Rock ‘n’ Roll High School 69: Marilyn Manson or Aqua, Pick Your Poison

Today’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School comes from totally rad blogger and writer Jenna Cosgrove. If you haven’t checked out the fresh and fun Pop Eighties blog, you need to get on the stick. Jenna is part crazy and part super generous, as she was willing to give me an entire week on Pop Eighties to spout off about the 80s one-hit-wonders that should have been more (The Plimsouls! Hello?), play guest VJ, and do a Q&A about Bring Me Back. A round of applause for Jenna! The other thing that makes her awesome is that her musical tastes are all over the map. Marilyn Manson and Take That! in one post, elated emails about Bruce Springsteen in my inbox. Jenna was even a user of posters as wallpaper in her youth. A woman after my own heart.

Jenna Cosgrove

Aspley State High, Brisbane, Australia, Class of ’98, Currently: She Writes, Blogs, Plays on the Internet

Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: I can’t decide between two songs! The first is “Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson, because I have so many memories of listening to it with my friends at parties, or in my room when I was being a brooding teenager. The other is about as opposite as you can get – “Barbie Girl” by Aqua. Not because I loved it, but because that song was EVERYWHERE when it came out. Even if I hear just a snippet of it, it’s SO 90s that it just takes me right back to school!

Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I had that real typical fan-girl bedroom covered in posters, from about age 8 until I moved out of home at 17. And by covered, I mean PLASTERED – all the walls and even a couple on the ceiling! I’m going to count that as one big piece of memorabilia, because my posters were my life. Well, maybe not my life, but they were a big part of my identity.

Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: I was such an alterno chick in high school, and I was a lot less eclectic in what I would listen to than I am now! For some reason I really disliked R&B music (I listen to a lot of rap and R&B these days), which is what a lot of my classmates loved. In particular, Boyz II Men. I used to diss people for liking them and Mariah Carey, and then they teamed up and did a song together!

Saying that, despite my youthful elitism, I developed this thing for Take That when I was 14. Yes, the British boy band that brought us Robbie Williams! How I could be a scorning rocker while flipping out over the band’s stylized dance moves and matching costumes is one of life’s great mysteries!

Best show or concert you saw in high school: Definitely the Big Day Out, an epic music festival we have here in Oz. They’ve had the most massive names in rock and alternative music up on that stage – think Nirvana, Hole, Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones, Rammstein, Primal Scream, Metallica, the Foo Fighters – the list goes on!

My favorite year was 1997, which had Soundgarden, the Offspring, The Prodigy, Supergrass and Patti Smith, amongst others. I haven’t been to one in years, but back in the day it was a great alternative festival with a darned good mosh pit!

Best high school make-out song: I probably have a very different idea of what makes a good make-out song than a lot of people! Nothing cheesy or romantic, for sure. The best one I can think of is “Common People” by Pulp. I would still make out to that now!

Be sure to check out the Pop Eighties blog and follow Jenna on Twitter @JennaIsWriting!