Miss C. has taken a liking to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” this summer. I won’t even get into how she didn’t come into the world until 7 years after the song hit it big and just under 4 years after Kurt Cobain had enough of fame and blew his head off while in a heroin-induced haze.
I also won’t elaborate that she had no idea what Teen Spirit even was when I asked her. Are you old enough to remember this?
Side note: yes, I used Teen Spirit. I was one of the suckers who watched that commercial and thought I want to be like them! No, I never became one of those cool kids by using it, but at least I smelled like them.
Anyway…
I’ve never been Nirvana fan. By the time they hit the charts, I was 20 years old and buried in college crap. Since hearing it again recently, I recalled how I liked the pulsing beat of the chorus and…well, that’s just about it. The rest of it sounds like Cobain had marbles in his mouth and believed loud represented the anger of a generation better than his lyrics.
A couple of weeks ago, as the family headed out to dinner, Miss C. cued up “Smells Like Teen Spirit”…again….
This time, though, something stirred within me as the chorus blared. I couldn’t help myself as I drove along in the Momster Minivan….
I whipped my head around like a head-banging pro and started screaming:
Argh! Anger! Rage! Grownups suck!
Blah Blah Blah! I hate the world!
Hear me scream in my teen angst–AHHH!
I knew Jon would get a kick out of it and I got the smirk I expected.
I waited to get my kids’ version of a bitch-slapping about mocking a rebellious classic.
Instead, the girls are practically falling out of their seats laughing.
Those of you who have teenagers know what a tough crowd they can be when it comes to making them laugh. Usually, the only way I get more than a pity chuckle from them is when I share stories about one of the many ways I’ve made an ass out of myself or when they actually see me make an ass out of myself–that happens more than I like, by the way.
This time, though, I struck comedy gold.
Yeah, I admit it. I was psyched!
“OH MY GOD!” Miss C. finally managed to get out in between laughs. “That is freakin’ awesome, Mom!”
Miss E. laughed even though I’m pretty sure she wasn’t exactly sure what was so funny, except that I sounded like a crazy woman.
After the hysteria died down, I asked Miss C. what she liked about the song–was it the revolutionary message it represented? The fact that a rock icon recorded it?
“I can’t understand a thing Cobain is saying, Mom,” she admitted. “I know it’s supposed to be this teen anthem, but I just don’t get it. The music tells the story since no one can make sense of the words. It’s loud, in your face, angry…you know…”
That was deeper than I expected, especially since she recently bought a Nirvana shirt not because she loves the group, but because she liked the t-shirt design.
Ah, artists.
As for my improvised comedy routine, I now have command performances in the car almost every time we go somewhere and, somehow, they still find it funny each time I do it–and it’s been more times than I anticipated.
After all this, I still don’t know the secret to what teenagers find funny.
But, when I make them laugh, it’s music to my ears.
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