Smells Like Teen Spirit

Literatune
September 23, 2009

Afterword from the Author, Joseph Nacino: I think it would be right to say that for a generation, Nirvana was the flag-bearer of the ‘90s. As the most prominent of the Seattle bands, singer-songwriter Kurt Cobain and Nirvana tapped into the teen spirit of that period with its grim attitude and the do-it-yourself ethos of the grunge garage bands. Although the message wasn’t anything new - the cry of rebellion from ‘50s rock-and-roll to ‘70s punk - the transmission was received loud and clear. Given that we’re in the 21st century, one wonders if the message is still being heard. Ironically, grunge’s success contributed to its own demise as commercialism made the spirit of Seattle too popular to still be defiant (the kicker being Seattle becoming the next meeting ground of the 1990 WTO World Summit).
So I envisioned in the flash fiction ’Big Brother’ a near-future where the next generation of teenagers become the Authority’s boot, crushing down the head of man. The kids, of course, are still worried about peer acceptance, love, and the opposite sex, as well as their place in the world. However, the real world doesn’t care about what the kids are doing unless these can be used for their own ends. For the flash fiction ‘Four Kings’, I focused on Cobain’s suicide and how success seems to destroy the artist. Again, the irony is clear that the death of the artist ensures his or her popularity in the zeitgeist. So I wondered: maybe an iconic death results if you make any deals with the devil. And that lead me to my next question: what would a devil get out of this? Though Cobain was never as popular as Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley - the kings of pop and rock and roll, respectively - the deaths of the latter two made me think that like the children of Hamlin, we’re being led by a mysterious piper to dance to his tune.