Skool is Kool

Top of the class!!!

So, Dearest Friends, it's that glorious time of the year when those of us with offspring dance a merry jig of relief as wee Cressida and Tarquin return to the hallowed halls of edjikaishun. Hip! No more whines of "Daddy, I'm BORED, there's NOTHING to do!!" Hip! No more scraping young faces off of TV screens after multi-hour Babarfests. Hooray! No more negotiations over extended bedtimes because it's still light and we have no school tomorrow.

But then there's also the Yah! of no more long afternoons spent discovering beachcombing treasure. The Boo! of waiting another year until the next PNE. The Sucks! of no more leisurely barbecues that ignore prescribed lights-out time.

You can't win. Or lose.

Anyway, yes, this week it's Back to School of the bairns, and also for Contrast Podcast! The curriculum for this week looks, as usual, extremely varied and rich. So sit up, no talking, download the 'cast here, and write your essays here. Pay attention: the lesson is about to begin...

(00:00) Cocoanut Groove - End of the summer on Bookbinder Road
Tim from The face of today

(03:16) Thee More Shallows - Night at the knight school
Linda from Speed of dark

(07:45) Nirvana - School
Chris from Phosphorous.net

(10:43) Blackalicious - Chemical calisthenics
James from Jamesisadork

(14:16) Billy Bragg - The Saturday boy
Greg from Broken Dial

(17:44) Kraftwerk - Pocket calculator
Mark from Cinema du Lyon

(23:19) Suicidal Tendancies - Institutionalized
FiL from Pogoagogo

(29:41) Adam Franklin - Seize the day
Marcy from Lost in your inbox

(32:13) Yves Montand - En sortant de l’ecole
English translation of this song

ZB from So the wind won’t blow it all away

(35:29) Black Box Recorder - The school song
Matthew from Song by Toad

(40:01) Kid Harpoon - Childish dreaming days
Crash from Pretending life is like a song

(43:07) Patty Larkin - The book I’m not reading
Anna from Music I-Quiz

(47:39) Rockpile - Teacher teacher
Natalie from Mini-obs

(51:16) The Odds - Love is the subject
Tom from Better in the Dark

(56:34) The Replacements - Fuck school
Ross from Just gimme indie rock

In packing my schoolbag, I carefully considered what ditty to bring to class. Here are the ones that almost made the grade:

GWAR - School's Out (buy here)
A cover of the Alice Cooper classic, soaked in GWAR's patented blend of bodily fluids. Dismissed on the basis that the theme was back to school, not school's out. But then again the lyrics do exclaim "School's out for-EVAHHHH!!"

Ramones - Rock 'n' Roll High School (buy here)
My Forest Hillz homiez teaching us all how it really is. ONETWOFREEFOAH!!! P.S. I love you, Riff Randell...

The Adored - Chemistry (buy here)
I hated chemistry, but our high school chem teacher was a scream. An unprepossessing dwarf of a Hungarian, he would regale us with low-key stories of being arrested as a lad for dropping boxes of sodium from Budapest bridges into the Danube (sodium + water = BOOOOM!). Oh, the Adored? Hollywood power pop punx in something of a 1977 stylee, and new best friends of Buzzcocks. Rather nice fellows too, even if ex-singer Ryan put a boot in my ear when I saw them support Messrs Shelly & Diggle.

OK, I know I missed teaching you the Moustache class last week. But I, er, um, have a doctor's note. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, your homework for next week: 1977. Learn how to submit your assignment here.