Broke-Ass Learning: Random Things I Learned From Songs

In middle school, the biggest problem in my suburban world was whether to get a Jansport or Eastpak back pack. If I recall correctly, my mom got me a LL Bean backpack that she said I could “reuse until high school.” I died. My second biggest problem was convincing my dad to make a Sam’s Club run so that I could get economy packs of Airheads to use as currency in the under-the-desk candy trade of my seventh grade science class. Rough life. With all this taking up most of my brain space, I had little time left for actual learning and things of that nature – getting an education was very secondary to my newly-active social life.

However, unintentionally, I did end up gleaning some useful information from songs of the era, thanks to my obsessive need to transcribe song lyrics to one-subject notebooks with the use of my handy two deck cassette tape recorder and radio. Instead of doing homework, I spent hours in front of my boom box, fingers poised to hit down on “record” and “play” at the same time so that I could make mix tape after mix tape of crappy 1995 era songs. Hey, this was before the internet, people.

Contrary to my mother’s assertion that the alt-rock of the nineties would “rot my brain,” I feel it has done quite the opposite. Here are some of the more useful nuggets of info I was first exposed to in all their mid-nineties angsty glory. Thanks, Eddie Vedder!

Artist/Song: Green Day, “Redundant”
Word/Def: Redundant, adj. (of words or data) Able to be omitted without loss of meaning or function
Used in a sentence: “I cannot speak / I’ve lost my voice / I’m speechless and redundant”

Artist: U2
Word/Def: Achtung, a German word meaning “attention!”
Used in a sentence: “Achtung, Baby”

Artist/Song: Rx Bandits, “Analog Boy”
Word/Def: Analog, adj. Relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage
Used in a sentence: “Analog boy in a digital world. Eeeooooh!”

Artist/Song: Local H, “Bound for the Floor”
Word/Def: Copacetic, adj. In excellent order
Used in a sentence: “And you just don’t get it / you keep it copacetic”

Artist/Song: Pearl Jam, “Daughter”
Word/Def: Listless, adj. Lacking in energy or enthusiasm
Used in a sentence: “Alone / listless / breakfast table in an otherwise empty room”

Artist/Song: Smashing Pumpkins, “Disarm”
Word/Def: Disarm, v. To render harmless
Used in a sentence: “Disarm you with a smile:

Artist/Song: EELS, “Novocaine for the Soul”
Word/Def: Novocaine, Prescription drug used to cause numbness or loss of feeling to an area of your body. This medicine is a type of anesthesia
Used in a sentence: “Novocaine for the soul / You better give me something / To fill the hole”

Artist/Song: Offspring, “Bad Habit”
Word/Def: “Dumb sh*t,” “g*dd*mn,” “motherf*cker”
Used in a sentence: OK, fine mom, you got ONE

And finally …

Artist/Song: Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping”
Word/Def: Pissing, v. Urinate
Used in a sentence: “Pissing the night away / Pissing the night away”

Photo Credit: 8tracks.com