Studio 360's Battle of the High School Bands

August 25, 2013 7:15 AM

U.S. public radio program Studio 360 held a battle of the high school bands. Listeners were asked to submit tracks recorded by bands they were in during high school. The submissions, which were recorded in six different decades, are on a Soundcloud page. The judges, Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen selected the winning song, The River, which was made by three young women from the Nashville area who go by Bea, Rita & Maeve. You can hear their song and a cover created by Andrew W.K. and Thao Nguyen here. The show also created two volumes of mixtapes of the best submissions.
posted by Area Man (6 comments total)

Yo Bea, Rita & Maeve, I’m really happy for you, I'mma let you finish, but The Welders had one of the best songs of all time!
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 7:40 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thao Nguyen and her band (Thao and the Get Down Stay Down) are totally awesome...I think they're mostly an opening act for bigger bands now but their music is pretty great. Glad to hear they're getting the attention/collaborations they deserve!
posted by quiet coyote at 7:54 AM on August 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is cool.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:28 AM on August 25, 2013

That is crazy sophisticated and tasteful for high school.
posted by ignignokt at 1:21 PM on August 25, 2013

While the power-ballad-like cover is interesting, it just goes to show there's no real substitute for vocal skill like what these three young women have.
posted by ocschwar at 3:45 PM on August 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

As the music gets more contemporary you can just hear the recording and songwriting abilities rise to the level of technology available. Sure, the more recent songs are less degraded and more available to the members digitally, but still--when you can 8 track vocals in your bedroom with your phone it makes it a lot easier to produce something that sounds like that excellent winner rather than the Pink Slips "Fun In High School". Nevertheless, I prefer the latter. 4Ever Garage Yall.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:59 AM on August 26, 2013