When you think back to your own school dances—from buttoned-up proms to casual after-the-ballgame romps—you may feel a tinge of wistful sadness, teenage angst, or residual awkwardness. But no matter the emotion, or perhaps because of it, you probably remember exactly which songs were playing. If you happen to hear an R&B slow jam or a classic rock power ballad on the radio, all of those feelings can come flooding back.While some tracks transcend age, every generation has its definitive slow-dance songs. If you look around online, you'll find numerous threads devoted to the topic, with hundreds of people casting their votes. So let's all shuffle into our collective gymnasium and remember some of these eternal bangers. - YouTube www.youtube.com "I can almost smell the gym full of kids wearing too much cologne"Our first stop is the r/GenX subreddit, where users shared some staples from middle school and high school. The OP mentioned a handful of '80s hits from Journey ("Open Arms," "Faithfully," and "Who's Crying Now") as well as favorites from Foreigner ("Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "I Want to Know What Love Is"). They also highlighted the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes duet "Up Where We Belong," which sounds like it was scientifically engineered for slow dancing. Here are some other popular responses:Bryan Adams - "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"Bryan Adams - "Heaven"Cyndi Lauper - "Time After Time"The Cars - "Drive"Nazareth - "Love Hurts"The Bangles - "Eternal Flame" "OMG," one person wrote. "[R]eading through this I can almost smell the gym full of kids wearing too much cologne and the popcorn machine run by a lunch lady getting in some overtime." - YouTube www.youtube.com "Still love that song!" One song kept popping up in threads for both Xennials and Millennials: K-Ci & JoJo's 1998 R&B anthem "All My Life.""My senior prom, I remember slow dancing to 'All My Life' by K-Ci & JoJo," one user wrote. "Still love that song!" Another Redditor added, "STOP IT. I opened the comments to say exactly this."These other '90s songs also got some votes: Seal - "Kiss From a Rose"Boyz II Men - "End of the Road"Aerosmith - "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"Savage Garden - "I Knew I Loved You"Goo Goo Dolls - "Iris"Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"All-4-One - "I Can Love You Like That"Edwin McCain - "I'll Be"Brian McKnight - "Back at One" But what about the current millennium? Do teenagers even slow-dance these days? In 2023, Billboard's Kyle Denis spoke with a number of DJs to find out whether the ritual has disappeared for Gen Z. It's a fascinating look at shifting cultural norms, including how factors such as the omnipresence of camera phones and the lyrical sentiments of popular songs have helped drive that change."I feel like the content directly relates to it—to me, slow [dancing] goes with more romantic music," said DJ R-Tistic. "Whether it's [Jodeci's] 'Forever My Lady,' a Luther [Vandross] song, or even, for the late '90s, a D'Angelo-Lauryn Hill 'Nothing Even Matters.' Those [songs] are more about romance." - YouTube www.youtube.com