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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nWhen you\u2019re in high school, you\u2019re looking for two wildly divergent things. First, you\u2019re looking to belong. That\u2019s different for everyone \u2013 and as the practically-a-documentary The Breakfast Club taught us, where you belong can be entirely up to you. The point is finding like-minded people one way or another, so you\u2019re not a total outcast or adrift on a sea of isolation. Second, you\u2019re looking for your identity. You want to know who you really are, and how deeply that\u2019s driven is based on so many factors, not the least of which is how comfortable you are with the truth. I DO NOT have a deep nostalgia for any of my school years. So many great things happened, and I\u2019m grateful for the people who still mean something to me, but I have no desire to revisit any year prior to college. What I DO have a nostalgia for is the music, and how & why I was into it.\n\nAgent Orange was one of SEVERAL artists my great friend Mike Smith (not his real name \u2026 actually it\u2019s totally his real name) got me into, along with U2, Violent Femmes, Husker Du, even Bowie. Mike and the music we listened to served BOTH of the above purposes: he & they gave me a sense of belonging, of not being alone in my quirky & edgy & soft & eclectic tastes; and they also helped me to define all those individualistic qualities for myself. I was an academic star & music/theater performer on the surface, but deep down I was a rage-filled, confused, anti-social, sex-crazed teen, trying so hard to both acknowledge and suppress all that all at once. It sucked \u2013 thus why I don\u2019t care to revisit the era. But as with SO MANY eras, the music that comforted and defined and saved me will always be precious.\n\nOh yeah, so the actual music. They were one of the first surf punk bands, straight out of Southern Cal. Their name shows how early they formed (1979), as the Viet Nam War was still a HUGE presence at the time. Surf punk is still a vibrant thing in 2020 (Wavves anyone?), and a whole bunch of non-punk bands have incorporated it into their shite as well. To be able to combine the bright ebullience of surf rock with the dark power of punk is a great thing, and again up my alley because of the chiaroscuro-ness of it. I\u2019ve done a good handful of songs like this, but the OBVIOUS CHOICE for this week\u2019s Nick/REC song is an ACTUAL AGENT ORANGE COVER. From this here album, the breakout hit \u201cIn Your Dreams Tonight\u201d. I took it in a shoegaze downbeat emo direction, cuz ain\u2019t no reason to recreate an absolute classic:\n\nREC - \u201cIn Your Dreams Tonight\u201d (from the album Syzygy for the Weird)\n\nOther than that track and \u201cIt\u2019s In Your Head\u201d, I can\u2019t begin to pick favorites. The whole album works for me.\n\nDo you have any experience with surf punk or earlier surf rock or Cali music or punk of any kind? Or what was the music that helped get you through high school or some other tough time in your life? Discuss dammit!\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices