I’d wager a guess that quite a bit more than just this quietly lurks under the surface of many a 30/40 - something. SOAD, Incubus, NIN, RATM, even some weird little late 00s flash in the pans like Does It Offend You, Yeah? My theory as to why is it conjures a sense memory of the last era of a collective popular music culture with any semblance of an identifying characteristic. Over the last 15 years, music has progressively stratified itself into a full MCUification of Swiftie style McMusicStuffs on one end, and a hard Balkanization of scenes on the other. If you’re not a nerd (and/or a careerist in the pro audio industry in my case), it might have been the last time, whether you liked the sound or not, popular music autonomically put you someplace with other people. Which is not to say that only AI factory drivel gets made today (take, for example, Son Lux or James Blake as two superb examples of distinct and brilliant modern songwriting), but rather that nothing floats around a grocery store or cab ride radio station that’s original or weird enough to be memorable anymore. None of it feels even a little transgressive or dangerous - it’s all some flavor of corporate newspeak. And as such, it ties you to nothing and no one. It is lonely.
Perhaps it's a Smells Like Teen Spirit phenomenon? Even those who weren't grunge / '90s alt-rock fans like that song quite a bit... I was memed for liking the Smashing Pumpkins quite a bit in my senior year!
I mentioned the 'pop' girls dancing to Chop Suey at a party in the piece but I never got around to saying that one of them told me how much she loves 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. It's another one of those songs that captured the imaginations of main stream audiences...
The funny thing is that Smells Like Teen Spirit isn't even Nirvana's "softest" song--I think Dumb would've been a better fit. It was their most popular one, though, and maybe that's what draws normie- I mean mainstream audiences to a song.
Yeah I think its a zeitgeist thing. Something like the honesty and authenticity of 'Teen Spirit' spoke to a generation of kids who were fed up with hair metal, glam rock and the hyper-styled look and sound of late 80s/early 90s music.
I’d wager a guess that quite a bit more than just this quietly lurks under the surface of many a 30/40 - something. SOAD, Incubus, NIN, RATM, even some weird little late 00s flash in the pans like Does It Offend You, Yeah? My theory as to why is it conjures a sense memory of the last era of a collective popular music culture with any semblance of an identifying characteristic. Over the last 15 years, music has progressively stratified itself into a full MCUification of Swiftie style McMusicStuffs on one end, and a hard Balkanization of scenes on the other. If you’re not a nerd (and/or a careerist in the pro audio industry in my case), it might have been the last time, whether you liked the sound or not, popular music autonomically put you someplace with other people. Which is not to say that only AI factory drivel gets made today (take, for example, Son Lux or James Blake as two superb examples of distinct and brilliant modern songwriting), but rather that nothing floats around a grocery store or cab ride radio station that’s original or weird enough to be memorable anymore. None of it feels even a little transgressive or dangerous - it’s all some flavor of corporate newspeak. And as such, it ties you to nothing and no one. It is lonely.
Perhaps it's a Smells Like Teen Spirit phenomenon? Even those who weren't grunge / '90s alt-rock fans like that song quite a bit... I was memed for liking the Smashing Pumpkins quite a bit in my senior year!
It's weird you mention that song.
I mentioned the 'pop' girls dancing to Chop Suey at a party in the piece but I never got around to saying that one of them told me how much she loves 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. It's another one of those songs that captured the imaginations of main stream audiences...
Thanks for commenting
The funny thing is that Smells Like Teen Spirit isn't even Nirvana's "softest" song--I think Dumb would've been a better fit. It was their most popular one, though, and maybe that's what draws normie- I mean mainstream audiences to a song.
Yeah I think its a zeitgeist thing. Something like the honesty and authenticity of 'Teen Spirit' spoke to a generation of kids who were fed up with hair metal, glam rock and the hyper-styled look and sound of late 80s/early 90s music.
I don’t have a theory but you’re right, everyone loves this song. My 74 year old mom even likes it.
I’m more grunge than heavy metal but I understand what you’re saying here.
The “why do you love Pearl Jam when you can’t even understand them” question follows me everywhere.
But I can, and I hear the sorrow, the joy, and anything in between