I don’t know if all high schools did this, but when the seniors graduated at mine, the top 10 academic juniors would act as ushers for the outgoing class’s graduation ceremony. A buddy of mine and I were two of these juniors. The week of graduation, instead of going to class, we helped set up the auditorium at our local community college for the ceremony. When we broke for lunch on Tuesday of that week, my buddy and I decided to hit the music store so he could buy Adore, the new Smashing Pumpkins’ record that had just come out that day. My expectations for the album were lower than their previous records because they were without their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, whose playing I absolutely loved and thought was a big part of their sound. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when we popped the disc into the portable CD player my buddy had hooked up in his car. Though it sounded different than their previous efforts, the quality of the music was still top notch, and it wasn’t long after that I ended up buying my own copy.
Song: “For Martha”
Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Songwriter(s): Billy Corgan
Album(s): Adore
Release Year(s): 1998
Song: “Heart Of Glass”
Artist: Blondie
Songwriter(s): Deborah Harry, Chris Stein
Album(s): Parallel Lines
Release Year(s): 1978
I Wish You Would Hear Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jFrq03xPtVVOexYHZF1OW?si=bc9df95d2d854d