was the FIRST TIME I felt like someone TRULY got me. I was a 15 year old trying to deal with a mental illness that I knew nothing about and all the thoughts in my head made me feel so alone because I  knew no one who felt that way. Then I heard this song and I was just like someone FINALLY GOT WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE ME. It was life changing. Simple Plan is the reason why I found Fall Out Boy (which is how I ultimately found MySpace and everything else). Simple Plan finally helped me figure out who I wanted to be and then when I found Fall Out Boy it cemented it.

Because I have no self control I made a playlist with a BUNCH more songs on it, so check that out for a Nostalgia Overload!!

What are some of the earliest songs that you remember listening to?

Did you listen to any of these? Would love to hear your thoughts!

I hope you’re all having a fantastic day.

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