This was fun! My suggestions are either themed around sleep or waking, and some are simply weird or discordant. All should be suitable for teenagers. Mostly older stuff that should jangle their brain a bit.
Something classical: Flight of the Bumblebee
A country earworm: Is this the way to Amarillo? by Tony Christie
Disco nonsense: Shake shake shake shake your booty by KC and the Sunshine Band
Punk chaos: 10% Weird by The Meanies
Thumping house: 74 is the new 24 by Giorgio Moroder
Japanese blues: Akita Ondo by George & Noriko
80s hard rock: All Fired Up by Fastway
Bluey’s Dad used to be the lead singer in an indie guitar band: Apartment by Custard
RnB: Back to Life by Soul II Soul
80s pop: Beat It by Michael Jackson
Rap: Body Movin by the Beastie Boys
Something French: Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand
80s metal: Come and Get It by Judas Priest
Scare them awake with some industrial noise: Come to Daddy by Aphex Twin
80s synth pop: Dreaming Of Me by Depeche Mode
Indie: Dreams by Beck
Reggae: Get Up Stand Up by Bob Marley and the Wailers
Naughties pop: Wake Up by Arandhna
+1 if it is a food tour. That’s my go-to for a new country.
(I’m talking about international travel mainly, although my process also works for longer domestic trips.)
My longer answer is “it depends on what sort of traveller you are and how long you’ve got.” Want to catch the main sights quickly? A hop on hop off bus loop can get you past the big ones with commentary in an hour or two and help you orient yourself in a new city, which can be a good way to fill a layover. For a longer visit, I like to start with a food tour, as you tend to pick up all sorts of local knowledge. For example, visiting Hanoi a few years ago we did a food tour on the first night there and our guide got us comfortable crossing the road on foot.
When we do a walking tour we look for the slightly oddball or themed ones because we’re not that much into mass market tourism and prefer to get more of a local experience that way. I find sites like Viator, GetYourGuide or WithLocals good places to start.
For longer stays in a single place I’ll research the main attractions and build an itinerary around those I want to visit. I’m old enough that I prefer buying some old fashioned guide books and starting there with highlighters and post-it notes before heading online to dive deeper. Mainly I value someone collating and editing the content and I find the blogs, forums and travel sites a little too hyper focused or promotional when I’m broad brushing at first. Sometimes I find gems that I add to the list.
I plot what I want to see on a map, then work out how and when based on transport links and proximity where appropriate. When we did a lap of France it started with a big old paper map pinned on the wall, when we did Singapore and Malaysia I used a list in Google maps.
Once I have the rough outline done I dive into the details online and build myself a detailed run sheet, with the hard points, like flights and hotels and booked tours, useful stuff, like currency and time conversions, reminders for things like e visa applications due, and pick lists of possibilities for filling up in between. About once a week or so I include a do nothing day.
I am not a sit on the beach doing nothing traveller, so that process works for me. I find if I don’t have at the very least a list of things to pick from then we tend to procrastinate and end up doing absolutely nothing, which to me always feels like a waste after paying for the airfare and accommodation. YMMV