Feel the Pain
April 1, 1995
The following companion to "The Gospel for Generation X," in this issue, is a departure from normal LEADERSHIP fare. The narrative (originally published in Utne Reader, an "alternative" magazine) describes the extreme lifestyle of a small segment of the buster generation. Though a little raw in places, the account captures the psychological and spiritual despair of grunge culture.
I came face to face with the essence of grunge culture last summer, when I was out in Seattle interviewing street punks.
I was hanging out with a runaway anarchist named Jackie and his street friend Anthony when we decided to go party with their friends from the band Suffocated. We took a shortcut to their house on the outskirts of the U district, tramping through the woods and under the bridge where the "trolls" (street kids) slept when they didn't have a squat to crash, then circling around the back of Safeway to scavenge for moldy sandwiches in the dumpster.
Suffocated's lead guitarist received us nonchalantly, nodding at the 40-ouncers we'd picked up with Jackie and Anthony's panhandled change. Anthony said he wanted to try his new piercing needle and disappeared into the bathroom upstairs. [Piercing needles are used to pierce ears, noses, tongues, cheeks, and other sensitive parts of the body.] He said he liked the experience of pain.
So Jackie and I sat there in the living room, watching the band members scarf down lines of speed and bong hits amid a blistering blur of crustcore and metal. At the end of the tape, the guitarist dug out a new one.
"Mind if we listen to Nirvana?" he asked, almost apologetically, like he was 'fessing to being a Bon Jovi fan.
"Sure," Jackie shrugged, but I just smiled. These were Kurt Cobain's people, the forgotten ...
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