This soundtrack, y’all. So much nostalgia. While there are songs I’m tempted to skip over (hard to abide by a lyric like “Like a fully clothed ho at the peep show”), there are some serious classics: “Dammit,” “It’s Tricky,” “Flashlight,” “Paradise City,” Missy, Busta… This movie hit at just the right time — the summer before I started high school — so the plot and characters seemed serious, way less cartoonish than they do now. I can’t tell you how influential the whole “Nice guys don’t always finish last” message was, both for good and ill. The plot line I should have been paying attention to was Seth Green’s — learning to be true to myself would have prevented some equally horrible fashion choices.

I also wish I’d paid more attention to the movie’s title and checked out the Replacements back then. It took me another 10 years to get into “Can’t Hardly Wait,” and that was only because Justin Townes Earle covered it on his Midnight at the Movies album. I’ll never forget the show at the Southern in Charlottesville when Earle dedicated the song to a friend who had recently died. So much intensity — tears welled up and he had trouble projecting the way he normally does. “Can’t Hardly Wait” has felt absolutely vital since that night, though it’s remained my only window into the world of the Replacements, which is a shame. If anyone has a recommended path into their catalog, I’m all ears.

The Replacements — “Can’t Hardly Wait” [Spotify/iTunes]