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Music

We Had a Teen Interview His Teachers About Their Favorite Music

Turns out teachers are pretty cool, just like the rest of us.

[Editor's Note: Hi, Noisey readers! Meet Eli. Eli is a teen from New Jersey who emailed us asking if he could write for us. We said yes, and now we're giving him his very own column called Teen Time! For the first installment of Teen Time!, Eli interviewed his teachers about their favorite music. Turns out Eli's teachers are pretty cool!]

I’m at school for six hours each day, five days a week. Since I’m almost invariably surrounded by teachers, I thought it’d be appropriate to get to know them better—by learning about what they listen to. Here are the results:

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Ms. Novalis (Social Studies; 29 years-old)

“It really depends on what mood I’m in. I listen to everything from classic rock to reggae to contemporary music. My ‘Top Played’ on Spotify includes artists like A Tribe Called Quest, Peter Tosh, Led Zeppelin, and Arcade Fire—it’s quite a mix.”

Student Comments: ATCQ’s political and forward-thinking raps are very compatible with social studies.

Mr. Ford (History; 36 years-old)

“I have like 15,000 songs on my iPod. A lot of it is Phish (my favorite band), but some of it is Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane, and some of it is bluegrass. I’m kind of all over the place.”

Student Comments: Of all the teachers I spoke with, Mr. Ford has the most instrumentally complex choices.

Mr. Sampson (Physics; 26 years-old)

“I mostly like punk and rap music. My favorite punk band is The Clash; I like how they play all styles of music. Recent bands I like are Against Me!, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Titus Andronicus, and Bomb The Music Industry!. And then my favorite rappers are Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Fatlip.

Student Comments: Biggie and Titus! Hell yeah!

Ms. Corporan (Language Arts; 44 years-old)

“I primarily grew up listening to old-school goth - not this stuff that happened in the 90’s, like Marilyn Manson. So Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, and Siouxsie Sioux. I’ve also been listening to electronic, synthpop, and stuff like that. Right now I really like O. Children, Cold Cave, and Light Asylum. For [goth], the 90’s wasn’t always the greatest, but now I feel like stuff is coming out that’s really good, and it’s wonderful.”

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Student Comments: This is the jackpot of goth music.

Mr. Bugg (Chemistry; 38 years-old)

“Generally I like R&B, older hip-hop, and pop music. You know what song I really like right now? Nick Jonas’ ‘Jealous’. It’s a great song. And then ‘Waves’ by Mr. Probz, that’s great.”

Student Comments: I just listened to these songs on YouTube and they’re fantastic.

Ms. Bonvini (English; 51 years-old)

“With classic rock, I like Led Zeppelin and early Kinks. And with punk, I like The Ramones, The Clash, The Descendents, and The Replacements. I just saw The Damned, T.S.O.L., and The Briefs. They were awesome.”

Student Comments: Way cool! Paul Westerberg and The Descendents!

Mr. Esposito (Geometry; 50 years-old)

“Like most people, I’m kind of stuck in the music from my late teens and early twenties: the music that was coming out of CBGB, like Blondie and The Ramones, and the stuff that was coming out of England, like Boomtown Rats and those folks.”
Student Comments: So Espo’s a Boomtown Rats fan. I should’ve asked him if he likes Mondays.

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