take Us back

You HAD to Be There

- Yana Grebenyuk / With reporting by Christina Garibaldi & Sarah Hearon

THE MOMENT: Twenty Years Ago, Disney Channel Bopped to the Top With Its Star-Making Film Smash High School Musical

Who would have thought that a meet-cute between teen basketball player Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and studious transfer Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) would result in two decades of music, memes and memories? Premiering Jan. 20, 2006, High School Musical started out as Disney Channel's attempt to replicate the success of The Cheetah Girls but turned into a celebration of you-do-you nonconformism through the lens of teenagers on the brink of adulthood. And we all have that one HSM song we can't get out of our head, whether it's "Start of Something New," "Get'cha Head in the Game" or "We're All in This Together."

WHO WAS INVOLVED