The Subculture Of The Grunge Cultures

Through the 1990s, America continued to deal with the prevalence of drugs and the AIDS crisis. Significant advances in technology led to replicating digital media through “CD Burners”. MTV had launched the first reality show filming young women and men of different backgrounds living in a house together coined “The Real World”. Conversely, many things were brewing beyond the countries’ borders. The Gulf War had started along with conflicts in Bosnia. Many eyes were on South Africa as the fight against apartheid raged on. These new generations of young people called “Generation X” were far different from preceding generations. They took a more hands-off approach and tended to be more politically apathetic to issues in the world.

In Ted Halstead’s article for the Atlantic “A Politics for Generation X” says “Xers are less politically or civically engaged, exhibit less social trust of confidence in the government” (Halstead, 2).

A subculture of the 90s was “Grunge” this culture “become synonymous with a musical genre” (Marin, 1) and entwined itself in fashion. The Grunge cultures was “about not making a statement, which is why it 's crazy for it to become a fashion statement" (Marin, 1). However, out of this culture many alternative music artists emerged. Some of those more notable were bands like “Nirvana” and “Sound garden”. Grunge, spoke to the angry, restless and confused youth of the 90s. Canadian native Alanis Morissette, also found a place in the alternative music scene. Her song entitled “Hand in My Pocket” expressed the attitudes of the generation illuminating their duality and frustrations. She says (Morissette) “I feel drunk but I’m sober/ I’m young and I’m

Jack Johnson’s Cookie Jar spoke directly to Columbine and how we got to this point. He says(Johnson) “And it was magic at first when they spoke without sound/But now this world is gonna hurt you better turn that thing down”. He was talking about the initial appeal technology has and how little we think about the negative impacts it can possibly have. Additionally he addresses the media’s perspective (Johnson) “ Well “You can’t blame me”, says the media man/Well “I wasn’t the one who came up with the plan/I just point my camera at what the people want to see/ Man it’s a two-way mirror and you can’t blame me.” He also goes on to speak to our inability to realize that technology is a tool and like a tool it can be wielded for good or bad. Each user is responsible for how they use that tool. However, largely we as a society have responsibility for the tools we create, and should be more carefully weighing the benefits and drawbacks. He states this clearly in verse six (Johnson) “It was you it was me it was everyman/ We’ve all got the blood on our hands/ We only receive what we demand/And if we want hell then hells what we have.” This song socially advocated that we really take time and consider how we are letting technology influence us. New media has opened new means of entertainment with realistic visual effects that blur the line between