Thirty years a teenager

There are situations in life where serendipity is simply astonishing. I mentioned another case before, but today it is about "Smells like teen spirit", the 1991 song by American rock band Nirvana. The song has been terribly influential since its release, when it became a sudden (and unexpected) hit, so it is just normal that it is occasionally broadcasted on the radio, but in the span of just ten days I have heard it in three completely different and unrelated contexts, which makes for a remarkable coincidence.

The first appearance was on occasion of its thirtieth anniversary just two weeks ago. This was not much of a surprise since all years have a 10th of September, but that was just the beginning. The second appearance was last Friday, when we were all watching together the newly released movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Widow. as part of the original soundtrack, Hawaiian singer Malia J provides a slow and almost oniric rendition of the song that fits extremely well with the desolation and the despair of the opening credits. The third appearance came just on Sunday as I started Spotify with a selection of my favorite female singers, when the 1992 version by American singer Tori Amos popped up. In that precise moment I decided that I had to write about the coincidence.

 

Photo: Sally

Beside the unusual accumulation, it is also remarkable how the feelings described in the song, which so aptly represented a whole generation, are still present and equally vivid in the teenagers of today. There are several verses in the song with which I can easily identify in my not-so-young-anymore children. Like the girl in the song they are also "over-bored and self-assured": they think they know what they want or need, but the truth is that they only wish they knew and instead they are constantly in need of someone to "entertain us".

A similar case applies to the verse about "with the lights out, it's less dangerous" a statement that clearly aims in the direction of self insecurity with respect to the physical appearance: they had rather do whatever they have to do in the dark than exposing themselves to the light, that might be safer to move around but also exposes them to the public inspection.

The need for gregarious feelings can be found in the line "our little group has always been" as if its existence was infinite, prior to time and forever, because life as a teen is very hard to fathom if you are excluded from your little group of safety. Finally, the struggle to move ahead only to find repeated obstacles is conveyed in "I feel stupid and contagious", because lacking a clear direction of what to do next (the parents' guidelines are a no-no) the trial-and-error often ends in defeat and, what is worse, can lead others in the group to make the same mistake themselves (in the hope of being the lucky one to break through).

It is probably surprising to anyone reaching my age that our children still have the same problems that we already had when we were like them. When we are in the middle of the struggle we are fighting to forge our way in a hopeless attempt to be somewhat original but falling in the same pitfalls that generation after generation of our ancestors (possibly slightly mediated by the status of the technology, but the problems of self identification, gregariousness, independence, etc., are still there). I have to admit that it was not at easy time for me, but probably it never is, so my only hope is to be able to assist my kids in some way and help in alleviating their unavoidable pain. I wish you all a very enjoyable weekend.