September 11, 2001.
Just looking at the date recalls certain memories and feelings in most people, especially in Americans. Where were you on that date? Do you remember what you were doing when you heard?
I was a Junior at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Our “claim to fame” at that particular school was Jim Morrison, who attended for part of his education before moving on the head up the popular rock and roll band, The Doors.
Anyway, as a lazy college student, you tend not to listen to the radio or check the TV before slipping on some sandals and going to class, hangover and all, clad gallantly in your pajamas. September 11, 2001 was one of those days. My first two professors agreed that these terrorists, who use fear as their weapons, could only be defeated if we Americans went about our daily lives and business, as if unaffected by fear.
But, even this far from the east coast where very few of us have friends and relatives that were killed or injured in the blast, we felt the shock wave. With the whole nation consumed in fear and clouded in uncertainty, even the overwhelmingly democratic state of New Mexico hung hopefully on the president’s every word. Even out here in the desert, we clung to one another, put differences aside, and shared our concerns.
I started collecting for the keg between classes.
That night we mourned for those lost, expressed worry over whether anyone would attack our little city in the desert, and we celebrated. We celebrated the birth of our own generation.
We listened to ‘American Pie’ several times that night. For us, September 11, 2001 was “the day the music died.” And the beginning of a new era.
There are two things that define a culture most strongly. First is the enemies. We are defined by the ideals we represent; the things that we would die for. Second is the music. Our culture resonates with the rhythms of our music, the surviving recordings and compositions show us most about what life was like in the past, and our legacy will do the same in our children’s future.
Roughly since the start of the ‘grunge’ era of the early nineties, the media has affectionately dubbed us ‘Generation X.’ The name, I believe, stems from the popular conception that our generation had nothing to ‘stand for.’ That we ‘represented nothing’ or that most of us just needed to ‘get up off our butts.’ Or maybe it was simply because the music was so darned depressing, without giving a good reason. As the grunge musicians began to die off, the thinner, watered-down version of ‘Generation X’ became ‘Generation Y,’ largely because nobody in the media was up to that task of actually and finally giving this generation a name.
But who could blame them? Editorially, Nirvana sucked. As did The Smashing Pumpkins, who are personally responsible for the suicides of at least a dozen teenagers in the nineties. With their senseless and yet somehow depressing lyrics and deafeningly repetitive chord progressions, what other conclusions could the media draw about the subculture that produced this music? The entire ‘baby boom’ generation began to wonder whether they had mad a mistake in “investing in the youth of America.” Clearly, we were not fulfilling the hope that the previous generation had for us.
But who could blame us? To illustrate this point, here is a brief synopsis of the history of the United States. First, the British were the enemy, and a generation went to war to defend their ideals. Then, slavery (or abolition, depending on what part of the country you were in) became the enemy. That generation fought it. Third, there was an era of expansion, and all native people and anyone standing in the way of the Manifest Destiny, well, they became the enemy. Fourth, America tried its hand in the world forum. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was considered an attack, and, lo and behold, we had a new enemy. World War II came, and we tried to stay out, but the attack on Pear Harbor sort of scratched that plan. A new enemy was born! At the close of World War II, the civil rights movement gave everybody something else to do with their aggression, but the U.S. government decided that that issue was a little too close to home, and our new enemy became (drum roll, please) communism! This one’s my favorite. Everyone in America hated communism for 40 years, and only about ten of them could define it.
But here’s what I think happened. When communism fell with the Berlin Wall, the U.S. had no enemy for a good long while, and ‘Generation X’ was born. Yes, as much as I hate to say it, Americans are much happier and much more motivated when they know that they are involved in some sort of war. Our economy thrives on hate. War gives us the enemy we so sorely need. World War II was solely responsible for lifting the nation out of The Great Depression.
Under these premises, I submit to you that an enemy was named in 2001 in order to help the nation’s failing economy. That enemy was (drum roll, please) terrorism. Now, ‘communism’ and ‘terrorism,’ these are perfect names for enemies of the U.S. because we can never say for certainty that we have ‘won the war.’ The fear, the anger, can be prolonged indefinitely because we are fighting a word.
We can no longer be called ‘Generation X’ of ‘Generation Y.’ We have to be given a real name. An identity. A future.
We celebrated because our generation finally had a defining event (other then the suicide of a popular but piss-poor musician) by which our generation could (nay, must) be identified. The way our parents used to say, “remember where you were when you heard Kennedy was shot?” we now had an event to talk about. And those of us who can’t support the president’s retaliations have an equally important enemy: war. We remember the music and events of the sixties to a large extent because of the social context. Our parents had a war to protest. Now we do, too!
I just wanted to say all these things because I think it’s important for us to be aware of our own place in history. All good musicians recognize their roots and their influences while at the same time attempting to create a legacy that will outlive them. The easy way is to kill yourself before you have a chance to outlive your memory. The hard way is to remember where you came from, and where you’re going. My hope is that we can outlive our need for violence, for war, and for enemies. We need only music.
Our president has been decidedly elusive about addressing the concerns of the people who are going out in the streets to protest this war. We have already forgotten that such protest is a sign that history will not remember our motives with reverence. The histories and accounts of the Vietnam War prove it absolutely. We MUST use the knowledge we have gained from studying the past.
This is our generation’s battle cry. Our enemy is ignorance. History, knowledge, common sense, and music are our weapons. Our borders have been invaded, only now we bare arms to protect us from the Patriot Act instead of the Redcoats.
“In there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again…”
So, as the keg began to float and the sky started to gray with the first sunrays of September 12, 2001, we began to think of a new name to replace the now obsolete ‘Generation X:’ ‘The Columbine Generation,’ ‘The Turn of the Century Generation,’ ‘WTC Disaster Children.’ But I like this one. We are “The Music Generation.”