It's less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid
And contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us"
I've never been a die-hard Nirvana fan, nor really much of a grunge-head. (Though I do find a small handful of Soundgarden songs irreplaceable – see "Jesus Christ Pose", e.g.)
But I do remember exactly where I was standing when I first laid ears on "Smells Like Teen Spirit." (*) This fact (viz the vivid memory) is not insignificant.
I think that, in eight bars and four squelchy chords – in that one fell and distorted swoop, Nirvana simultaneously defined both Modern Rock – and Generation X.
I suppose it's slightly sad, and tired, to belong to another generation defined by its music. (Though, not wholly defined – we've also got Douglas Coupland.) But there it is.
And but so, while I'm not much of a grunge-head, and only a footling Nirvana fan . . . that song seems to me to be, and I expect will always seem to me to be, both significant and a signifier – and also immortal.
I also remember that my then-girlfriend Elizabeth had one single solitary item of decoration in her then-bedroom in her then-house in then-Sunnyvale. And it was this Christ-like pencil-line rendering of Kurt Cobain. I expect she would(/will) have no trouble getting onboard with the spirit of this dispatch.
And so there's that.
