I didn't know...

it at the time but the 90's were pretty freakin' sweet. Never in my life have I had more free time and discretionary income as I did during the Clinton era. Love him or hate him, those were some good years.

1991 saw me liberated from the four year sentence know as, "high school." Know matter where I go, or who I talk to, they refer to that period in their lives with what I can almost call an unhealthy reverence and nostalgia. It's not like nostalgia is lost on me, I get it. I tend to go there a bit too often myself but, when I do, the last place I want to go is back to high school....EVER.


The early 90's for me were all about enjoying the freedom not having to be in school afforded me. While I admit I lacked direction during this point in time, I really do think a break from the classroom was what I needed. Looking back, had I had any sort of guidance from a counselor or an older brother or maybe just someone I was not supposed to be diametrically opposed to, like my parents, I think it might not have taken me so long to put the rubber to the road so to speak. Eventually the desperate times call forth desperate measures and luckily I was able to get out of my head, get out of the asshole of the country and go away to college. I had less direction that before but at least I was moving, maybe only laterally so but I was moving and that is more productive than treading water. Besides as fun as being a wage slave and going to see bands 3-4 nights a week was, it was not going to last forever.

Watching, "PJ20" I can remember the emergence of Gen X, grunge and how at the time, if we had all been a little more aware then, my generation would be even angrier now. I could be wrong but that's just one mans opinion. The part of the documentary that sticks out the most to me is the Andy Rooney segment they aired, I'm assuming, during Pearl James rise to stardom. The loveable curmudgeon rips on the young people of the day and asks, something to the effect of, "what's the matter with kids today and what have they got to be so upset about?" I suppose at the time it was a fair question. Those same kids he felt were, "belly aching" at the time, well some of them have grown into people who will work until the day they drop dead and not all of them at their dream job.

I don't fault Rooney for taking that position, for all intents and purposes, it's his job. I do however feel that line of thinking was a bit myopic even two decades ago. Either way, having a flash of rage and saying, "Fuck You Andy Rooney!" is not going to change anything and realistically only made me feel better for a few seconds. After finishing the film, I decided I was going to go and listen to the bands discography, since I was only really familiar with the first two or three studio releases. It took the better part of three days and I'm pretty confident in saying I would rate the catalog 9/10 on the whole. Yes, there is not a whole lot of what was put out on their first release, "Ten" but Pearl Jam are a great rock band, who have crafted some amazing music. If you are not familiar or have forgotten about them, I recommend going back and giving them another listen.

I hope you all are well.

Cheers,
JJ