Sorry.

Anyways, great article, Hua.

X-Genners are great songwriters because of all that 1.) pointless angst; 2.) manufactured victimhood; and 3.) problem solving via crisis management. Add the fact that we've made video games into an Olympic spectacle, destroyed MTV with reality shows, and turned irony into a contact sport, then it's not hard to see why everyone from Kurt Cobain to Mike D, Ad Rock and MCA can't seem to be bothered to fool with a "twist ending" or a comfortably compartmentalized niche, if you catch my drift.

James Murphy's genius lies in his ability to infuse the very music he's criticizing, music he's criticizing in his own music, by the way (not an easy feat at all [Hi, Pete Townsend]), with some, oh, what's it called, substance. I.e., instead of the unending baby boomer lament that rock & roll is dead and kids listen to shit, Murphy does something about it. It's almost like it's self-parody, but the joke ends up being on only those that aren't in on it from the beginning. Namely, if you don't get it, you're not meant to. Cruel, to be sure. But rules in pop culture aren't meant to be broken or even bent. They're meant to be transcended.

I really do think the most important line in the song, no matter the version (though Murphy's really is the best), is towards the end, when the refrain becomes briefly for a time, "Where are your friends now?" That could quite possibly be the very definition of maudlin.

It's only a matter of time before the music gets too loud for each and every generation that keeps turning it up. It's just that I wish good taste weren't such a curse so much of the time. [Wink!]

Again, really enjoyed your piece. Keep them coming.

MTV was destroyed with reality shows? That assumes that MTV had some kind of value before they started airing reality shows. To my knowledge, MTV has never been much more than a candy ad targeted to teenagers. What exactly was there ever to destroy?