I can barely claim that I'm Generation X - based on the definition, I squeak in with a couple years to spare. Like most generations, I identify with the music of the time - or rather - I thought I did. I recently watched the episode on "grunge" on the Seven Ages of Rock on VHI Classic. It invoked some nostalgic feelings but mainly a little embarrassment for how sad and self-centered we all were. The paradox of the 90's was that we all spent time hating ourselves and sarcastically shrugging off EVERYTHING that EVERYONE stood for, but we never actually changed or accomplished anything that we spent most of our time criticizing.
The music isn't exempt from this statement. Regardless of who you want to blame - the record industry, Bush, suicide, an economic recovery - the reality is that we just grew tired of feeling sorry for ourselves and realized that "our" music was getting stale, copied, and boring. The bands I listen to today all echo the influences of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, David Bowie, R&B, etc. It has been a long time since I heard a song and said, "hmmm, that reminds me Alice in Chains "Jar of Flies." If there is a band today that cites Nirvana or Mudhoney as an influence, they probably suck and/or populate Christian Rock stations.
For the record, I still think great rock music was made in the 90s. I still plug Soundgarden into Pandora from time to time and I've been to a Pearl Jam concert in the last 5 years when they toured with...Tom Petty. A music writer once said that the difference between Pearl Jam and Nirvana was that Nirvana hated the hippies and Pearl Jam couldn't wait to jam with them. Maybe the men of PJ just knew that everyone knows the words to "American Girl" but my 23 year old intern can't finish the following lyric, "I'm looking California, but feeling...."
