Freaks & Geeks Soundtrack Moment OPO

Absolutely. If by "full-blown '80s" you mean skinny ties and dance-oriented new wave. As for "Rock Lobster" coming out in 1979, that's true, but it stuck around suburban Detroit dancefloors (at least ones I remember) a lot longer than Donna Summer (who I actually prefer) did; in fact, by 1981, even the FUNK station in Detroit (WGPR -- again, Electrifying Mojo) was probably playing at least as much B-52s and Devo (and Gary Numan and Kraftwerk and J Geils and Billy Squier etc, and Prince and Kurtis Blow etc.) as Donna Summer (at least at night). (Actually, by 1981, the clubs and radio may have been playing "Private Idaho" instead, come to think of it. And people also would have been dancing to "Turning Japanese." I really think so.)

I kind of like the whole dynamic wherein: freaks : music :: geeks : comedy. If the young guys had been into music, there would have been a lot more "new wave" action on the show.

xp

Also, I wish that the freaks read *Creem*! That would have been very cool (and very accurate, though, okay, maybe *Circus* would have been even more accurate). (By the way, has anybody mentioned that the REAL freaks on the show are the scary bullies who are always picking on the geeks? Which scary bullies are, sadly, never really fleshed out.)

n-by-xpost:
Good point about the music vs. comedy, Matt. I guess this topic is wearing thin, but I wish I hadn't misplaced my High School Yearbook (Class of 1981) so I could count how many people took their quote from "Over The Hills And Far Away."

Oh yeah, at my friends's high schools they would all put on this play called "Sing" every year, and I remember at one of them somebody playing the slow part of "Behind Blues Eyes" but not the fast part.

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I remember the first time I heard Motorhead on late-night radio: OH MY GAWD YOU MEAN HUMANS MAKE THIS NOISE HOLY SHIT!

xpost:
don't make ME go look for f&g axl!

the show takes place in Chippewa, wherever that is (this tidbit is dropped at the beginning of the "punk" episode when Ken wonders why anyone would drop out of school and then "stay in Chippewa")

I never even HEARD of matheletes back then. They definitely never had them at my school; I don't *think* any other suburban Michigan schools had them then (because if they did, I'm sure West Bloomfield would have, too), though I could be wrong. (Either way, am I the only one who thinks it's weird that none of the matheletes are male? And my daughter Coco, who is 15, likes the show a lot but is pissed that there are really no *female* geeks on it; the only *hint* otherwise, in almost the entire series, is one scene where one of the mathelete gals at a table in the cafeteria makes a one-off joke about asotopes - though I guess Millie or Tuba Girl might sort of count; depends what your definition is {not to mention how strict your definition of "girl" is, I guess, in Tuba's case). Either way, I agree that Lindsey is never convincingly either geeky or post-geeky; Coco says she's just whiney, and generally can't stand her. Though I say she's at least not as whiney as Angela Chase on *My So Called Life* was.) (NO girls on Freaks and Geeks are anywhere near as interesting as Rayanne Graf, though, I don't think. Though then again, who is?)

Um, there is one scene where the bowling alley disco is identified as being on 15 Mile, which = Maple Road, which is where the one on Orchard Lake Road on the border of Farmington Hills & West Bloomfield would have been. Chipewa is a non-existent place, I am 99.9999 per cent sure. 18 Mile would be pretty far out -- Milford, Walled Lake, Waterford, Utica, maybe? Though that's only if this is Northern Oakland County. I'd think Sterling Heights would be way closer to Detroit than 18 Mile (if there actually is an 18 Mile Road in real life - I forget), though I could be wrong. Don't have a map handy.

My wife also complained about the heavily-female-slanted Mathletes team, saying that in reality it would all have been guys (tho I should point out there ARE a couple male Mathletes shown in the series). The Mathletes plotline seems to be an amalgamation of a lot of different acamedic "competitions" that go on in high school (Academic Decathlon, Mock Trial, etc.), rather than anything in particular - as such I think it should be forgiven whatever factual lapses it contains. It def. provides a lot of great scenes (mostly because of Millie, and the bitchy chick that Lindsay makes a catty point of defeating)

Honestly? I probably would have *been* one. Scored 200 points higher in math than in verbal on my SATs; 99th percentile. School counselor damn near had a nervous breakdown when I decided to major in journalism in college.

<3 This show, finally saw it recently and hunted down the entire run. I was looking through this wikipedia list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks_and_Geeks_(soundtrack) for best soundtrack moment and I couldn't pin it down! Too many good ones! Ones that stick out are the awesome Van Halen selection, that one episode where it's mostly Who songs (including "Boris the Spider"!!!), the Rush tracks (remind me of my little brother's Peart phase), the solo from the best Queen song ever ("Keep Yourself Alive"), "White Room", The Amboy Dukes.... So many great moments in this show, so many great songs!

OK, is it just me, or is one of the Disco hits played during the Disco episode missing from this list?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks_and_Geeks_(soundtrack)#118:_Discos_and_Dragons

Man, this is near impossible.... But at the moment I'll go with "Whipping Post."

...coming from someone who does not enjoy The Allman Brothers at all, but this episode was the first time I ever enjoyed hearing it.

Revisiting random episodes, just got done with the fake ID one, and the Billy Joel songs are low-key great usages.

Also Kevin Corrigan coming on to Lindsay: "Wanna see Yes at Cobo?...Richie Blackmore's Rainbow is opening..."

Heh, was wondering who would start such a thread.

"Box of Rain," "White Room" and "I'm One" close.