GenX's Theme Song - Closer
March 14th 2010 01:56
NIN - Downward Spiral
When I think back to the music of the 1990s, several songs seem to jump out to me as seminal pieces of art for GenX.
Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is an overly obvious choice and one mainstream media is all too happy to anoint and then move on. For this very reason, I must dismiss it. Sure, I get it: it heralded a new age of music and culture. Hair bands and synthesizers were gone. Music was real and raw again. I can appreciate that. But anything a Boomer recognizes surely cannot define GenX.
Next, I thought about Radiohead’s “Creep”. A really good choice. These lyrics hit at the heart of this generation’s ennui and angst:
I want you to notice
when I'm not around
You're so fuckin' special
I wish I was special
That is a sentiment we can identify with. While Boomer culture was constantly bombarding us with nostalgia and rose-colored glasses, we felt barely noticed at all. “Creep” is nearly perfect, but doesn’t make it to the top, for me.
In my humble opinion, the song that best defines this cultural moment is Nine Inch Nails “Closer”. I am not even a fan of this band, but this song struck a chord. Ultimately, GenX desperately wanted to find a bigger, deeper meaning to life. We wanted something real to embrace before we succumbed to our 30s and minivans, 40 hour workweeks, soccer practice and receding hairlines. Trent’s refrain of “Help Me” captured this. We needed help to find this path:
(Help me)
I broke apart my insides
(Help me)
I've got no soul to sell
(Help me)
The only thing that works for me
Help me get away from myself
What we needed was spirituality but could not find it in our hypocritical-Boomer parents or corrupt churches. So we turned to each other:
You get me closer to God
And we expressed this desire in frank and uncertain terms:
I wanna fuck you like an animal
I wanna feel you from the inside
I wanna fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
I remember when I first heard about this song. A female coworker said to me, “have you heard this song called Closer?” And she starts sing the ‘fuck you like an animal’ part while doing a very proactive dance (it is a danceable song). Such a memorable moment that becomes indelible in one’s mind. We both connected to this vision of sex and spirituality. We felt closer at that moment.
The song is dark, of course, but there is an undertone of hope. The ultimate goal is a deeper sense of self (even if the path is dark). One very memorable and telling moment comes right at the end. After the noise and chaos of the Coda, there appears a descending note progression on the piano. The notes go down and down – bringing the listener with them. Then, miracles of miracles, the very last note goes up. A tiny ray of hope for the future. This generation will find its path. They will make a fortune in dotcoms then lose it all in housing. That is ok, because we have found our center. We just needed a dark,lost weekend (well, decade) to realize that we do not give a shit what boomers think about us. They can go on making self-congratulating movies about the 1960s. No matter because we are closer. Maybe not to God or country, but defiantly to each other.
Nine Inch Nails: Closer (Uncensored) (1994) from Nine Inch Nails on Vimeo.
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