Thursday, September 08, 2011

The only Nirvana remembrance you need ever read.

I'm sick of people cashing in on grunge. Much the same way I'm certain someone five years my senior is sick of people cashing in on new wave. Or someone ten years my senior laments the cashing in on punk. Or someone five years my junior laments on the cashing in of ... what, Nickelback?

And of course that last joke betrays why all these "oh my that was a time that can never be repeated!" pieces I see dotting the media landscape are, in fact, just so much bullshit. We all think our generation occupies a unique moment in time, and in that we are 100% correct. but each generation occupies it's own moment in time. Everything you see as a linchpin or turning point has happened before, its merely YOUR linchpin or turning point.

The truth is you, and your music, and your movies, they are ALL unique delicate snowflakes* but what you need to get in your head is that we've all got our own unique delicate snowflakes to reflect upon.

Grunge and Nirvana and the whole "alt-rock-post-college-radio-pre-Alternative-Nation" thing didn't change the world. Just your life. My life. Or your older brother's life. Or your little sister's life. But it's myopic and unfair to everything that preceded that moment, or succeeded it, to lay any deeper meaning on it than that.

OK, that's a bit harsh, but true. I think, if I was making nice, what I wuld say instead is that each of us has turning points in our lives and for some those points are more a universal experience than an independent action. realize that's what it is though. Celebrate your moment but don't try and ascribe some larger meaning on that instant to spectators. Let them have their own moment.

*Did I ruin my whole point with a fucking Fight Club reference?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Butbutbut, what about Jane's Addiction???

Tankboy said...

Heh. Despite the numerous break-ups/reunions I never really viewed them as ever truly going away.

But even with hat aside you have a god point. Who doesn't view Perry/Lolla as "the turning point for underground rock?" Only it wasn't, in retrospect. It was more just an obvious evolution much like the current incarnation of Lolla is an obvious evolution shaped by the times it lives in.

Gage1 said...

We are sorry about Nickelback, the one band that makes Celine Dion an excellent export.

Tankboy said...

We, south of your border, appreciate the apology.

And hey, at least Celine launched an excellent book.