Well, I was hoping someone would give me the real answer here. IE..an explanation straight from the horses mouth (Michael Stipe)...But I guess you can't have everything, right? Lol. Anyway, I've always believed that this song held great importance. I always knew there was a strong, dark meaning behind it, because I remember being a little girl, & hearing Michael do the "don't drink & drive" campaign thing. Lots of celebs did that one during the early-mid nineties, & the song played in the background as he spoke. All these years later, it still haunts me. So, since I don't have an answer from him, here's my take.
I do believe that it's about the futility of life, of being a teenager, & wanting to fix & change everything. As a teenager, we have this sense that everything's wrong, & if the generations before us were to stupid & f***ed up to fix it, then we'll be the ones! IT'S OUR TURN! But as you get older I'm 21 now, you realize that everything works against you. Society in general, rules, regulations, & the people in charge, IE politicians, lawyers, the president, etc. You start realizing that the whole thing blows. It stinks to high Heaven, & you can smell the rot from thousands of miles away, but you can't fix it, because society is against you. And, the people in your own peer group who had the wise ideas in the first place, are now washouts, doing lines in the back of some frickin' tore-down hoopty, or drunk off their asses in some friends parent's basement, because they were to lazy to get off their asses & try to get a REAL job. One where they could effect the change they so desperately wanted. You get the drive, then you lose it as quickly as you get it, because you become a disaffected, disillusioned, apathitic idiot, who can't see past your own bullshit. It's like a depressed person. They get these crazy highs, that are quickly followed by these I-want-to-slit-my-wrists-&-die lows. & that class, is what happens to our youth. And that to me, is what this song is all about.
You may all go back to your regularly scheduled programming now.
Great song, great for the times. That's what I liked about 90's music in general, it ACTUALLY had a message. Dark, sinister, haunting, affecting, to be held up as a warning,
"This is what can happen to you, so watch what the Hell your doing, & maybe you can prevent it."
Belongs right up there with songs like "Pepper" from The Butthole Surfers, "Better Man" & "Jeremy" from Pearl Jam...& songs of that nature.
@MaggieMichelle So what do you think now, 17 years later, when you are 38? I hope you haven't forced children to live under the circumstances you describe above. I certainly haven't.
@MaggieMichelle So what do you think now, 17 years later, when you are 38? I hope you haven't forced children to live under the circumstances you describe above. I certainly haven't.
Well, I was hoping someone would give me the real answer here. IE..an explanation straight from the horses mouth (Michael Stipe)...But I guess you can't have everything, right? Lol. Anyway, I've always believed that this song held great importance. I always knew there was a strong, dark meaning behind it, because I remember being a little girl, & hearing Michael do the "don't drink & drive" campaign thing. Lots of celebs did that one during the early-mid nineties, & the song played in the background as he spoke. All these years later, it still haunts me. So, since I don't have an answer from him, here's my take.
I do believe that it's about the futility of life, of being a teenager, & wanting to fix & change everything. As a teenager, we have this sense that everything's wrong, & if the generations before us were to stupid & f***ed up to fix it, then we'll be the ones! IT'S OUR TURN! But as you get older I'm 21 now, you realize that everything works against you. Society in general, rules, regulations, & the people in charge, IE politicians, lawyers, the president, etc. You start realizing that the whole thing blows. It stinks to high Heaven, & you can smell the rot from thousands of miles away, but you can't fix it, because society is against you. And, the people in your own peer group who had the wise ideas in the first place, are now washouts, doing lines in the back of some frickin' tore-down hoopty, or drunk off their asses in some friends parent's basement, because they were to lazy to get off their asses & try to get a REAL job. One where they could effect the change they so desperately wanted. You get the drive, then you lose it as quickly as you get it, because you become a disaffected, disillusioned, apathitic idiot, who can't see past your own bullshit. It's like a depressed person. They get these crazy highs, that are quickly followed by these I-want-to-slit-my-wrists-&-die lows. & that class, is what happens to our youth. And that to me, is what this song is all about. You may all go back to your regularly scheduled programming now.
Great song, great for the times. That's what I liked about 90's music in general, it ACTUALLY had a message. Dark, sinister, haunting, affecting, to be held up as a warning, "This is what can happen to you, so watch what the Hell your doing, & maybe you can prevent it." Belongs right up there with songs like "Pepper" from The Butthole Surfers, "Better Man" & "Jeremy" from Pearl Jam...& songs of that nature.
@MaggieMichelle So what do you think now, 17 years later, when you are 38? I hope you haven't forced children to live under the circumstances you describe above. I certainly haven't.
@MaggieMichelle So what do you think now, 17 years later, when you are 38? I hope you haven't forced children to live under the circumstances you describe above. I certainly haven't.