The Influential 15: Culture (Part One)

Time for me to finish up the Influential 15 thread that I started a few weeks ago with one that will actually have some sociological reasoning behind it (as opposed to discussions of my love of science fiction and British comedy). Tonight will be part one of my examination of the 15 most influential cultural moments of my lifetime. Again, I am talking about being memorable and life changing here as opposed to the best moments of my life. Many of those were not nationally televised (though some have come with a live blog feed). So keep that in mind.

Also, this is being written by someone who was born in 1973 and all of this is from that mindset. As a result I will not be listing Woodstock or landing on the moon as they do not fit my timeframe as well as the former being overrated and the latter being filmed on a soundstage in Arizona. Plan is to examine five a night for the next three nights. Let’s go…

Nirvana releases Smells like Teen Spirit / Kurt Cobain commits suicide: I do not know how to separate these two events any more. Every reference to one must include a reference to the other. In my mind, this is the biggest event of my life and I know that many people may consider that strange or shallow but let me explain. Smells like Teen Spirit was released in 1991 soon after I had turned 18. Not only did it mark music going into a completely different direction (the death of hair metal and the rise of grunge) but it marked the entry of Generation X into the forefront of the cultural landscape. Suddenly the airwaves were filled with people who looked and thought like I did. After years of living in the wake of the Baby Boomers we had finally entered the limelight. And two and a half years later, as I neared my 21st birthday, it all ended at our own hands. While the opening notes of Smells like Teen Spirit marked the birth of grunge the gunshot marked the end of it. We had lost our leader and we never recovered. What was a group of energetic, if slightly disheveled, 18 year olds had become a band of world weary 21 year olds who had already seen the dark side of life. Generation X walked away from the limelight. We went to take care of ourselves, to make art and music and movies on our own terms as we saw that the spotlight could destroy your soul. We ceded that scene to Gen Y with the Britney’s and Lindsey’s who thought nothing of sacrificing their being for five more seconds of fame. Generation X still exists 15 years after Kurt’s death. We’re just still haunted by it.

The Real World premieres on MTV: This should make the list just for starting the reality television revolution. True, it wasn’t until Survivor that the major networks realized how cost effective it was to put real people who were either telegenic, interesting or hopefully both into a contrived situation with a number of cameramen and see what happens but The Real World marked the start of the modern era of the genre. Given the amount of programming that falls into this realm it deserves a place on the list.

More importantly though it makes an appearance because, as in the words of Matthew McConnaghy in Dazed and Confused “I get older but the cast of The Real World stays the same age.” This creates for an incredibly cultural study as I view the cast through my eyes. The first several seasons were wonderful and I was completely hooked as I was the same age as the cast members and I could see myself as being on the show (and longtime blog commentator Super Dave did almost make the Miami cast). I would watch the show and think which girl would I like to date and who would I want to hang out at a bar with. As the seasons progressed though I found myself connecting less and less with the cast and therefore being less engrossed with the show. I started finding the characters shallow and annoying. At first I thought this was a result of casting but as the years have progressed I realized it was just because they are 21 years old. All 21 year olds are shallow and annoying, the 21 year old version of myself included. Now I can’t even watch the show. A 21 year old today was one when the Berlin Wall fell, seven when Cobain died and 13 on 9/11. What in the world would I have in common with them other than we both breathe oxygen?

The Miracle on Ice (US defeats the USSR in Lake Placid): You know what is sad? I really felt required to write that little explanation because I’m not sure if everyone would understand the reference if I just said Miracle on Ice. Even though I was six at the time even I knew that this was a huge deal. The underdog group of college kids competing in the Olympics against the evil Soviet professional players who were expected to walk all over them. The desire and heart shown in their miracle win (helped by the fact that the Soviets pulled Tretriak (the greatest goalie of all time) after the first period) that really shook a nation from an emotional low point driven by the Iran hostage drama, a bad economy, and the Soviet threat. I don’t know if people even ten years younger than me can understand living under the threat of nuclear war. I grew up with the understanding that it was entirely possible that the world would end before I would even have a chance to grow up. The Doomsday Clock was two minutes to midnight. This hockey game gave us hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger: This was the first “Do you remember where you were when” moments of my life. It’s strange how this event has taken up such a bigger cultural role than the loss of Columbia. The end result is the same tragedy: seven lives are lost in a tragic accident but for some reason Challenger has a much stronger tie on the psyche. Part of it is due to Christa McCauliff, the teacher in space who was on the flight which meant that many of us were watching the launch from our classrooms. Part of it is due to the fact that the space program had been infallible for decades. I was a NASA geek and couldn’t really comprehend how we could put a man on the moon (allegedly) and fail a simple launch. (And I have to admit that 11 year old me was immediately concerned with how this would impact the future of the space program). But I think the real reason this plays such an important role in the memories of Gen X is that this was our first huge “huddle around the TV” moment. It is a nature of life that there are significant, world changing events in the course of a generation. Gen X wasn’t aware during the turmoil of the 60’s and even I was too young to fully comprehend the assassination attempts on Reagan and the Pope. The Challenger disaster was the first time when all of the channels were turned to the same story and it was one I comprehended.

(Side note: I also learned how quickly off-color jokes are formed in the wake of a disaster. In this case I believe I was hearing them on the playground the next day.)

Christian Laettner hits “The Shot” to defeat Kentucky in the East Regional Final: A few years ago if you asked me to list the top five moments of my life this would have made the list, which is pretty sad given that I a) wasn’t there, b) Duke rejected my application and c) I was sitting alone in a dorm room at Illinois at the time. Luckily my life has improved since then. It would still make the top twenty. Ok, fifteen.

Easily the best college basketball game I have ever seen as Duke races out to the early lead to only see Kentucky claw back into it resulting in the best last few minutes of regulation and overtime ever. Every possession seemed to be a matter of life or death as the lead constantly changed hands until with 2.1 seconds left Duke was down one and Grant Hill through the ball the length of the court to Christian. With a quick fake, two dribbles and a fadeaway Christian cemented his place in history. He ended with a perfect game: ten for ten from the field, ten for ten from the line, and perfect hair throughout.

Why does this matter to me? Because I was a Duke fan who wanted to be Christian Laettner. In high school I became a Duke fan thanks to the encouragement of an English teacher. This was before the program became synonymous with first excellence and later arrogance. For me as a teenager it was just the team that played the game the way I thought it should be played and who I supported when no one else did. And twice a week after dealing with the living horror that is high school I would go home and watch my team win. Culminating in my favorite player hitting the game winning shot in the biggest game of his career. After seeing that, you pretty much realize that everything is possible.