When arthritis has attacked our joints and gray hairs have sprung up on our heads, we may find ourselves looking back on our high school years, trying to use whatever we've kept to remind us of those years of youth and beauty. Given the near omnipresence of music in our lives these days, songs are now as nostalgia-inspiring as snapshots. The opening notes of a song or the bridge in a ballad can bring waves of memory back as quickly as an old letter or even a Polaroid of best friends on a beach. What follows is a year by year breakdown of songs to listen to when, in the dimness of a study, hunched over a dusty scrap book, you get the urge to remember what it sounded like to be young too.

An Explanation of Method
Any AP Statistics student will tell you that it's tough to rank anything in absolute terms when you have such a big population to sample from. This is never more true than when trying to rank things like songs or bands. That said, however, the factor that usually sheds light on the choices made by whoever's In Charge is the context in which the things are ranked. Stuyvesant is, despite its traditions of studiousness and success, still a high school. And for all the intelligence and all the accomplishments, we are still growing up, and we need our share of anthems, ballads, and silly love songs. We also need to stay abreast of trends. The lists and rankings will be based on personal taste(one or two picks per list will be Critic Picks chosen by yours truly), rankings by Billboard and the ARC Top 40, and a general memory of what got the most heads nodding or hips swaying at parties or in houses. And now, without further ado, we begin with freshman year, and the first List...

Freshman Year(1998-1999)
As smaller, more awkward versions of what we are now streamed into Stuy, rock n' roll was in a kind of strange limbo. Thanks to the unexpected staying power of hip-hop radio stations like Hot 97, mainstream radio and television were slowly starting to warm up to the idea of introducing hip-hop to their rotations. While pop still reigned supreme on the charts, rock's secondary position was threatened by radio friendly hip-pop icons like Will Smith, whose Big Willie Style was still selling copies a year after its release and rap's newly crowned first lady Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was on its way to becoming a hip hop gemstone. Meanwhile, in the kingdom of pop, the recent Stateside success of the Backstreet Boys led the pop factory Jive Records to take a chance and unveil a dangerously similar group called 'N Sync. Many laughed. Others grimaced. But no one seemed to notice that the tide was turning. In September that year, Marilyn Manson's fourth album had screamed that rock was dead. As it turned out, Manson declaration wasn't wrong. It was just ahead of schedule.

The Top Ten
10. Pras, Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mya - "Ghetto Supastar"
Two MCs and a songbird join forces, the result goes platinum, and a tradition is born.

9. Britney Spears - "...Baby One More Time"
With a cute lil' tummy, a Catholic schoolgirl outfit and an army of Swedish producers, you too can be famous!

8. 'N Sync - "I Want You Back"
In the video, Chris Kirkpatrick is wearing braces, and the single still sells millions of copies. Orthodontists everywhere cheer.

7. CRITIC'S PICK: UNKLE - "Rabbit in Your Headlights"
Thom Yorke prophesies his rise to fame. DJ Shadow and Danny Aiello show up. Spooky. In more ways than one.

6. CRITIC'S PICK: Lauryn Hill - "Lost Ones"
The ex-Fugee steps up to the mic. And ROCKS it.

5. KoRn - "Got the Life"
Angstmeister Jonathan Davis dons an Adidas jumpsuit, and gets away with it.

4. Will Smith - "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It"
No cursing. No violence. Just lots of nah nah nah's and bubble jackets. Rap-hating parents everywhere relent.

3. TLC - "No Scrubs"
After this hit the radio, the men shot back(remember "Pigeons"?). The ladies must've struck a nerve.

2. Goo Goo Dolls - "Slide"
A love story involving abortion! The band's pro-life fans seem not to care. At all.

1. Lauryn Hill - "Doo Wop (That Thing)"
Aforementioned ex-Fugee writes massive song about relationships and gender differences. For the ages.


Sophomore Year(1999-2000)
The increased workloads. The new (but fake) millennium. Y2K. Oddly enough, the presence of all these ominous things didn't seem to phase pop music, which grew brighter and sweeter with every passing month. From his pulpit in Times Square, Carson Daly heaped boy bands and girly crooners onto America in TRL's Top Ten, and the sales war between the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync became very real. Even Britney was faced with a little piece of competition named Christina Aguilera. Rap kept itself in the spotlight two ways: flash artist Jay-Z teamed with pop icon Mariah Carey in a move that helped both parties, while DMX kept it real with rough tales of the ghetto. Meanwhile, mainstream rock had entered a wintry quiet, a kind of hibernation it would remain in until the coming summer. Nine Inch Nails' incredible The Fragile didn't make it on the radio, and after a surprising #1 debut on the Billboard 200, it quickly plummeted. KoRn had ceased to be important, and rock's former champions like U2, Metallica, and the Foo Fighters were all either on tour, between albums, or busy rearranging themselves. Nü-metal would make a play for pop's throne at the end of the year, but until it did, our second year in Stuy belonged to the pop stars.

The Top Ten
10. Christina Aguilera - "Genie in a Bottle"
No means yes means no means yes means yes means no I'm horny except I'm virginal except I want sex. Get it?

9. Britney Spears - "Crazy"
It left enough of a mark on us that we used it in Junior SING! 2001. Now let us never speak of it again.

8. Macy Gray - "I Try"
A silly love song delivered through the craziest set of pipes pop has ever heard. Goofy.

7. CRITICS PICK: Nine Inch Nails - "Starfuckers, Inc"
Trent Reznor resurrects arena rock to hate on Marilyn Manson. By the song's end, you can almost see the pyro.

