The last remaining shred of “alternative” culture—the long-antiquated notion established in the late ’80s that there exists a pure, outlying culture separate from the “mainstream,” a notion that immediately found a more useful purpose after being repackaged by said mainstream as a marketing strategy—finally disappeared today, with the news that Big Bang Theory writer Dave Goetsch has sold CBS the family sitcom Smells Like Teen Spirit. Once the title of the Nirvana “anthem” that ironically encapsulated the energy yet frustrated apathy that defined this “alternative” movement, Smells Like Teen Spirit now refers to a CBS show about “an 18-year-old budding entrepreneur” who forgoes his acceptance to Harvard and instead launches a multibillion-dollar Internet company from his family’s garage. He will do so while dealing with his “1990s indie-rock parents” whose “slacker” ideals will serve as a comical juxtaposition to this new, more productive generation.
I will have to watch this TV-friendly unit shifter while wearing my Kurt Cobain Signature Converse, and gently picking away on my Kurt Cobain Edition Fender Jaguar. Rape Me!
I’m not sure exactly what your take on the Onion piece is, but: “the…notion established in the late ’80s that there exists a pure, outlying culture separate from the ‘mainstream'” was complete marketing bullsh*t from the get-go. I liked Nirvana and R.E.M. (and still do), but no one I knew in college radio considered them somehow categorically different from mainstream rock.
everything i’ve read or seen about Cobain makes it clear that Cobain himself was against the kind of schlocky commercialization that has attached itself to his music after his death (and before it). that’s what i find sad about this.