music.wikisort.org - Composition

"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]

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"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 A&G
Songwriter(s)	Jaret Reddick Adam Schlesinger
Producer(s)	Russ-T. Cobb Jaret Reddick Adam Schlesinger
Bowling for Soup singles chronology
"I Melt with You" (2006) "High School Never Ends" (2006) "When We Die" (2007)

The tune had a prominent outside songwriter, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Tinted Windows, working with the band. It was used in the promos for The Goldbergs spinoff, Schooled.

Song references

The song contains many references to the pop culture of the time. Specific celebrities mentioned include Jessica Simpson (you'll never guess what Jessica did), Mary-Kate Olsen (specifically, her alleged eating disorder - How did Mary Kate lose all that weight?) 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), Reese Witherspoon (Reese Witherspoon, she's the prom queen), Bill Gates (Bill Gates, captain of the chess team), Jack Black (Jack Black, the clown) and Brad Pitt (Brad Pitt, the quarterback). The song satirizes many aspects of early aughts American 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 (possibly in homage to a similar scene in the movie Airplane!).

After a sequence of celebrities references, Jaret Reddick invites a guy onstage who had embarrassed him in high school by pulling down his pants in front of a girl he was obviously attracted to, revealing his pink underwear. Jaret pulls the bully's pants down onstage as his act of revenge. He 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]

Weekly charts

Chart (2006–2007)	Peak position
UK Singles (OCC)[7]	40
US Billboard Hot 100[8]	97
US Pop 100 (Billboard)[9]	79

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[10]	Silver	200,000
United States (RIAA)[11]	Gold	500,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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