The power music has to get us in a particular mood is pretty, well, powerful.I’m a big believer in music. When Madonna’s 4 Minutes comes on the radio, I can’t help but dance. Obnoxiously. When T.I.’s Hurtis playing, it makes me really want to jump behind the wheel of a low rider and cruise through the streets of suburbia and disturb the peace by playing it as loudly as possible. When Magenta Lane’s Broken Plates is playing, it’s pretty hard to resist picking up some ceramic-ware and chucking it at the wall. Am I exaggerating? Always! But music does have the ability to get you in a particular mood. Why not use that to your advantage and use these songs I’ve hunted down to the the soundtrack to various moments in your academic life?

Browsing the Library Desperately Looking for A Book You Can’t Find: Mystified- Max Greene

Celebrating an A+: Makes Me Smile- Kid Galahad

Your Boy/Girl Friend Broke Up With You The Night Before a Dance (classic high school moment, no?): I Don’t Want To Go To The Party- The Marvelous Darlings

Failling a Test: Killjoy- Clair De Lune

Cheering Up After Failing A Test: The Bright Side- It’s Not Not

Getting Motivated to Write An Essay: In Dream We Make Different Plan- Coem

Going to Summer School: Summer School- The Kung Fu Monkeys

Organizing Your Dorm Room: IKEA- Jonathan Coulton

Making A New Friend On The First Day Of School: O Hello- The Wes Hollywood Show

Driving To University for the First Time: Get In The Car- Hail Social (turn it up really loud and wind down your windows for the best effect)

Sitting Through a Boring Lecture: The Irrationality of Rationality- NOFX

Doing OK on a test: Seventy-four, seventy-five- Shearwater

The Night Before An Exam: Toss and Turn- Pedestrian

Sneaking out of class to go do something more interesting: Coast Is Clear- Inflight Safety

Finally(!) Graduating: Here’s Your Future- The Thermals

I know a lot of you are current going through the end-of-the-school-year stress of exams and summatives and essays and such. So I hope this at least brought a small smile to your face with all the whitty song titles! Good luck on your exams everybody. (Mine are in 3 weeks, so it’s getting to crunch time for me too. *Gulp*)