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X Saves The World

Just got back from a short vacation, which, alas, is pretty much the only time I get any leisure reading done these days, and enjoyed a quick run through X Saves The World: How Generation X Got The Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking, an entertaining and frequently spot-on analysis of Gen X culture & relevance by journalist Jeff Gordinier. [Full disclosure: I knew Jeff in college some 25 years ago, when we both worked at the college radio station, and have been reading his musical & cultural musings ever since.] I was inspired to make a mix of some of the music celebrated (or at least name-checked) in the book, with a couple spoken-word interludes from movies & tv shows written about as well. (Music, tv, and movies are only part of the book's focus; Jeff looks more broadly at various cultural, ideological, and philosophical touchstones of the post-boomer crowd which had a hot media run in the '90s before being overtaked by a more complacent, commercially-exploitable batch of cretins.)

I should note that I didn't spend my post-college years in a post-modern ironic existential haze, working a McJob while spending the evenings contemplating the desert skies (like the characters in Doulas Coupland's iconic, if ultimately disappointing, 1991 novel Generation X) -- my own course was more prototypically yuppie (law school, legal practice, house in the 'burbs). Still, I share the cultural waypoints and some of the mindset taken on by Jeff, from indie rock to Tarantino to Stewart/Colbert to, yes, Obama, and was definitely nodding my head in agreement (or at least amusement) with much of what he had to say. Obviously, we all have our variations. When it comes to great albums from 1991, I'll still take Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque over Nirvana's Nevermind, and, for all its obvious impact on the commercial radio scene, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was not as much of epiphany for me as it was for Jeff (far less so than, say, Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted, the album that most strongly affirmed the continuing relevance of rock & roll after the 80s college radio scene faded). And I don't share his reverence for the Smiths; when it comes to a musical wake-up call in the 1980's, it's R.E.M. all the way for me (though we see eye to eye on the Replacements and Sonic Youth).

Anyway, the mix came out pretty nicely, both as a stand-alone piece of music and a soundtrack to the book. Tried to be as sprawling as possible, capturing various facets of the Gen X vibe (both 90s heyday and 80s forerunners) while limiting myself entirely to songs or artists cited in the book.

Incidentally, my favorite part of the book was probably Jeff's analysis of the rise & fall of Gen X culture in the media consciousness by juxtaposing the videos for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (1991, malcontented youth wreaking pure anarchy in the gymnasium) and Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time" (1999, conformist teen sex bombs dancing joyously in the gymnasium). Very, very sad.

Holdin' Steady... And More On 2008

As noted in my Best of 2008 post, I haven't quite jumped on the Hold Steady bandwagon, another much-hyped band that I should probably like more than I do. Dunno, maybe it's those Springsteen by way of Bob Mould vocals that fail to win me over. Nonetheless, perseverence does sometimes bear fruit, and in this case, a listen or two later, I've ended up reaching the inevitable conclusion that "Sequestered in Memphis" (off Stay Positive) is one of the truly great rave-up songs of 2008. Great sound, great lyrics, and (maybe it's the lawyer in me) it's hard not to love a song with the refrain "Subpoenaed in Texas, Sequestered in Memphis." So the final burn of my Best of 2008 disc ended up subbing this great tune in place of Calexico (yes, a fine band, but their slow-burn Americana doesn't quite make for mix-tape fodder, at least not a primarily upbeat mix).

Here's the video:


Further reflections on the 2008 mix: The Drive-By Truckers' Brighter Than Creation's Dark probably does a better job of capturing the current economic mess better than anything else out there, and "Righteous Path" totally nails the zeitgeist (sample line: "More bills than money, I can do the math, [but] I'm trying to keep focused on the righteous path."

But the song that may be the charmer of the year is Vetiver's "Swimming Song," off the Americana-tinged all-covers collection Thing Of The Past. Can't say I've ever listened to much Loudon Wainwright III, who wrote the original (nor, for that matter, his various musically-inclined family members who seem to be all over the place these days), but, damn, if this song doesn't bring a wistful tear to my eye every time I play it...

Here's the original, not radically different from the cover, albeit a bit more folky than the bluegrass-Americana-pop Vetiver version: