Corporate Speak

I was thinking about the nineties today.

I remember when grunge was cool, when slacker was an accepted and welcome term, and when us Generation X'ers thought we were going to change the world. I remember flannel, Pepsi clear, and In Living Color. I also recall loving Pavement and Dinosaur, Jr. and Douglas Coupland and Kevin Smith. It seemed like artists were being taken seriously for their art and not for their commerce. Independent record labels were started daily and some did pretty well. People were willing to go find great music and books and cinema. We were willing to choose good over convenient. Something happened.

The record labels started getting bought by the majors. The independent art house theaters started getting bought by chains. The zines gave way to websites and blogs. The indy radio stations got bought by the giant corporations. We now go to Best Buy to get our CDs. For our books we go to Barnes and Noble or Amazon-dot-com. The stores and shops that didn't get bought by the giant corporate beast are scraping to stay alive, relying on fetish record collectors and local diehards to keep their bottom line above water. Ruminator books was just forced to close. Is Treehouse records or the Electric Fetus next?

I know there was a lot of crap in the nineties too. Each generations forgets the bad stuff and remembers the great things. I just fear that an independent voice will eventually be stifled with the 3000 pound corporate gorilla that is eating all the unique businesses across the nation. It is already happening in small towns. Small Town, TN looks the same as Small Town, CO; Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Home Depot, Best Buy. It is Deja Vu in every city across the land.