Bob Schwartz

Don’t ask me how I got here. Okay, ask.

I was reading about the quirky behaviors and preferences of Gen Z (don’t use capital letters, don’t learn how to drive, don’t run bar tabs, etc.). I don’t much believe in the generational taxonomy. I belong to a generation of about 75 million people, and the list of shared important characteristics (other than approximate distance to death) is a short one. Still, demos matter to media and marketers, so I’ll go skeptically along with it.

I can’t quite explain, but thinking about how Gen Z thinks of itself as special and suited for the times, I thought about a different generation and a different time. Specifically, I thought about Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, and Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991). The artist, the band, the genre and the song are solidly Gen X.

Teen Spirit contains watchwords of disaffection that have endured for the generations since:

I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us…
Oh well, whatever, never mind

That thought led me to Chris Cornell, Soundgarden, and Black Hole Sun (1994), another enduring anthem of the generation.

What does this have to do with Gen Z, Gen X or my generation? I don’t know. If anything, I guess my hope is that whatever Gen Z is up to with its quirky and special ways, they listen to this music and learn to love this music and the gifted artists who made it. (Is it worth mentioning that the YouTube video of Teen Spirit has over 2 billion views?)