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Smells Like Teen Spirit by Bob Lefsetz There once was a boy. He felt misunderstood by society. He thought he didn't fit in. The only way he could express himself was with music. A raw, angry sound. Which evidenced all the pain he felt inside. That boy, of course, was Kurt Cobain. Expect more Kurt Cobains to surface soon. We've had eight years of prosperity. Instead of being cast aside, deemed irrelevant by an administration removed from pop culture, a flawed human being who played the sax and believed in nooky took charge and acknowledged the power and importance of youth. Youth no longer felt that their future was being sold by fat cats only interested in their own prosperity. The national debt enlarging to such a point that GENERATIONS would have to pass before it was paid off. Rather, since the advent of Bill Clinton's presidency, youth has RULED! Only youth could program the VCR. Only youth truly could understand the computer. Only youth could have the vision to bring the Net to fruition. To have it explode. But this era is over. As of today. For today, a biased Supreme Court handed the national election to George W. Bush. After being implored to vote, the youth being told they had power, old people in robes in Washington, D.C., decided that this was a sham. It was more important to pay penance to those who had gotten them where they were. What's a poor boy to do? To revolt. Oh, there will be some right-wing Republican youth. The type who burned Beatles records. They'll say it's all about personal freedom. That people should pay fewer taxes. The government should stay out of their lives. Not realizing that the poor and middle class will be paying a HIGHER percentage of the overall government bill. Not realizing that their human rights will be COMPROMISED! Then there will be those kids taught by their parents that children should be seen and not heard. They'll be AFRAID to speak the truth. Then there will be the artists. The disenfranchised. Who don't fit in in high school. Who aren't on the fast track. Who've got nothing to lose for speaking the truth. They won't be shock-rockers like Marilyn Manson. They won't be sellout kings and queens like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Rather they'll be people from their late teens to thirties who will deliver messages straight from the heart. And what will they be saying? That we live in a society and everybody has to get along. Respect their brother. That we're human beings. We're depressed as well as happy. That we're all individuals. Different but deserving of equal appreciation and understanding. Irrelevant of the color of our skin or our socioeconomic backgrounds. We're going to have a president who goes to bed at 9 o'clock. Who's got no idea of prowling the night. Of the power of music. We're going to have a president who not only doesn't watch Sex and the City, but has no idea what it is. And he'll be a shadow president. With the administration run by his FATHER'S cronies. Even older than HE is! America is supposed to be about empowering people. About becoming fully realized and escaping the cloak of one's parents. But power is going to be wielded by a group living the exact opposite of this paradigm. They'll try to stifle the artists. Saying they're troublemakers. Warping the youth. But the artists' sheer power will shine through. Because you can't keep down the truth. It's just too powerful. And a counterculture will be formed. Rebelling against the old men ruling the landscape. I wish our country would be ruled by people who realize Prince is an American. Chuck D. Bob Dylan. You might respond that these artists are all approaching 40 years old, or are beyond that. But it's been 10 long years since musicians have realized that they serve a purpose higher than fattening their wallets. That they've got the power to effect change by railing against the utter bullsh*t employed by those who've been bought off and sold out. It'll be exciting. But I wish it didn't have to be this way. |
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