I’m so glad I was born in the eighties and grew up in the 90’s! I had a chance to listen to the music of two of the best and most meaningful artists of all time, Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur. I think about this new Generation and I feel bad for them. They don’t have a voice for their generation, a voice to express their frustration, a voice to state their case, a voice to articulate what they are too scared to say without being ostracized by those that have it all together.
To me Kurt and Pac were the heart and soul of the 90’s. Even though they were from completely different worlds they had so much in common. They both came from single parent households, they both had a turbulent adolescence, they were both homeless at one point, they were both super talented, their voices were full of pain that bled out through their music, they both became the greatest in their respective genres, they both spoke from the perspective of the misunderstood, the frustrated, the depressed, the borderline insane, they were both extremely talented, extremely successful, and they both died in their 20’s.
I could picture them meeting each other, being awkward at first having come from different walks of life but talking, realizing that they were similar souls and deciding to have a beer as they relive their turbulent lives through nostalgic stories and poetic memories about their lives. That meeting would have been the stuff of legends.
The thing about Kurt and Pac is that they made those that were misunderstood, depressed, disliked, and different feel as if somebody was writing symphonies set to their everyday lives. The young and misunderstood of generations X and Y found artists that weren’t just making music but were creating vivid portrayal of the lives of countless teens and young adults by admitting that they were different when everybody wanted to follow the flock. They were themselves in a world where everybody is trying to be anybody else but who they actually are. They showed us beauty in imperfection, reason in misunderstanding, and unity in being disenfranchised. They spoke volumes that continue even years after they have been gone and will continue through those that understood them because they understood us… because they understood me…
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