6. CRITICS PICK: Handsome Boy Modeling School - "Metaphysical"
Mike D of the Beastie Boys and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto guest on the same track, rhyme about nothing. Indisputable proof that weird is an essential element of cool.

5. DMX - "Party Up"
Gotta love the single that turned barking into a party sound. Animal rights activists are cautiously jubilant.

4. Limp Bizkit - "Nookie"
Stupid lyrics. Stupid video. Stupid band. The song: STUPID nice.

3. Eminem - "The Real Slim Shady"
Dre rocks a harpsichord loop and Em raps about...something. Fame? Censorship? Maybe? Anybody?

2. Moby - "Porcelain"
Thanks to this single, which was used in every commercial under the sun, Moby is now totally on 5th Avenue's Christmas card lists.

1. Backstreet Boys - "I Want it That Way"
Pop genius Max Martin's finest hour in ESL song craft. Impossibly catchy.


Junior Year(2000-2001)
In a year where the biggest efforts were required just to keep our heads above water academically, pop took unprecedented control of the charts. Rather than try to fight with rap and R 'n B for control of MTV and Billboard, producers and artists simply began to melt the three rival genres together. Hotshot producers like Timbaland and the Neptunes began working for people like Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez became J-Lo (and oh how we laughed), Destiny's Child became a Z100 staple, and the synthesis was on. Meanwhile, on the second and third tiers of the Billboard charts, music had become exciting again. Three huge records exploded out of England, but by the time they got across the pond, and after the shock of a number one debut for Radiohead's Kid A had worn off, the youth media moved on. But Stuyvesant didn't. As some fans mourned the apparent demise of OK Computer's guitars, others took heart and rejoiced in the arrival of Coldplay and Travis, two UK products that had taken a page out of Radiohead's old play book, with differing degrees of success. Others cheered the return of female rock and roll goddesses Fiona Apple and PJ Harvey. Still others roared with happiness as Rage Against the Machine showed the nü-metal movement how it should be done one last time. By the year's end, as everybody stormed out of the Physics Regents, it was clear to everybody that greater, the best, lay ahead.

The Top Ten
10. Daft Punk - "One More Time"
French robots make music. Maintenant c'est l'heure quand nous dansons! Hon hon hon!

9. CRITICS PICK: Radiohead - "Idioteque"
Psychiatrists are still chewing on what could be wrong with Thom Yorke.

8. Jennifer Lopez - "Love Don't Cost a Thing"
Puffy's influence on J-Lo's career: mentor, or male Yoko? YOU decide.

7. Destiny's Child - "Independent Women Part One"
Feminist groups everywhere try and fail miserably to adopt as an anthem. They play it on the beach instead.

6. Rage Against the Machine - "Sleep Now in the Fire"
The scholar-rockers show Fred Durst what nü-metal was like before it got dumbed down and partied up.

5. CRITICS PICK: The Dandy Warhols - "Get Off"
The Best British Band from America dust off their old Clash and Stones, then a write righteous, rollicking song.

4. Madonna - "Music"
Backed by some très chic production courtesy of Mirwais, Madonna shows that even moms can boogie down.

3. Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya, and Lil' Kim - "Lady Marmalade"
Thanks to the 70's remake, French gets hip again. French whore makeup, however, does not.

2. OutKast - "Mrs. Jackson"
A love story from the rap and style gods down in the ATL. Ahead of the curve.

1. Coldplay - "Yellow"
Truly wonderful. Now we know why musicians get all the girls.


Senior Year(2001-2002)
The biggest and most stressful year in our Stuy careers also featured some of the most entertaining musical occurrences. Mainstream rock had found a new champion in Train, whose "Drops of Jupiter" rocketed up the singles charts and by the summer's end, most people could be seen singing or nodding along every time it came on the radio. Thanks to Dan Nakamura, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, a band made up of cartoon characters went on tour. Other highlights included a nu-metal album that featured not a single curse word, a pop metal album that screamed about coke, groupies, and the prison system all at once, and a seventeen year old wunderkind who elevated R 'n B by getting behind a piano and letting herself out. Rock had lost some of the academic steam it had built up the year before, and nu-metal sparked back to life. As second term arrived, and we grew our closest before we would finally scatter, the music went on, just as we would: different, and still growing.

The Top Ten
10. System of a Down - "Chop Suey!"
Furious, strange, completely senseless. A welcome presence in the Top Ten.

9. Britney Spears - "I'm a Slave 4 U"
Is this the little girl I carried...? DAMN. Girl grew up.

8. Ludacris - "Saturday"
How you gon' act like this song don't...um, yeah. It's good.

7. Alicia Keys - "Fallin"
The first sixteen year old to get away with singing the love songs she sings? How? She actually writes them.

6. Ja Rule featuring Case - "What I Do"
Mix one weird voice with one high voice and whaddaya get? Dance floor favorite, baby, yeah!

5. Gorillaz - "Clint Eastwood"
Remember the Animaniacs? Picture Wakko, Yakko, and Dot, post-art school, in a band with their pothead friends. RIIIIGHT?

4. Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule - "I'm Real"
Like Ja Rule muses in the remix: It MUST be the ass.

3. CRITICS PICK: The Strokes - "Last Nite"
Rich people have feelings too, y'know.

2. Train - "Drops of Jupiter"
Never before has middle-of-the-road sounded so good.

1. CRITICS PICK: Ryan Adams - "New York, New York"
People are comparing him to Dylan. It might be premature, but the early signs are encouraging.