My Generation
I've been on a real nostalgia kick lately, and so I've been surfing YouTube for 90's music videos, and then following the web of suggestions through so many of my old forgotten favorites.
God damn, the 90's were angsty.
I mean, that's not a revelation. It's easy to tell that from the music alone. But I guess it's easy to look at that time in my life and think of course I was full of angst, I was a teenager. So of course I gravitated toward the music that spoke to that. But the thing is, in my teenage years, unlike the teenage years of any other generation I know of, that angsty music was what was most popular. It wasn't just about going through puberty -- the whole decade was full of that aura of sort of existentialist self-importance. It was a strange time.
And can we talk about the music videos for a moment? What was edgy and artistic at the time is really uncomfortable to watch now. For instance, Live's "I Alone:"
This video, and indeed this band and every song they ever wrote, is intense. It's supposed to make you FEEL. But watching it now, I think, wow, crazy eyes. And what a silly little rat tail. And look how seriously they're taking themselves, oh, isn't that precious? My excuse for taking myself so intensely seriously at the time is that I was 16. But in retrospect, I realize that the entire country was going through an extended adolescence or puberty. I love the 90's and I love the music especially, but it is really hard to look back on any of it and take a bit of it seriously. I just want to give the 90's a great big hug.
God damn, the 90's were angsty.
I mean, that's not a revelation. It's easy to tell that from the music alone. But I guess it's easy to look at that time in my life and think of course I was full of angst, I was a teenager. So of course I gravitated toward the music that spoke to that. But the thing is, in my teenage years, unlike the teenage years of any other generation I know of, that angsty music was what was most popular. It wasn't just about going through puberty -- the whole decade was full of that aura of sort of existentialist self-importance. It was a strange time.
And can we talk about the music videos for a moment? What was edgy and artistic at the time is really uncomfortable to watch now. For instance, Live's "I Alone:"
Click to viewThis video, and indeed this band and every song they ever wrote, is intense. It's supposed to make you FEEL. But watching it now, I think, wow, crazy eyes. And what a silly little rat tail. And look how seriously they're taking themselves, oh, isn't that precious? My excuse for taking myself so intensely seriously at the time is that I was 16. But in retrospect, I realize that the entire country was going through an extended adolescence or puberty. I love the 90's and I love the music especially, but it is really hard to look back on any of it and take a bit of it seriously. I just want to give the 90's a great big hug.