High School Never Ends
"High School Never Ends" is a song by American rock band Bowling for Soup. The song was the first single from the group's sixth album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case, and was released on September 19, 2006. The song deals with the frustration of graduating from high school and seeing that modern popular culture is very similar to the obnoxiously superficial and materialistic culture in high school.[2]
| "High School Never Ends" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Bowling for Soup | ||||
| from the album The Great Burrito Extortion Case | ||||
| Released | September 19, 2006 | |||
| Recorded | May 15 - June 14, 2006 Ruby Red Productions Atlanta, Georgia Pulse Recording Silverlake, California Rosewater Studios Tulsa, Oklahoma | |||
| Genre | Pop punk[1] | |||
| Length | 3:28 | |||
| Label | Jive, Zomba | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jaret Reddick, Adam Schlesinger | |||
| Producer(s) | Russ-T. Cobb, Jaret Reddick, Adam Schlesinger | |||
| Bowling for Soup singles chronology | ||||
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The tune had a prominent outside songwriter, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Tinted Windows, working with the band. It was heard in the promos in The Goldbergs spinoff, Schooled.
Song references
The song contains many references to the pop culture of the time. Specific celebrities mentioned include Mary-Kate Olsen (specifically, her alleged eating disorder - How did Mary Kate lose all that weight?), Jessica Simpson (you'll never guess what Jessica did), Bill Gates (Bill Gates, captain of the chess team), Reese Witherspoon (Reese Witherspoon, she's the prom queen), Jack Black (Jack Black, the clown), Brad Pitt (Brad Pitt, the quarterback) and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight, also a reference to his litigation against journalists/paparazzi who questioned his sexuality). The song satirizes many aspects of today's society and its scrutiny of celebrity lives.[3]
Music video
Directed by Frank Borin, the video focuses on the band members going to their high school reunion, while another version of them performs the song onstage.[3] They arrive, instantly recognizing people from the past that bullied them. During a montage, the band gets revenge on their former bullies in situations similar to their high school past.
The first flashback shows Gary Wiseman getting a wedgie by some bullies, who hang him on the flagpole by his underwear. Gary takes his revenge by grabbing the underwear of the bully and pulling it over his head while he is still wearing it.
The next flashback involves Erik Chandler getting a note reading "kick me" taped to his back by a jock. Erik gets him back by sticking the punch bowl sign (which simply reads "PUNCH") on his back; this starts a queue of people ready to punch the jock, including a nun, a pimp, a cowboy and a knight in armor.
After the sequence of celebrities references, Jaret Reddick invites a guy onstage who had embarrassed him at high school, by pulling down his pants in front of a girl he was obviously keen of, revealing his pink underwear. Jaret pulls his pants down onstage as his act of revenge. The popular guy then explodes in embarrassment after a sign stating "TOO SMALL FOR TV" appears strategically over his crotch.
Finally, Chris Burney has a flashback of him being slipped a laxative by a cheerleader and manages to get his own back by consuming a massive sub sandwich, a chili removed from his pants, a white mouse, gasoline, and a goldfish. After jiggling around, he then confronts the popular girl and presents the contents of his stomach upon her–by projectile vomiting. After Chris' revenge, the band finishes the song, Jaret sticks his guitar pick to his rather sweaty forehead and the video ends with a disclaimer that states "No animals or children under 15 were harmed in the making of this video".
Radio Disney edit
A separate edit of the song was recorded for Radio Disney, which altered the lyrics throughout:
- In the first verse, the line ".. all the total dicks" is changed to ".. all the popular cliques". (In most radio edits, the word "dicks" is silenced.)
- In the chorus, “the whole damn world” is altered to say “the whole wide world”, while ".. who's having sex" is changed to ".. what's been suppressed", and ".. who gets the honeys" is changed to ".. who thinks they're funny". Also, the alternative version of the second chorus has the line "Who’s in the club and who’s on the drugs, Who’s throwing up before they digest" removed entirely.
- The second verse line "How did Mary-Kate lose all that weight? And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight" is changed to "How does Mary-Kate always look so great? And Katie's with Tom, OK, I've got that straight".
Chart performance
On the week of November 25, 2006, "High School Never Ends" debuted and peaked at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, before leaving the chart completely.[4] For the week ending January 28, 2007, the song debuted at number 70 on the UK Singles Chart.[5] It peaked at number 40 the next week and remained on the chart for four weeks.[6]
| Chart (2006–07) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC)[7] | 40 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[8] | 97 |
| US Pop 100 (Billboard)[9] | 79 |
References
- Pauker, Lance (January 22, 2014). "49 Phenomenally Angsty Pop-Punk Songs From The 2000s You Forgot Existed". Thought Catalog. The Thought & Expression Co. Archived from the original on October 10, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- Bowling For Soup – High School Never Ends, retrieved 2019-10-13
- Songfacts. "High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup - Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
- "The Hot 100: November 25, 2006". Billboard. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 28 January 2007". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- "High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup". aCharts.co. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- "Bowling for Soup Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- "Artist Chart History - Bowling for Soup". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2009-05-20.