High School Musical Soundtracks

The first High School Musical Soundtrack introduced the world to Troy and Gabriella and the rest of the East High gang. Of the three High School Musical Soundtracks, the first features the greatest number of solid songs ("We're All In This Together," "Breaking Free," etc.), and the most Broadway-like tunes ("What I've Been Looking For," "Stick to the Status Quo"), but also one of the worst songs in the whole series ("Bop to the Top").

The story of East High continues with the High School Musical 2 Soundtrack. Although High School Musical 2 is by far the worst of the three soundtracks, the album does feature one of the best songs in the series, "You Are the Music in Me." The songwriters relied too heavily on reusing ideas from the first soundtrack: the same series of school spirit/breakup/makeup tunes appear in both soundtracks, and HSM 1 featured the basketball-related song "Get'cha Head in the Game," while HSM 2 came up with "I Don't Dance," a tune about baseball. And here's a weird note: The High School Musical 2 Soundtrack was the best-selling CD of 2007, but also set the record as the worst-selling top album of all time, selling only 2.3 million copies that year.

The Wildcats hit the big screen for the third High School Musical outing, and the music is bigger, as well. Overblown productions like the junkyard dance tune "The Boys are Back" and the Broadway-influenced "I Want It All" fully utilize the massive sound that comes with the in-theater experience. The High School Musical 3 Soundtrack sees the East High Wildcats graduate, and songs like "High School Musical" and "Just Wanna Be with You" reflect the kids' wariness of leaving friends and their excitement about the future.

I've picked the highlights of the first three High School Musical Soundtracks for your Wildcats mix tape!