Let’s get one thing straight – I cry at anything. And when I say anything I mean romantic comedies, insurance tv ads, 80s power ballads and stories about people’s families. It’s no surprise then that the winner of Triple J’s Hottest 100 of all Time (v. 2009) managed to turn on my waterworks. I was only nine when Smells Like Teen Spirit’s release defined a generation of grungy Generation Xers, however four years later when I reached teenage-dom the song was a still a prominent part of the musical soundscape that was the backdrop to my adolescence. Sure, I didn’t ‘get’ it – not in the way that people who had reached a certain level of maturity at the point of its release did. I wasn’t sitting around in my flannelette shirt, swigging Southern Comfort with smudged eye make-up whilst moaning about my middle-class existence in ’92 afterall. But to a teenaged Pope, hopelessly caught in that age’s ubiquitous whirlwind of self-discovery, Kurt’s empassioned wails echoing around the terrible acoustics of school gymnasiums still resonated enormously. The face that the film clip featured a school gynasium probably helped my relatively undeveloped mind to make the connection – never mind (pun intended) that the most likely reason to find me in one was a school dance, where I could be found causing trouble, usually attired in boxer shorts and a feather boa. Let’s just say I probably wasn’t Nirvana’s target market.
Nevertheless the song is a part of my youth and therefore my identity – hearing the song being introduced tonight, featuring sound bites from Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl and Daniel Johns (??), definitely caused me to well up. Realising how much you have in common with greater humanity is always a beautifully humbling moment. How many people hear this song and recall a part of themselves that they long ago buried in the bottom drawer of ‘growing up’? I will never tire of music’s ability to unite disparate humanity – from boxer short clad teeny-boppers to former mid-nineties rebels with causes.
But what songs of my generation (Y) will the generation younger than me identify with? As much as I love them I doubt the longuevity of Britney and Justin’s back catalogue, though I guess you can only identify a classic with the aid of hindsight. I’d love to know what tracks from the late nineties and noughties will continue to connect with the youth of today – I’ve had several conversation with people who question what current artists have the staying power associated with legends such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson and even Radiohead, whose career again slips back into the domain of Generation X. In discussing the Hottest 100, Baker today expressed his unabated devotion for Australian/NZ band Crowded House – what band of the last decade has an equivalent ability to provoke such an unerring connection? I can’t answer that question – I just hope the Gen Ys can pull something out of the bag and contribute equally to previous generation’s musical legacy.
