Smells Like Teen Spirt Turns 21...

September 10th, 1991.  A young twelve year old version of myself wasted much of my summer hanging out with my friends Dan and Top (DJ 5).  We'd play Basketball, play with our Marvel Action Heroes and Teen Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Dan and I would actually tape mini movies with our combined toys and watch them later.  At the age of 12, I was probably a little too old to be playing with toys, but it was fun.  I reflect on those days and I wasn't really a fan of music.  I remember I enjoyed Young MC and MC Hammer, but I wasn't passionate about music at all... that all changed my first year of Junior High.

Believe it or not, your old pal here wasn't the most popular of guys.  I've always had this self-awareness of my own awkwardness, I wasn't a wall flower mind you, but I knew where I fit in.  Never the most popular, never the most picked on, somewhere right smack dab in the middle.  For the most part, I lived a very shelter life.  The most chaotic thing that had ever happened to me, really didn't happen to me at all.  It happened to my brother, a victim of one of the first car jackings... he survived a gun shot wound that could have killed him.  I learned that night, never to take your safety for granted.  My brother wanted to prove something to himself after surviving his attack and joined the Marines.  I always looked up to my brother for many things.  I missed him very much during this time.

So back to high school, the chubby short kid started to lose his old chums from Elementary School.  Their fascinations went to girls, fashion, and music... mine didn't.  I would make new friends quickly, but it did sting losing people you felt close too.  Spending more time watching MTV than Nickelodeon, is when I found it.  Even Flow, by Pearl Jam.  Followed by Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and even more Pearl Jam.  Bare in mind, I wasn't a teen full of angst, but it was something about the music I connected too.  Maybe it was the Parker Lewis Can't Lose influences on me.  Maybe it was just the soulful grundge sound that touched my core.  But I fell in love... with the music.

1992 and Nirvana and Pearl Jam battled for top seating on the Music Charts.  It almost felt you were either a Nirvana guy or a Pearl Jam guy.  I was definitely a Pearl Jam guy.  I chose Eddie Veder over Kurt Cobain.  But all you'd hear about is Smells Like Teen Spirit.  I did end up with a copy of Nevermind, but it never got the as much air time on my Sony Walkman as Ten.

Years after the passing of the Grunge fad, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, and all things Seattle, I still have an affinity for that style of music.  When they released the Kurt Cobain book which was his personal journals, I purchased it, blame it on the nostalgia.  I barely even flipped through the pages.  I couldn't get into it.  I still have the book, it's survived 4 moves total and looks practically new.  I don't want it anymore.  21 Years ago, folks would have done many things to see the inner workings of Kurt.  If you are interested in buying my book, it'll be on eBay later today.  If it doesn't sell, I'll maintain a link here, so some wayward blog reader can buy it later.

Thanks for reading and Happy Belated Birthday "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

What was your favorite song from the 90s?