There’s something very special to be said about middle school dances.

What could be better than those angsty preteen years spent in a dark gymnasium with cheap disco lights, friends who don’t know how to grind yet, and highly censored versions of the day’s top hits?

(Okay, so maybe there are a few things in life that are better than that.)

Now that I’m in college, there’s just something about the tremendously better party music (fit for people who actually know how to grind and probably do it way too much) that makes me miss the good old days of going to middle school dances.

(Thank you Fetty Wap, for all the people that I’ve seen getting it on mid-“Trap Queen”, and thank you D.R.A.M., for finally making me think that broccoli is at least kind of cool – in a really twisted sort of way.)

Cue sarcasm.

Sadly, my glory days as a Wildcat at Central Middle School are long gone.

Which only makes it appropriate to reminisce on the days when we didn’t actually know what “brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack” meant, but we just danced to it anyway.

That was middle school. And Ke$ha isn’t the only one who embodies those sweaty middle school grind-fests.

1. “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz

Every last one of us belted the line, “We gon’ go all night” as if it meant something other than going back to our parents’ house to drink punch and play cards all night. We gon’ light it up, fam. Go fish.

2. “Low” by Flo Rida ft. T-Pain

I still don’t know what apple bottom jeans are, to be honest.

3. “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira ft. Wyclef Jean

Did I even have hips in middle school?

4. “Burnin’ Up” by The Jonas Brothers

Yes, I am burning up because it’s 95 degrees in this gymnasium, everyone around me is sweating, and it smells worse in here than it does in the locker room after gym class every day. This dude is either in my way or trying to grind on me – not quite sure which.

5. “Cupid Shuffle” by Cupid

There was always that kid who went to the left, even when the lyrics couldn’t make it any more obvious that it was time to go to the right, to the right, to the right, to the right. Come on, dude. It’s 2007, you should know the Cupid Shuffle by now.

6. “OMG” by Usher ft. will.i.am

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh my gosh, is this song over yet?

7. “Down” by Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne

*crouches a little bit lower every time you hear the word “down”*

8. “TiK ToK” by Ke$ha

As in, tick tock, it’s 10pm. Time for everyone to go home. It’s past curfew.

9. “Crank That” by Soulja Boy Tell’em

That one part of the song that everyone knew the dance moves to, and then the rest of the song where everyone just stood around awkwardly waiting for that first part to play again.

10. “Baby” by Justin Bieber

Back when it was way less cool to admit that you thought Justin Bieber might actually have some talent. But what was a middle school dance without at least one heartthrob? Everyone hated it. But everyone danced to it anyway. (Yes, everyone.)

11. “Cha Cha Slide” by DJ Casper

Everybody clap your hands (because somehow this song stayed cool beyond the year 2000).

12. “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus

Don’t even lie, it took us all at least until 8th grade graduation to figure out that she was saying “LAX”.

13. “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé

The anthem for all of us available 11-year-olds back in the day. Too bad Tinder didn’t exist back then.

Okay, so you’re right. Middle school was pretty treacherous most of the time. Puberty, algebra, and braces just don’t seem to mix well. For anyone. But take yourself back to that middle school dance once (just once), and you just might find a tiny little piece of it that you miss. (Don’t worry, I miss Joe Jonas too.)